Born in South China before 1949, brought up and educated in Southeast Asia and Australia, and worked in Southeast, Australia and Hong Kong, Professor Yen has a unique personal experience in telling the fascinating stories of the encounter and clashes of cultural and social values between East and West. Imbued with many traditional Chinese cultural values such as diligence, perseverance, resilience and determination, he tells his life story how he was determined to climb the pinnacle of scholarship. As an ethnic minority in the Australian society, he devoted himself to fight for the interests of the diaspora Chinese community and helped promote multi-culturalism in Australia. This book also provides first-hand source materials for the study of diaspora Chinese intellectuals studying and working in a Western university: his initial problem of adjusting to a new western environment, his experience of cultural dislocation, the clashes of cultural values and social mores, his experience of racial discrimination, and his pursuit of academic excellence.