Page 3 of Memoir: Foolishly Brave Unconditionally Blessed, From a Chinese Girl to American Working Mother

March 21, 2022 by Jennifer Colegrove Ph.D. founder, Touch Display Research Inc.

Below is page 3 of my: “Memoir: Foolishly Brave Unconditionally Blessed, From a Chinese Girl to American Working Mother”.

(Continued from page 2)

A small village in China, 1975

My ancestry can be traced back to the scholar Confucius (孔丘) in China. Confucius was a famous educator and philosopher who lived over 2500 years ago; from 551-479 B.C. He had three thousand pupils from different states. Seventy-two became famous during his lifetime. Confucius wrote many books including The Spring and Autumn Annuals. A collection of his statements and discourses were written down later by his disciples and called The Analects (论语). Confucius’ philosophy is called “Ru,” and has influenced Chinese life and even all Asian life for over 2500 years. I am in the 76th generation of his descendants.

In the village with my grandparents, I grew up like a farmer’s girl with dark red skin, two little braids, and always wearing handmade cotton shirt and pants with handmade cotton shoes. In America today, we consider handmade garments to be very high-end, but in the 1970s in China, handmade clothes were cheaper and rough-looking. Machine-made fabrics were considered high-end with smooth beautiful patterns and more expensive.

Henan province was historically an agricultural province. It has a splendid history, for example, the capitals of several dynasties were in Henan province. However, during most of the years of the 20th century (1900-1990), Henan province was one of the poorest places in China.

I remember my grandparent’s home was a simple one-story house made of mud bricks. The house had one living room and two bedrooms. The floor of the house was soil. The window was a square hole on the wall covered with a piece of plastic film instead of glass. There was no electricity and no tap water in the village. There wasn’t even a light bulb, not to mention a television, refrigerator, or microwave oven.

The kitchen had an oven built with bricks, and a big black wok sat on top. My grandpa would light up a fire under the wok and grab corn cobs and straw for cooking fuel. My grandmother’s right hand was handicapped due to an illness. She couldn’t do much house work. My grandpa was the one who cooked and did most of the field work too. At the corner of the kitchen there was a big jar about three feet tall which held the drinking water. The water jar was inside the kitchen so the water wouldn’t freeze during the winter. My uncles would carry two empty barrels to the well in the village to fetch water, and fill up the big water jar.

A small oil lamp was the only light in the evening. It was only burned for a short time to save oil. We went to bed early because my grandpa and my two uncles, who were in their early 20s, had to wake up early the next morning to work in the fields planting corn, wheat, sweet potatoes or carrots. Our meals were mainly corn, sweet potatoes, carrots, and bok choi. Only during the Chinese New Year would my grandparents buy chicken eggs or pork to cook delicious dumplings.

Although the poverty was very severe during the 1970s in China, I was surrounded by the love of my grandparents, my two uncles, and my relatives. With my friends Xino and Jinsui we would run around and play catching tadpoles for hours until the parents or grandparents called us home for dinner.

(to be continued, or you can purchase and read the book now.)

 (to be continued, or you can purchase and read the book now.)

This Memoir includes:

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Praises of Foolishly Brave Unconditionally Blessed

“It is a good book. Hard to put down. Jerry “

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About Touch Display Research Inc.

Touch Display Research, Inc. (https://TouchDisplayResearch.com) is a technology market research and consulting firm specializing in touch screen and emerging display technologies such as OLED displays, quantum dots, flexible displays, e-paper displays, ITO-replacement, Active pen, near-eye displays, smart windows, micro & mini LED, gesture controls, voice controls, eye controls and Batteries. Touch Display Research helps technology companies grow and connecting their technologies to the marketplace. We have been writing about OLED industry for over 10 years. We were the first company to publish Quantum Dot market reports. We were the first company to publish Active Pen market report, and ITO-replacement market report.  We have always been there to analyze new and emerging technologies. Touch Display Research provides reports, consulting, and due diligence to touch suppliers, display manufacturers, semiconductor companies, consumer electronics ODMs/OEMs, material suppliers, investors and venture capitalists. Battery Market Research is a subsidiary division of Touch Display Research, and focuses on battery technologies and market. For report and consulting, please visit our website: TouchDisplayResearch.com. 

About the Author

Dr. Jennifer K. Colegrove is the founder and CEO of Touch Display Research Inc. (www.TouchDisplayResearch.com), a market research and consulting firm that focuses on touch screen, display, sensor, battery and emerging technologies.

Dr. Colegrove has over twenty years of industry experience.  She holds many analyst “firsts”: She was the first analyst to write a comprehensive touch screen industry report since 2006 (therefore, she is called “Doctor Touch” by her colleagues); she was the first analyst to write an active pen industry report since 2013; she was the first analyst to write an ITO-replacement industry report since 2013; she was the first analyst to write a quantum dot industry report since 2013; she was the first analyst to write a touchless HMI industry report since 2014.

She has authored over one hundred market forecast reports and over one hundred published articles. She is frequently quoted by media and industry press including The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Forbes, and Bloomberg. Dr. Colegrove has been a featured speaker and session chairperson at over one hundred worldwide conferences. Dr. Colegrove has advised over two hundred companies through her standard reports or consulting projects in recent years.

She has five patent applications with one U.S. patent granted.

Dr. Colegrove has a Ph.D. from the Liquid Crystal Institute at Kent State University in Ohio. She received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees with honors from Peking University in Beijing, China. To learn more about Dr. Jennifer Colegrove and her work, you can visit the website: www.TouchDisplayResearch.com  or JenniferColegrove.com