Zhicheng was born and raised in Shanghai, China. On the day she was born, in the spring of 1949, her mother could hear artillery fire in the distance. It was Mao's army, which had just crossed the Yangtze River, closing in on the city of Shanghai. A few weeks later, Mao's troops were marching through the city.
Zhicheng's family name is Li. It is the second-most common family name in China. Literally, Li means a plum tree. The Chinese character for Li is a combination of the character for tree and the character for child. The idea is that plum trees are popular with children, who come to the tree to pick ripe plums.
