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“In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms,
Liu Bei the ruler visited Zhuge Liang
his prime minister’s cottage three
times, not just to seek a strategist,
but to find someone who could bring
peace to the nation. Today, there is a
woman warrior who, with her
professionalism, integrity, and spirit
of sacrifice, holds the line for the
people—to bring stability and peace to
this land.”
As a child growing up in Chengdu,
Sichuan province, I didn’t idolize pop
stars—I revered the wise figure of Zhuge
Liang from The Romance of the Three
Kingdoms.
Every child knew the stories: “Borrowing
Arrows with Straw Boats,” “The Empty
City Ruse,” “Debating in the Court of
Wu.” In Wuhou Shrine Park, where his
bronze statue stands watch among martial
generals and civil advisors, you can
still feel the echoes of war drums.
Two thousand years have passed, yet the
tradition of discussing heroes over wine
continues to shape our collective
Chinese mentality—eternally chasing the
heroes who rise for the people.
From Wall Street to Chinatown: Where Is
My Hero?
As an adult, I came to America. I spent
forty years navigating Wall Street and
Chinatown, and the question grew louder
in my heart: Where are my heroes?
Where are the heroes of the Chinese
American community?
Who is speaking on behalf of us?
Over the past four months, I saw one
woman appear again and again at major
events centered on women and justice:
California State Treasurer Fiona Ma. I
google her abs I’m fascinated and
inspired by her.
She is calm, steady, and speaks softly
but with great force.
She doesn’t wield a sword like the
warriors of the Three Kingdoms era, but
she is a modern-day Zhuge Liang in a
woman’s body—a warrior with a ledger and
a vision.
She uses budgets, bond issues, and
public policy to hold up a canopy of
dignity for millions of Californians.
1.
Liu Xiaoqing, Yue-Sai Kan,
Hollywood
—She Stands Up for Other Women
In January 2025, Chinese film iconic
star Liu Xiaoqing honored ten
exceptional women in Los Angeles. The
person presenting the award to Ms Liu?
Fiona Ma.
In February, the Chinese national
goddess who changed China’s color by a
single lipstick as New York Times
described, Yue-Sai Kan hosted Women Who
Dared in San Francisco to celebrate the
contributions of Asian American
women—Fiona was there in support.
At the Golden State Film Festival at
Hollywood’s TCL Chinese Theatre, Fiona
Ma not only promoted the film Everybody
Was Talking About You, but also made a
cameo appearance—a symbol of advocacy
for women.
That film told the story of how early
Hollywood exploited young actresses—from
child stars to leading ladies.
Fiona didn’t just support it; she
stepped in front of the camera to
say: “I stand with you.”
There is a common thread among these
women—Liu Xiaoqing, Yue-Sai Kan, Fiona
Ma, and the film’s lead actress. None of
them have biological children, but all
have dedicated their lives to the public
good and other people’s children.
I’ve often asked myself—if I didn’t have
a daughter, who would I have given my
time to, l sometimes doubted my
existence.
In them, I seem to find an
answer:Today’s heroes may not be
billionaires or owners of sprawling
mansions; they are the ones who give
things up—so others may rise.
2.
Her Roots Are Tied to Mine
—The Shared Bloodline of Immigrants
Fiona Ma was born in New York. Her
father, from Yunnan, was the son of a
legendary general. He came to the U.S.
to study, returned to China to serve,
then moved to Hong Kong, and finally
settled
in America.
His journey mirrors my own. I left China
forty years ago, alone, to study in
America. He sought a life of purpose and
survival.We, the next generation, seek
more—we seek meaning and contribution.
Fiona lived her first two decades in New
York, I lived my last 30 years in New
York. We both eventually moved west to
continue writing our version of the
American Dream.
One day, we briefly talked about home—Yunnan,
Guizhou, Sichuan.At that moment, all the
distance between us disappeared.
Because “home” is not just a place on a
map—it’s a root in the soul. It’s where
culture, language, and legacy live.
3.
Her Story Is Also Ours
This past March, the United Nations
hosted its largest-ever Women’s Summit:
over 100 countries attended and hosted
600 events. The overflowing conference
halls spilled out into diplomatic
buildings surrounding the UN.
I attended one of the ceremonies
honoring Asian American women for
cultural contribution and was recognized
with a Philanthropy Award for producing
a television drama titled Main Street— I
was recognized with a Philanthropy Award
for producing a television Main Street.
The title came from or rather named
after the Main Street in the heart of
Flushing, Queens, and told through the
eyes of a Chinese immigrant mother and
daughter navigating love, faith,
and identity.
As I stepped onto the stage to receive
my award, I thought of Fiona Ma. Her
appearance in Everybody Was Talking
About You and my drama Main Street share
the same mission:To tell our stories.Not
through the lens of others, but through
our own voices, our own lens.To reclaim
our place in the American narrative—not
as shadows, but as authors.
4.
Her Battlefield Is the
Treasury;
Her Weapon Is Numbers and Integrity
In 2019, California issued $180
billion in state bonds—one of the
largest municipal bond efforts in U.S.
history. The funds were channeled into
infrastructure, education, autism
services, elder care, and homelessness
prevention.
While heading to interview her, my Uber
driver heard who I was meeting,
he paused, then said, “Could you tell
her something for me? To thank her. My
son and I—we are so grateful to her.”
He went on:“My
son has cerebral palsy. He’s eight and
still crawls. My wife left long ago. I
don’t blame her—it was too much. But
Fiona passed a law…Families like
mine—parents of severely disabled
children—can now stay home and take care
of them.The government pays us. I quit
my job at Spectrum, stayed home, and
watched my son grow.He’s 21 now. He can
cook a bit. Wash his clothes. But he
still can’t tell glass doors from open
ones—he walks into them, bleeds. Every
month, I get a check signed by Fiona Ma.
And I cry.In rich America, she sees the
poor. She sees us.”
The ancient Chinese saying goes:
“Be
the first to worry, the last to enjoy.”
In 2019, Fiona Ma won her race for State
Treasurer in a landslide—an
unprecedented feat in California’s
180-year history. She is the first Asian
American woman ever elected to this
office.
Why? You may ask.
Because people saw her heart and what
age stands for. Because they knew her
20+ years of public service were driven
not by politics,
but by purpose.
Managing $3 Trillion, Earning $175K
—Is It Worth It? Anyone would wonder, so
would I!
California’s economy is the fifth
largest in the world, and the state
handles $3 trillion annually. I’ve
worked on Wall Street—I know what
managing that kind of money means. If
Fiona Ma were a bank CEO, she’d earn $50
million a year.
Today, as Treasurer, she earns just
$175,000.
So I asked her, “Is it worth it?”
She smiled. “My
father once told me: ‘If you want to go
into politics, I can’t stop you. To find
a stable job, with health insurance, and
retirement—that’s the American Dream.’
In a way he consented.”
Then she looked at me and added:“But
that dream shouldn’t belong to just
me. Every immigrant, every working
person—should have access to a safe,
stable, respectful life.That’s my
American Dream.”
In that moment, I thought again of Zhuge
Liang’s words in his famous Memorial to
the Emperor: “I
will dedicate myself to service until
death.”
5.
It’s Time to Rewrite Our Own
“Feast of Heroes”
I came from Chengdu, and walked into
Wall Street, and shifted from being a
listener to being a storyteller. For 40
years, I’ve searched for someone who
could represent us—speak for us. Someone
who would not seek worship, but walk
beside us, speak for us,
fight for our future.
And now, I’ve found her -Fiona Ma!
She is not just a public official. She
is the Treasurer of California.She is
our real-life Asian American wise
warrior “Zhuge Liang.” She wears a
suit, not armor. She drafts budgets, not
battle plans. She has no children, yet
has raised generations of social
programs that nurture our children.
She is a minority, yet guards the
majority and the core of our
democracy. She is the woman protecting
our wealth—and our hope.
As I left the interview, her assistant
handed me a piggy bank.
“After the wildfires, some people lost
everything overnight,”
he said.
“So our campaign slogan is simple:
Start saving today. Even just a little
bit each day.”
Article by
Dr Jeannie Yi,
the best
selling author of The Haier Way
-The birth of a business leader and a global brand
The book became the first Harvard case
study on
How to do business in China
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