[In February 1985, I packed all my belongings into eight cardboard boxes, ready to head back to Taiwan for development.
Just the night before my luggage was shipped to the port, my graduation work "The Boundary" won Best Picture and Best Director at the New York University Film Festival. An agent from William Morris, one of the three major U.S. agencies, immediately offered to sign with me, saying I had a lot of potential in America and urged me to stay and give it a try.
At the time, my wife Huijia was still pursuing her doctorate in Illinois, with our son Lee Han, who was less than a year old. She was just half a year away from obtaining her degree.
I thought: The child is still young, and my wife hasn't yet obtained her degree. It might be good to stay in America for a while longer to be with them and also to try my luck.
The agent was very generous with praise: "You'll have no problems in America, and if anyone thinks being Chinese is a problem, that's their problem."