At the end of 2001, the front page of the "Yangcheng Evening News" featured a report titled "Five Foreign Kids Return to Chinese Mainland to Study." The photo below the title showed a blonde-haired and blue-eyed American mother leading her "foreign kids" into a local primary school in Dongguan. Over two decades later, the family has gained renewed attention. Their youngest daughter, Aju (Chinese name Luo Yali, known online as "Addy Aju"), now a social media content creator, shared her family's story in China in the video "Foreigners Made the Front Page of Yangcheng Evening News 24 Years Ago". The video has garnered over 4 million views, more than 100,000 likes and tens of thousands of comments.

At that time, Aju's father, Luo Deji, held a stable finance job in Hong Kong. Frequent business trips to Shanghai allowed him to witness the city's rapid development—bicycles on the streets giving way to streams of cars within just a few years. "I felt the Chinese mainland was on the rise. There were more opportunities there," he recalled. So he and his wife moved with their five children, aged 4 to 10, to Dongguan, Guangdong.

The report from the "Yangcheng Evening News" 24 years ago recorded the couple's thoughts at the time. They said their greatest hope is for their five children to speak fluent Mandarin and Cantonese, write beautiful Chinese characters, and ultimately become "China hands." They believe their children will be a perfect blend of Eastern and Western education.

Aju said that her parents' decision was like tossing five kids straight into the vast "ocean" of China, and they just watched from the shore, throwing down a lifebuoy at most, so she and her siblings had to learn to "swim" on their own. She reflected that it was anything but easy for parents to set aside all their own experience and trust an unfamiliar system during their children's growth.

The Luo couple's choices and persistence eventually paid off. Of the five children, two attended Xiamen University and three studied at Sun Yat-sen University. Today, except for the eldest daughter, Luo Yunni, who works in Singapore, the other four children have all stayed in China to build their careers. The second daughter, Luo Manli, works as an English teacher at a kindergarten in Shenzhen. The fourth child, Luo Jiexin, runs a bar in Dongguan. The third child, Luo Huili, and the youngest, Aju, are both content creators. Beyond their careers, all five children serve as their father's best "interpreters" and advisers in business. With the weight of family responsibilities lifted, Misa becomes a regular "mahjong partner" with several Chinese friends.

In September 2025, Aju and her sister Luo Huili took a trip back to the United States and filmed a short video titled "Venturing into New York." The comment section below the video buzzed with excitement: "Two Cantonese girls taking on New York!" "You're two-faced—American on the outside, pure Chinese on the inside!" Such playful remarks abounded. These jokes, in fact, offered the gentlest affirmation of Aju's identity. "My dad is German, and my mom is American, but I grew up in China. This is where my roots are," she said.

What once seemed like an unconventional choice now appears to be an accurate prediction. The Luo family witnessed China's rise to the world's second-largest economy, and Guangdong's GDP surging from 1 trillion yuan to 14 trillion yuan. Their personal experiences show that the most successful"China hands" can stand at the intersection of Eastern and Western cultures and find their own place, allowing their lives to grow in a shape uniquely their own.

24年过去，五个洋娃娃真的成了“中国通”

2001年年底，《羊城晚报》头版登了一篇题为《五个洋娃娃齐齐返大陆读书》的报道。配图中，一位金发碧眼的美国妈妈牵着“洋娃娃”们，走进东莞一所本地小学。20多年过去，这家人又“出名”了——小女儿阿菊（中文名罗雅莉，网名“阿菊Addy”）作为自媒体博主，在视频《24年前，洋人登上羊城晚报》中讲述了一家人在中国的故事，这条视频播放量达400多万，收获逾10万点赞、上万条留言。

当初，阿菊的父亲罗德基在香港干着安稳的财务工作，常因工作去上海出差，亲眼看着满街的自行车在几年间换成了川流不息的汽车。“我觉得中国内地正走上坡路。在内地，机会更多。”于是他带着妻子美沙和五个4到10岁的孩子，迁往广东东莞。

《羊城晚报》24年前的报道，记录了老罗夫妇当时的想法：“我们最大的愿望就是让五个孩子说一口流利的普通话和粤语，写一手漂亮的中国字，最终成为‘中国通’。我们的孩子将是中西方教育的完美结合。”

“我爸妈做的决定，就像把五个小孩直接扔进了中国的‘海洋’里。他们只在岸边看着，最多扔个救生圈下来，我们得自己扑腾着学会游泳。”阿菊感慨，父母在孩子成长的岁月里，要放下自己的全部经验，去相信一个陌生的系统，绝非易事。

老罗夫妇当年的选择与坚持有了回报：五个孩子，两个上了厦门大学，三个读了中山大学。如今，除老大罗云妮在新加坡工作外，其他四个孩子都留在中国发展。老二罗曼莉在深圳的一家幼儿园做英文教师。老四罗杰信在东莞开了一家酒吧。老三罗惠莉和最小的阿菊都做起了自媒体博主。除此之外，五个孩子也是父亲生意上最好的“翻译”和参谋。美沙卸下了家庭重担，和几位中国牌友成了“麻将搭子”。

今年9月，阿菊和姐姐罗惠莉回了趟美国，拍了一条《勇闯纽约》短片。视频下方的评论区热闹非凡：“两个老广勇闯纽约！”“你们表里不一，外表美国人，内里纯中国人！”诸如此类的调侃比比皆是。这些玩笑，恰是对阿菊身份认同最温柔的认证：“我爸德国人，我妈美国人，但我在中国长大。这里就是我的根。”

当年那个“反常”的选择，在今天看来像一则精准的预言。罗家见证了中国成为世界第二大经济体，也见证了广东全省GDP从1万亿元到14万亿元的跃升。他们用亲身经历证明，最成功的“中国通”，能在东西方文化的交汇处，找到属于自己的位置，让生命长出独特的形状。

统筹｜赵鹏 吴珊
文字｜吴珊 赵鹏 付怡 陈辉
摄影｜邓鼎园 温泽广
剪辑｜周敬雅 麦宇恒
部分素材由受访者提供
翻译丨盛嘉
审校丨赵凡