‘I was raised by my grandmother. When my sister and I were little, my parents were very busy with work. From 1996 to 2002, my grandma would fly to Taiwan twice a year––according to the two school terms––to look after us,” Peng Tzu Huan told Beijing Review. But back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, there were no direct cross-Straits flights, so his grandmother Li Jinyuan, a retired staff member of Peking Union Medical College Hospital, had to fly in via Hong Kong. It would take her a whole day to get to Taiwan from Beijing––an exhausting journey.
Peng’s mother Li Tianyi is a Beijinger and his father hails from Hsinchu, Taiwan. They met while studying in Japan in the early 1990s and tied the knot soon after. After graduation, they settled down in Taiwan and both started teaching at the university.
In retirement, many Chinese seniors continue to devote themselves to the family by taking care of their grandchildren
