12 Inspiring Stories From Asians That Prove 2018 Wasn’t A Complete D‌i‌s‌‌ast‌er

1. 73-year-old backpacker and world’s coolest grandmother, Ms. Qi, inspired people across the globe when she revealed that she had been traveling around the world alone while couch-surfing and carpooling. Qi uses her social media account to update family members and fans and even writes to her 92-year-old mother every day during her travels.

2. This Vietnamese grandmother showed the internet what true love looks like when she went viral for studying English four to five hours a day to be able to communicate with her granddaughter. Tracy Vu posted photos of her grandmother to Twitter along with photos of her notes, and needless to say, netizens couldn’t handle the cuteness.

3. An adorable toddler went viral on Twitter for imitating his Muslim daycare teachers in one of the most precious videos on the internet. His older sister began recording as the child pulled a mat out of his diaper bag and laid on it as if he was praying.

4. Who could forget this beloved Pixar gem? “Bao” was Pixar’s first female-directed short, and was written and directed by Domee Shi, a Chinese-Canadian director. The storyline may have confused a few White people on Twitter, but to Asian Americans, it was an incredibly touching story based off Chinese cultural experiences and empty nest syndrome.

5. The beloved K-pop group BTS made history by performing in the largest stadium concert of any Korean Artist in the U.S. to date. Citi Field has a capacity of 40,000 and within just 20 minutes of the tickets going on sale, all of the seats had sold out.

6. South Korean diners spontaneously burst into song in a South African restaurant after being handed a Djembe drum by a staff member. The show choir team’s jaw-dropping rendition of “The Circle of Life” captivated the entire establishment as some restaurant employees even joined in by dancing and singing along.

7. A single father in Thailand wore a dress to his two sons’ school for a Mother’s Day event. The widowed father of two quickly gained attention through social media when these photos were shared on Facebook.

8. In 2018, Planned Parenthood named their first Asian-American doctor and immigrant as their president. Dr. Leana Wen is a first-generation Chinese immigrant who arrived in the U.S. after being granted political asylum. She was raised with little money in Compton, California and relied on Planned Parenthood for medical care.

9. An entire Chinese city joined in to find a young boy’s lost hearing aid. The cochlear implant would cost the family $40,000 to replace which they claimed they could not afford. The family reached out to Dahe Daily who shared the story with their readers and quickly went viral on Chinese social media. Luckily, the boy was eventually reunited with his implant after a woman discovered the device.

10. Customers of a Californian doughnut shop in Seal Beach have been buying out all of the doughnuts early in the morning so the owner can be with his sick wife. John and Stella Chhan are both refugees from Cambodia who opened Donut City and have been running the shop together for three decades. When regular patrons learned of Stella’s poor health and her need for continuous care and attention, they began purchasing dozens of doughnuts to help the store sell out quickly. With their help, Chhan is able to close his shop as early as 8 a.m. to go visit his wife.

11. Dr. Ricardo Pun-Chong, an Asian Peruvian doctor was named CNN’s “2018 Hero of the Year” for his decade-long commitment to charity work in Peru, providing free housing, meals and support for poor families of sick children receiving free treatment. In 2008, he created a home that cares for impoverished children; his organization has helped over 800 families so far.

12. Time Magazine’s 2018 “Person of the Year” included four Asian journalists: Jamal Khashoggi, Maria Ressa, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo. Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was known as a staunch critic of Saudi’s Crown Prince and was killed in October in a Saudi Arabian consulate in Turkey. Ressa is the founder of a Philippines news website called Rappler that is critical of President Rodrigo Duterte’s policies. Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were imprisoned in Myanmar while reporting on the Rohingya crisis.

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