Chen Lixing is a sociologist who gained a university teaching post in Japan when she was 42, having overcome such barriers as age, gender and nationality.

She is now at the University of California, Berkeley, conducting a one-year comparative study on international small and midsize enterprises. She lives in Berkeley with her 15-year-old daughter, Yixing, and 6-year-old son, Yisi.

Her Chinese husband, an academic at a Japanese university, remained behind at their home in Suzuka, Mie Prefecture.