Rushan Gao
Rushan Gao
Age 91
Rushan was born in Shanghai, China in 1921. His father was a photographer with a shop in Shanghai. Unfortunately, his father died when he was 3 years old and his mother died when he was 7. Rushan had an older brother who died when he was 1 year old. His younger brother was given up for adoption. Much later, Rushan tried to find him, but he was too late. His brother died of a disease when he was 16 years old. Rushan was raised by his uncle (his mother's brother) and his wife. His uncle was a maritime customs official in Shanghai. Rushan grew up with his uncle's daughter, 6 years older, and his son, who was 1 year younger.
Rushan went to Shanghai Chiao-Tung University, studied mechanical engineering and graduated in 1946. Initially he worked for the China National Aviation Corporation. In 1948 he married. He and his wife had 3 daughters, all of them are now in the US: the oldest in Chicago and single; the 2nd one in Houston and now retired; the youngest also in Houston and a tenured professor of biochemistry at the University of Houston.
In 1949 he moved to Beijing to work in the Ministry of Water Resources. He worked on irrigation systems and was employed there for about 50 years.
In 1981 he spent a year in Rome as a consultant to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). He worked on irrigation projects for Asian countries and visited India, Bangladesh, the Phillipines, Thailand and others.
In 1991, Rushan retired from the Ministry of Water Resources, but continued to consult with them. Then, in 1993, his wife's brother, who worked for duPont in New Jersey, helped them immigrate to the US and obtain green cards. They moved initially to Chicago to be with their oldest daughter a short time, then moved to Houston to be with their youngest daughter. Each year they spent about 6 months in the US and 6 months in Beijing.
Rushan's wife died in 1998 after 50 years of marriage. In 1999 he moved to Rainbow Village senior apartments in Houston, which is entirely populated by Chinese Americans, and still lives there now. He remarried in 2003 at age 82. His new wife has 2 sons, one in Japan and one in China. He says that her sons are good to him. Unfortunately, his daughters did not accept his new wife and have cut off communication with him.
Rushan appears to be in very good health, although he says he has 6 stints in his heart arteries (4 in 2006 and 2 in 2009). Each year he and his wife travel to Beijing to see friends and relatives there.
Rushan has two passions that he has been pursuing vigorously since arriving in the US. He is a champion table tennis player and contract bridge player. Rushan has won 123 medals through participation in senior Olympic games at the city, state, national, and global levels since 2000, 90% of which are gold,. He plays men's singles, men's doubles and mixed doubles table tennis. He has many resolutions and proclamations in his honor, including from Houston Mayors Brown, White and Parker, US congressional representatives and Texas dignitaries. He was a torch bearer for the Senior games in 2006. His apartment is filled with medals, ribbons, plaques and photographs with dignitaries recognizing his achievements.
Rushan continues to be very active. Every morning he drives to the Chinese Community Center to play table tennis, and 3-4 times a week in the afternoon he drives to Tracy Gee or Bayland Park Community Center to play contract bridge. He is currently organizing 2 table tennis tournaments, one in September and one next January. He has many friends, mostly table tennis and bridge players.
