Early in 1986 when Joe Borich was head of the political section at the American Institute in Taipei , he was late arriving at a friend's gathering .

When seated, he found he was the only foreign guest and there weren't many familiar faces. Aware of his social embarrassment, Ting Hsiao-hui, a famous Taiwan singer and movie star, broke the silence and talked to him first.

"Then everything started from there," Borich recalled. "I plucked up the courage to ask her phone number when I realized that maybe I'll never see her after the party."

On March 1, 1987, Borich married Ting, and on May 19 of that year, they had a traditional Chinese wedding in Taipei.

Ting was born in a tradition-oriented Chinese family and when she married Borich, transnational marriages weren't widely accepted in Taiwan. Ting's parents weren't happy with the marriage until an incident forever changed their mind. Shortly after their wedding, her mother had a heart attack and was in critical condition. Borich knew a very good cardiologist in Taipei, and sent his mother-in-law to him for treatment.

In 2001, the couple adopted their only daughter, Grace, from a Shanghai orphanage. "When we were advised by the Chinese authorities in late summer of 2001 that our application had been approved we were overjoyed," Borich said.

Borich, Ting, their 12-year-old daughter, Grace, and their five-year-old poodle, Guaiguai, live in Shoreline, Washington, just north of Seattle.

- Deng Yu