In a Southern California Prison, Zhang Xinlei, 19, son of Zhang Fan, is finally acquiring the education he missed and for which he has traveled to US, from the southern Chinese city of Shenzen.
Now that he is being forced to mix with Americans, his English has finally improved, according to his father.
On February 17, Zhang was sentenced to six years in prison on charges of kidnapping and assault for his role in an attack on a schoolmate.
According to the court, Zhang, Zhai Yunyao, and Yang Yuhan were among a group of Chinese students who kidnapped and assaulted Liu Yiran on March 30, in Rowland Heights, in Los Angeles County.
Zhang, Zhai and Yang stripped Liu, burned her with cigarettes, cut off her hair and even made her eat it. For the hedonistic crime, Zhai was sentenced to 13 years and Yang for 10 years.
The case has attracted new attention to "parachute kids," Asian teenagers sent by their parents to the United States in the hope of securing them a better education and career opportunities.
However, these kids due to living with foster or host families and become wayward. Notably, Zhang's family run a manufacturing business and he arrived in California in 2012, and he was staying with a Mexican - American family.
Zhang was first known to attend a Christian school, and then was transferred to Oxford School, where most of his classmates were other international students, mostly from China.
In an interview, Zhang's father Fan discussed the problems the Chinese students face when they migrate to America for education.
Fan, when asked as to what advice will he give the Chinese parents who want to send their child abroad, said that they should learn the American law. As a parent he never understood the American law, and hence lost the case.
When he was asked why he sent his son at such a young age to study in US, he mentioned that one of Xinlei's friends was going to US, and his mother asked if he wanted to send Xinlei also, to which he agreed. The agent who they spoke to said that the school was good, and the children would learn English once they travelled to US. He also mentioned that in US, the educational opportunity is better than that in China and he was doing what everyone else was doing, according to reports from New York Times.
He also mentioned that Xinlei was quite good when he was in China, and he did quite well in primary school. However, once he entered high school, he became quite interested in computer games and didn't do well in his studies.
Fan said that Xinlei is a soft person, and in some ways a bit weak, and does whatever people asks of him. According to Fan, the biggest mistake of Xinlei was perhaps associating himself with Zhai Yunayo, as he did everything Zhai said and was accosted in the scene.
Fan also mentioned that Xinlei's life in the US was lonely and filled with difficulties, which he didn't want to discuss with his parents even. He just spoke about his problems when he was in need of financial support, and the language barrier was always an issue because he couldn't understand and couldn't voice his issues easily in English.
