Lindy Tse can't forget the first night when the couple brought her back to the U.S. from Fujian Province at age 4. She cried silently all night because she didn't want to cause them any trouble. She thought they were total strangers. They were her parents.
Tracy Lam still remembers feeling "unknown" when she was brought back to the U.S. from China at the age of 5. She didn't know the two strangers standing in front of her, even though she called them "Mom" and "Dad".
Lindy and Tracy are "satellite babies"－children born in the United States to Chinese immigrant parents who worked long hours and couldn't afford child care. So they were sent back to China when they were infants, raised by relatives, typically grandparents, and returned to the US to enroll in school when they were 5 or 6. Some parents of satellite babies also choose to send their children back to China in part to preserve their culture.
It took one year for Tse to speak to her father. "I think it was because we both lost four years that could be important to our relationship," said Tse, now 16.
Lam, 17, said, "Sometimes I still feel a distant connection between me and my parents. I just don't know how to show my emotion to them."
David Chen's parents sent him to China's Fujian province to be raised by his grandparents when he was less than a year old. At the age of 5, Chen's parents brought him back the US to enroll in school in New York City.
