Priscilla Chan Is Every Tiger Mom's Dream Child

Why My Mom Wishes I Was More Like Priscilla Chan

When news broke of Priscilla Chan's marriage to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, you could hear a collective sigh from every Chinese-American girl in America, myself included. Not necessarily because we were envious of the bride, but in anticipation of the inevitable phone call from our mothers, asking if we heard of "this Priscilla Chan girl" and if so, why couldn't we be more like her? Her resume reads like every immigrant mother's dream: bachelor's degree from Harvard and a medical degree from University of California San Francisco Medical School (one of the top five in the country); soon she'll begin her a pediatric residency at UCSF. To top off her list of impressive career accomplishments, she's now married to one of the youngest billionaires in history. In the age of Tiger Mom parenting, Chan is the ultimate success story to be retold to countless Asian-American, and in particular Chinese-American, daughters.

The English-speaking media jumped on the ZuckerChan wedding news - and Chinese and Chinese-American media followed suit. World Journal, one of the largest newspapers serving the Chinese-speaking population in North America, posted details about the nuptials, following up with a translation of the piece that ran on BuzzFeed Shift comparing Chan to Kate Middleton. Apple Daily, a major Hong Kong news organization, also covered it. Should any Chinese mom have missed the papers, Chinese TV news programs seized on the story, too, with every reporter quick to call out Harvard, UCSF Medical School, and the groom’s billionaire status.

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