Qian Wang was born in
Shijiazhuang, China to academic parents. Wang's father fled China to the United States when she was five; Wang and her mother followed two years later in 1994. After their temporary
visas expired, the Wang family remained in the United States as
undocumented immigrants in
Brooklyn. Wang's father enrolled her at P.S. 124 in
Chinatown, but few of her classmates and teachers spoke
Mandarin Chinese, thus isolating her even within a seemingly familiar community. Unable to speak English or
Cantonese, Wang was initially placed in a
special-needs classroom, but was returned to mainstream instruction after she was observed teaching herself to read English through picture books. Wang returned to the United States to attend
Swarthmore College. Her upbringing in poverty in America is the subject of Wang's breakout memoir
Beautiful Country. == Career ==