Worse yet, it's a sunny Saturday Asian fast facts Where Virginia Asians are Asians in Blacksburg Asians in the Roanoke Region afternoon, and the pupils are less than enthused about being in class on a weekend. The students, children of Chinese natives, speak some Chinese but spend most of their days speaking English in school, with their friends and among one an other. Moving between the blackboard and children, Chung instructs her students in Chinese, and they pepper her with questions in English. Twenty years ago, there was little need for a school in Blacksburg to teach Chinese-American children their parents' native tongue and cultures. Few Asian people lived in the area.
Today is another story.
The Chinese School of VPI is one example of how the growth of the Asian community during the past two decades is changing the cultural face of the New River Valley. Drawn to the area by Tech and the increasing number of high-tech jobs, Chinese, Indian and other Asian immigrants are moving into Blacksburg. And more of them are settling down with their families than ever before, data suggest. From 1990 to 2000, Montgomery County's Asian population grew 18 percent to surpass blacks as the largest minority in the county, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released this month. Asians make up 20 percent or more of some neighborhoods in town, the data indicate.