8 Anshan, China, the city where Spc. Mike Liu with Bravo Company, 186th Brigade Support Battalion was born, is about a seven-hour drive east of Beijing. It’s a modern city of 3.5 million people with towering skyscrapers that sort of make it look like Chicago. Unlike the wind city though, Qianshan Mountain is just off to the horizon offering spectacular views of jagged peaks that earned it the nickname of the mountain of a thousand lotus flowers.
With all of its beauty and amenities, Anshan is a far cry from the mid-region of China where Mike’s father used to live. Mike remembers visiting his father’s countryside town. It had no running water and limited electricity. Perhaps it was this modest lifestyle that motivated Mike’s father to work hard, get a good education, and become a lawyer. Turning life around was certainly no easy feat, especially since his father was the first ever to earn a college degree, much less a law degree.