Still: How Yiran Yu’s tenacious immigrant story led her to start a migration movement

Growing up in Chongqing, China, Yiran Yu never expected to leave her country.

“I had been receiving all Chinese education,” she said. “And I thought I would just follow this societal trend and go to a Chinese university and lead an ordinary life.”

ABOVE: A hand-drawn portrait of Yiran Yu, given by a friend before Yu left China. RIGHT: Yu and her brother, Xunyang, at his UC Davis graduation. SOURCE: COURTESY OF YIRAN YU

That all changed when, at age 15, Yu’s mother asked her if she’d consider pursuing an education in America. Now, with three years of American high school and two years at Boston University under her belt, Yu has come to value not just her own immigrant story, but those of immigrants around the country. That’s why Yu co-founded Migration Tales, a story-sharing website for migration narratives and activism.

The idea stemmed from an assignment in Yu’s anthropology class last fall in which she interviewed her mother about their family’s migration experience. “Although I knew the whole timeline of our migration, I didn’t know all the details and emotions,” she said in a phone interview last Wednesday.

Upon arrival in the United States, a brown-haired, bright-eyed Yu attended Pomfret School, a boarding high school in rural Connecticut. Yu said those first years alone at boarding school were especially isolating. “At the time, my parents still had work in China, so I was the only person in America. I just felt like I’m … fighting this all by my own, and I felt a bit lonely.”

Yu had trouble finding her identity during her early years in America, particularly with her nationality and residential status. “A lot of the time I felt really self-conscious and didn’t want my international friends to know that I’d no longer be international, but at the same time, I didn’t feel like I recognized myself as an American.”

These self-doubts gradually faded away as Yu graduated high school and explored her identity more as a student at Boston University. One common theme in her own reflection? Privilege.

“I was so painfully privileged to go to a boarding school,” Yu explained. “One of the first things I learned [immigrating to the U.S.] was to not take my privilege for granted. I realized that being able to migrate for opportunities was such an advantage, and I should really give back my privilege to help more people who are not able to access the opportunities that I have.”

As a result, Yu teamed up with fellow B.U. undergraduate Lara Werneck to launch Migration Tales, which has now expanded to a team of 13 young women, each with their own connections to the immigrant experience. Today, the group boasts more than 360 Instagram followers and has since caught the attention of media outlets on the Boston University campus, including coverage in The Daily Free Press and BU Today. Their site, www.migrationtales.org, is home to eight “Authentic Stories” of immigrants’ experiences and counting.

Nowadays, Yu continues to discover revelations about her own identity. Just a few months ago, Yu’s preferred name was her English name, Emerald. Now, she prefers something else.

“[Yiran] means ‘still,’ like if things are hard, I’m still strong,” she explained. “One day I was just like … why don’t I just go with Yiran? I think it’s a pretty name that my mother gave me, and I just really cherish the name.”

This article was written for the COM JO 200 Newswriting class at Boston University during the Spring 2021 Semester. Special thanks to Professor Christopher B. Daly for his guidance and support.