On the stage of the Spring Festival Gala, two girls with foreign faces took the stage to perform "Our People Are Really Happy Today".
Fluent in Chinese, they are loved by the people, they are Aizhong and Aihua, and the two are descendants of the American Flying Tigers.
After the show, the two said in an interview that they were proud to be Chinese and that three generations of their families had settled in China.
Why do they love China so much, and why have three generations of their family settled in China?
Yellow-haired, white-skinned and fluent Chinese
There are two international faces in the CCTV program, which are the two pearls in the CCTV program, which has brought joy to many people, especially the program "Our People Are Really Happy Today" at that time swept the country, and even people today like this program very much.
These two have yellow hair and white skin are in love and love China, named after love my China, and the two sisters are also very proud to declare that they are a member of the Chinese nation, revealing a deep love for China in their eyes, the most surprising two sisters still have the blood of the American Flying Tigers, and their family has lived in China for three generations.
The two sisters' Chinese is very fluent, no different from normal Chinese, and they also have tactful singing and graceful dancing, and the two sisters are also very profound in their research on Chinese opera, and it is not a problem to casually say those two sentences, and in the Spring Festival Gala in 1995, everyone saw these two Chinese beauties.
The two sisters quickly became popular all over the country with their understanding and love for Chinese culture, and every performance was admirable, and some people had questions about their backgrounds after a long time, Aihua responded: I am a Chinese in my bones. Aihua's family came to China in the last century.
All this also starts with Aihua's grandfather Mu Airen, Mu Airen is a pure American, formerly known as Don Mack, who lived in China for a period of time while studying in China, where Mu Airen suddenly suffered from a serious gastrointestinal disease, and then a Chinese appeared, took careful care of him, and his condition improved.
During the period of recuperation, he witnessed the destruction of the Chinese people by the invading Japanese army at that time, and many innocent people were harmed.
Back to China
However, a year later, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor caused a sensation around the world, and the United States started a counterattack in the Pacific War, and at this time began to recruit pilots.
There is also a story about the name of the Takeoff Tigers, when the pilots of the 14th Air Force drew a pattern of sharks on the planes in order to shock the place, with the intention of intimidating the enemy, the Chinese people at that time did not know sharks, and when they saw that the American air force was very fierce against the Japanese army, they called these planes Flying Tigers.
And some newspapers also directly used the name of the Flying Tiger to describe the Flying Tigers, and slowly the name of the Flying Tigers spread, and the captain of the 14th Air Force also felt that this Chinese name was good, so they also used this name.
After layers of selection, Mu Airen successfully became a member of the American Flying Tigers, and then returned to China as a member of the Flying Tigers, went to China to aid China to resist Japan, and took the initiative to teach the Chinese Air Force unconditionally after coming here.
Soon, the war ended, Mu Airen also followed the army back to the United States, after returning to the United States, Mu Airen found that he still had this ancient country in his heart, and wanted to go back to witness the rise of this country, so he took his wife to China, lived, and successfully applied for a professor at Fujian Union University.
In college, Mu Airen taught English and physical education, this job Mu Airen liked very much, soon after the birth of their child, Mu Airen made a difficult problem when choosing the name of his son, I don't know how to start, suddenly he thought that he could not afford a combination of Chinese and Western name, called Mu Peter.
Time flies quickly, the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union came, and Mu Airen could only return to the United States, which was a few decades, until 1998, Mu Airen's son Mu Peter decided to bring the whole family to China again, at this time Mu Peter was married and had two daughters.
Three generations of the family have lived in China
Peter Mu was influenced by his father, so after returning to the United States, he chose to take a double degree in Chinese and Japanese after going to college, and the Chinese experience in his childhood also made Peter Mu fall in love with China, so when Peter Mu had the opportunity to work in China, after consulting his father and family, he embarked on the road to China.
After coming to China, his father and mother had already lived in China, and Peter Mu's wife and daughter also liked China, and then the family decided to settle in China, influenced by his father, Peter Mu decided to give his two daughters a Chinese name, one is called Mu Aizhong, the other is called Mu Aihua.
The two daughters were very young when they came, and after coming to China, they were influenced by their grandparents and the local area, and they quickly learned Chinese, and spoke very fluently, no different from the locals, and the two children were sent to Nanjing to attend primary school since they were young, and they were very interested in Chinese culture and traditional opera.
After the two sisters finished junior high school, they both returned to the United States to go to college, Mu Aizhong chose psychology, Mu Aihua studied acting, Mu Aihua returned to China with what he learned after graduation, and participated in CCTV's variety show "Zhengda Variety Show" and "A Smile Tea Garden" and other columns, people see this American face speaking fluent Chinese, and feel very fresh.
Mu Aihua was loved by many people, and Mu Aizhong studied medicine in the United States until he received his Ph.D., Mu Aizhong also chose to return to China, and the two sisters have long been accustomed to the Chinese way of life during their childhood, and they have also been deeply influenced by their grandfather and father to continue to live in China.
After returning to China, in order to better show the audience a wonderful performance, Aizhong and Aihua continued to learn the deep story of Chinese culture, not only fluent in Mandarin, but also an authentic Nanjing dialect, especially in the 1995 Spring Festival Gala, Aizhong and Aihua were invited to the stage of the Spring Festival Gala.
The two wore Chinese national costumes and performed the classic program "We People Are Really Happy Today" for the people of the country, many people fell in love with these two sisters, full of vitality, after the two became popular, more and more variety shows found Aihua who majored in acting, and Aihua also hosted many programs.
The two said in the program that China is their second hometown, growing up here, here has a long history, has a broad and profound culture, from the words can be seen the two sisters' love for this land, Aihua as the host, not only proficient in Chinese, but also very good at Chinese crosstalk and opera, Peking Opera Huangmei Opera are handy.
Today, Aihua has shifted his focus to the world of education and joined the University of Arizona in the United States, where he served as the Senior Program Director of the China and Asia Program Division in a department of the university. Today, Aihua is engaged in education between China and the United States, and is committed to promoting educational cooperation and exchanges between the two sides.
In 2015, Peter Mu took his father's ashes to the place where his father started, Minjiang, and scattered a part of the ashes, so that his father could live here forever, and the Mu family took root in this land with flesh-and-blood feelings, vividly reflecting the charm of Chinese culture, and also reflecting the love of three generations of the Mu family for China.
Reference Sources:
Southeast Net: Mu Yanling's daughter Aihua: "Chinese daughter" loves China
hatps://baijiyahaao.baidu.com/s?id=1769957596630732431&dfr=spider&for=pc
People's Daily Online: Interview: In-depth research and excavation of the story of Guling - Interview with Mu Yanling, a researcher of Guling history and culture and an American friend
http://world.people.com.cn/no1/2023/0702/c1002-40025887.html
The Paper: American Girl: A Family of Three Generations of "Aihua" Fate
https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_2699015