Document: University of New Mexico Responses on Fu Ping

Upon inquiries by Albert Wang, University of New Mexico has provided the following responses regarding Fu Ping's study at that school:

From: Judi Halpern
Sent: Wednesday, April 03, 2013 5:19 PM
To: Albert Wang
Subject: RE: Ping Fu, a student enrolled at The University of New Mexico, Albuqurque, from September 1984 to July 1986
Mr. Wang,

This is what I can tell you we have a student by the name of Ping Fu with a birth year of 1958.  This student attended the University of New Mexico as an undergraduate student.  The studet was a transfer student who started as a junior in the Fall 1984.  The student attended UNM up to the Summer 1986.  I find no evidence that the student graduated with a bachelor or any other degree from UNM.  I have no evidence that the student transferred to UC San Diego.  You will need to confirm that with them.

If you have further questions, please let me know.

Good Day,

Judi

______________________
Judi Halpern
Grade Petition Coordinator/
Athletic Admissions Specialist
University of New Mexico
Records & Registration
MSC11 6325
1155 University Blvd. SE
Albuquerque, NM  87106
Phone: (505) 277-7736
Fax: (505) 277-6809

From: Maureen McGuire
Sent: Tuesday, April 09, 2013 3:39 PM
To: Albert Wang
Cc: Agnes Thomas ; Michele Huff ; Judith Halpern
Subject: Re: FW: Ping Fu, a student enrolled at The University of New Mexico, Albuqurque, from September 1984 to July 1986
Mr Wang -

The directory information indicates that she entered UNM as an undecided undergraduate student.  She declared Computer Science as her major in Spring, 1986 and earned 48 credit hours at UNM.  UNM accepted 60 credit hours transferred from other institutions towards the degree for a total of 108 earned credit hours.

Maureen McGuire

Questionable Fact: Fu Ping's Close Encounter with Sylvester Stallone

The Original Story:
On Pages 60-61 of Bend, Not Break, Fu Ping told a story when she was waitressing at a newly opened Chinese restaurant in Santa Fe a year after her arrival in the US:

Santa Fe was an artistic city, and many Hollywood stars had second homes there. Linda Evans, John Wayne, and Miles Davis all came to our restaurant. I didn't know who any of these people were so my boss often assigned me to wait on them, knowing that I wouldn't get starstruck or ask for autographs.

One night, a large, muscular man with dark hair and an asymmetrical face came into our restaurant. The boss told me to serve him. 

I approached the table. "What would you like to drink?" I asked. 

The man said nothing, but startled me by reaching around and grabbing my rear end with his enormous right hand. Without hesitating for a second, I slapped him on the cheek, hard. Then I gasped. What had I done? Surely the boss would fire me for such insolent behavior. 

The man sat quietly for a heartbeat, staring me straight in the eyes. Then he laughed and said, "Do it again." 

I raced back to the kitchen, still convinced, with my Chinese mentality, that I would lose my job. But everyone who had witnessed the event was cheering. "Ping, you slapped Rambo!" they squealed in delight. Even the boss, who had followed me to the back room, was chuckling. The customer, they told me, was Sylvester Stallone, a famous action hero.

The Debunking:
Obviously, John Wayne, who had passed away in 1979, cannot come to this restaurant that opened in the mid-1980s. The name-dropping might just be another typo by the author(s).

As for the rest of the story with Sylvester Stallone, we don't have any information either to confirm or deny it. So, it's up to the readers to decide.

Questionable Fact: Fu Ping's First Babysitting Job in America

The Original Story:
On Page 54 of Bend, Not Break, Fu Ping told the story of her first paying (illegal) job in US as a newly arrived foreign student:

The gregarious sisters and I communicated through facial expressions and full-body gestures, like a game of charades. They knew I was desperate for money, so they connected me with one of their professors, an Iranian man who had recently divorced and was in need of a babysitter. I couldn't speak English, didn't understand American culture, couldn't drive, and had never written a check. But there was one thing I knew how to do. 

The very next day, I started my new job. As I walked into the professor's apartment, I saw dishes piled up in the kitchen sink, heaps of dirty laundry, and toys strewn across the floor. I cleaned the house thoroughly and played with the professor's five-year-old daughter for seven hours. When the professor returned home, he asked me how much I wanted to be paid. I hadn't yet figured out the American system of prices and payments, so I just shook my head. He handed me a one-dollar bill. It didn't seem like enough.

The sisters, Fu Ping's roommates, eventually forced the professor to pay the fairer price of ten dollars an hour.

The Earlier Story:
The same story was also told in Drifting Bottle, Fu Ping's earlier autobiography, on Pages 9-10:

At 1pm, Professor Peter brought his little daughter Lisa to where I lived. Lisa was not afraid of strangers at all. She said goodbye to her dad and ran over to me immediately. She was only 2 years old, with big blue eyes like the ocean and golden curled hairs. Her fat little hands were all over my body. She captured my heart at once. What a lovely girl! I offered her chocolates I had brought from China and provided her many toys. We both had a great time. 

9pm, the professor arrived to pick up Lisa. He asked me how much I wanted to be paid. I said, "Whatever you wish to pay is fine." He took out a one-dollar bill from his wallet and gave it to me. 

下午一点，教授彼得带着他的宝贝女儿莉莎来到我住的地方，莉莎一点也不认生，乖乖地和她爸爸说声再见就跑来拉我的衣角。莉莎才两岁，大大的眼睛像海水一样蓝，满头金黄色的卷发，那胖胖的小手一直在我身上抓来抓去，一下子就把我的心俘虏了，好可爱的小女孩！我把国内带来的巧克力拿给她吃，为她准备许多玩具，她和我玩得很开心。 

晚上九点，教授来接莉莎。他问我要付多少钱。我说，“随便吧，你爱付多少都可以。”他从钱包里拿出一美元给我。

In this version of the story, Fu Ping's roommates, although shocked and angry, did not confront the professor for her pay. Fu Ping felt powerless since she was working illegally.

The Debunking:
Other than the professor and the one-dollar payment, the two versions of the same story differ quite a bit in details. Most significantly, it happened at different locations: the professors apartment vs. Fu Ping's own, which led to the additional work of house-cleaning in the new version. The age of the child changed and lost her original loveliness.

Although memories fade over time, it's hard to think that she would confuse such important details of a story that had a big impact of her life, especially that she had written it in her book.

In both versions of the story, the professor taught classes for one of her roommates and therefore is at least an acquaintance if not friend. It is incredible that the professor, being Iranian not withstanding, would try to cheat a new immigrant student this way. It would have been reasonable for her roommates, knowing full well of her situation, to have helped her negotiate the payment before the work.

Broken Fact: Fu Ping's Kidnapping at Albuquerque

The Original Story:
On Pages 4-9 of Bend, Not Break, Fu Ping told another bizarre story of her life, that she was kidnapped and wrongfully imprisoned by someone who sought her out at the Albuquerque airport upon her initial arrival:

When I got to Albuquerque, I found myself stranded once again. My father had given me the name of Mr. Sheng, a former student of his who was studying at the University of New Mexico and had helped my family to get me accepted there. I called him collect several times, but the phone rang endlessly... 

A car pulled up in front of me sometime later, When I looked up with hazy eyes, I saw a Chinese man sitting in the driver's seat. He rolled down the window slowly...

The man, who turned out to be "a Vietnamese refugee of Chinese descent," took her instead to his own apartment and locked her inside with two young boys of his with little to no food. It was only on the third day they managed to have their cries of help heard and police arrived. Citing fear and confusion, Fu Ping chose not to cooperate with the police:

The police tried to get me to press kidnapping charges against the Vietnamese man. I refused. I simply begged them to set me free. Eventually they gave up and put a call into UNM on my behalf. They got directions for where on campus to take me: the International Student Center. 

I arrived at the University of New Mexico in a squad car.

The Questioning:
On February 20, 2013, Didi Kirsten Tatlow wrote on International Herald Tribune:

At the beginning of her memoir, Ms. Fu writes of being kidnapped by a Vietnamese-American on arrival in the U.S. state of New Mexico and locked in his apartment to care for his very young children, whose mother had left, in a bizarre incident. A spokeswoman at the Albuquerque Police Department’s Records Office, where the alleged kidnapping took place, said she could not locate such an incident in their records. Asked about it, Ms. Fu repeated that she did not press charges as, fresh from China, she was terrified of all police, “So I don’t know how they keep records, if there is no criminal charges or record.” 

The Debunking:
Cindy Hao, who was also credited for the report by Didi Kirsten Tatlow above, actually did the investigation with the Albuquerque Police Department. She had described Fu Ping's story to the police who searched their database for a police report but found none. Cindy Hao asked if there would be a police report for such incident if the victim did not press charges, the police answered, "Absolutely."

Other people have also inquired and received same responses from the police office.

Kidnapping, imprisonment, and endangerment of the lives of not only Fu Ping but 2 young children is an extremely serous crime. It is inconceivable that the police would not pursue the criminal just because one of the victims refused to press charges. And even so, there would have been a police report for the rescuing and investigative effort, as they said, "absolutely."

Besides this obvious problem, there are also several tell-tales that this whole story was made up:

The Vietnam man claimed that his wife just walked out of him so he needed someone to look after his children. So, what was he doing at the airport picking up a random stranger? Was he so nice to have just given his estranged wife a ride there? If he cared about his children, would he be locking them up with a victim of his with no food for days?

Fu Ping described the place as "government-subsidized housing for refugees," which tends to be condense and crowded. It's hard to believe that they had to yell from a window for three days before someone heard them.

Then, in her earlier autobiography Drifting Bottle, she described a normal arrival at Albuquerque with no drama whatsoever. In fact, on the third day in that book, she was already dining with her local contact Kaili (凯利) -- very likely the "Mr. Sheng" -- and complaining that Kaili failed to contact her earlier (Pages 37-38). She would not be making the complain if she had been locked up for those three days.

One of the main themes of Drifting Bottle is her suffering and struggle in the US as a foreign student. While it could be justifiable that that earlier book did not contain her childhood and college suffering in China for political reasons, the same could not apply for not including the kidnapping story that happened on her first day in America, if it indeed happened.

Document: Albuquerque Police Department's Response to Fu Ping Kidnapping Incident

In her book and interviews, Fu Ping had told a story how she was kidnapped for 3 days upon her arrival to Albuquerque, New Mexico, until police rescued her. Several people have inquired the police department there to verify her story. The following is one response received by Albert Wang:

From: Torres, David L.
Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2013 10:21 AM
To: alberthuaienwang@hotmail.com
Cc: Chavez, Reynaldo L. ; Bailey, Amy
Subject: FW: FOIA Request for records of Ms. Ping Fu's alleged kidnapping in Albuquerque, New Mexico 

Mr. Wang,
This email will acknowledge completion of your public records request dated March 6th, 2013.  

APD Records does not have any incident of a kidnapping for the individual referred to on your request. 

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or comments 

Office of the APD Records Custodian
Reynaldo Chavez
Records Custodian/Supervisor
(505) 768-2007
chavezr@cabq.gov

Questionable Fact: Fu Ping's $80 Airfare

The Original Story:
Along with only knowing three English words, Fu Ping came to the US with only $80 in her pocket. In Bend, Not Break, she explained on Page 260:

I converted my entire savings from my factory work and the sale of most of my personal items into US dollars, and received an eighty-dollar cashier's check from China Bank in return. This would cover the flight from San Francisco to Albuquerque.

She also explained that her mother just received a large sum of money from someone who owed her family money and used that money to buy her the ticket from Shanghai to San Francisco.

On Page 4, she described the trouble she encountered at San Francisco:

Although I had exact eighty dollars in traveler's checks to pay for the connecting flight, the airline staff refused to issue me a ticket. I couldn't understand why; that had been the price when I had checked in Shanghai.

Apparently the price had gone up $5 by the time she took the flight. Learning her trouble, a fellow passenger offered $5 to help Fu Ping get her ticket.

The Debunking:
If Fu Ping had indeed been in that situation, it is fairly reasonable to believe that someone would offer the help she needed. The questions, however, are in the setup of this story.

First of all, it is very hard to believe that the ticket from San Francisco to Albuquerque, bought at the counter without advance reservation, costed only $80 or $85 in January, 1984. Airline tickets should cost substantially higher.

It is also a strange coincidence that Fu Ping's entire savings would convert to exactly $80, no more, no less. But if it really did, she would not have been able to obtain the $80. In the 1980s, US dollar, as a luxurious foreign exchange, is under very strict control and is very difficult to obtain. In 1986, when I was leaving China for US, the government only allowed me to convert $52 worth of currency, which is what I had in my pocket, in cash. How did Fu Ping manage to exchange $80 two years earlier -- and got it in either as traveler's check or cashier's check? If there were no limit at the time, why did she exchange just a few dollars more, just in case? Her mother had enough fund to purchase a $600 ticket for her but could not provide another extra $5 or $10?

Fu Ping was already aware of the connecting flight as she looked up the price while in Shanghai. So the reasonable thing to do was to buy the entire airfare from Shanghai to Albuquerque instead of trying to get a ticket at the counter. What if the connecting flight was sold out by then?

It just does not add up.

Broken Fact: Fu Ping's (In)Famous Three English Words

The Original Story:
On Page 3 of Bend, Not Break, Fu Ping wrote about her lack of English skills when she left China for America:

..yet I knew little about America. I had no home, no friends, and no sense of what awaited me there. I didn't have a single spare dollar in my pocket or speak more than three words of English. 

When we were airborne, the flight attendant came by, wheeling a cart. She was an American with blond hair, blue eyes, and a warm smile. In English, she asked me if I wanted something to eat or drink. I didn't understand her since I knew how to say only "Hello," "Thank you," and "Help,"...

The tale of "three English words" is so cute that it was repeated in almost all her speeches and media interviews. The trouble is, she doesn't always know which three words she knew at the time.

For example, on March 9, 2010, she told The Story:

Fu: I took basically a English phrase book and hecticly remember some of the useful words. By the time I get here, I can only remember three. [laugh] I can't remember many.
Gordon: which were?
Fu: which is "thank you", "help", and "excuse me".

The Changing Story:
After being criticized, Fu Ping issued a clarification on February 1, 2013:

Forbes said you arrived in the United States knowing only three words of English, yet there are different sets of those first three words: Inc.: Please, thank you, help; Bend, Not Break: Thank you, hello, help; NPR: Thank you, help, excuse me. 
In college, English language classes were offered, but not required. I had "level zero" English, just like most Americans know a few words of Spanish or French. I tried to learn more English when I knew I was going to the U.S., but when I arrived, I only remembered a few. 

Two weeks later, she produced yet another version on NC Bookwatch:

Fu: I didn't have money and I didn't speak English.
DG: You have 3 words in English, didn't you?
Fu: I tried to remember more than 3, but by the time I get here I only remembered 3. That was help, thank you, and sorry. Very useful words. 

In subsequent interviews, she did apear to be modifying the story slightly to allow the possibility that she did learn English while still in China. On March 1, 2013, she talked at the Downtown Speaker Series:

I had 80 dollars traveler's check and only a few words of English. I tried to learn English when I was in China when I knew I was going to come to the United States. I tried to memorize them but somehow by the time I landed in San Francisco I only remembered 3 words. That was "help", "thank you", and... there was another word that I can't remember. 

On March 19, on John Batchelor Show:

Batchelor: You could not speak English at the time. What did you say? You had the words "Help", "Hello", and "Thank you". That's all the English you have.
Fu: I did try to study English when I was in China but when I arrive I couldn't remember most of them and I couldn't speak. 

The Debunking:
In her clarification, she claimed that English language class was not required in her college. That's a lie. Ever since the reinstatement of college entrance exam in 1977, colleges in China has always required English classes regardless of students' major. A letter from Suzhou University also confirmed that it was the case for her and she actually earned pretty good scores in her English classes.

In addition, she has stated that, in her senior year in college, she was planning to go to graduate school and might have taken the entrance exam for it. All graduate school entrance exam include English language tests. It would be impossible for her not to study English while hoping for getting into a graduate school.

Furthermore, her earlier autobiography Drifting Bottle included several passages of her learning English while in China and boosted that she found her English was pretty good upon arriving at University of New Mexico.

As a young Chinese arriving to an unknown, foreign country in the 1980s, it is understandable that Fu Ping might have felt intimidated and awkward when she was forced to communicate in English for the first time. There might be occasions that words simply escaped her. But to claim that she only knew three English words is just not a factual truth.