Dan Tang, a refugee from China, has shown the Thornton, Corolado, community that hard work
pays off. This weekend, he received a special honor more than 20 years in the making. Tang,
owner of Heaven Dragon restaurant, makes for his lack of a formal education by giving
scholarships to students in the Adams 12 School District every year to get theirs. Now, he was
repaid by being awarded an honorary high school diploma.
It was told that Dan Tang with 4 dollars in his pocket and 13 other people boarded a boat to the
States. Tang eventually made it to Colorado where he got a job in the restaurant and finally
owns a restaurant.
"With a second grade education he's made sure his children have the ability to go wherever they want to go just as he has done through hard work and chasing the American dream that way," Adams 12 School Board Member Frederick Schaefer said. (Source: Karlyn Tilley, Thornton News, Aug 19, 2007).