So might I ask how you're so adept at Mandarin? I have some American Born Chinese friends (ABC's) who don't understand a speck of their mother tongue ... You must be rare and congrats for that
I was lucky. Our city's central library has a whole shelf of Chinese books. And we have newspapers in Chinatown, and a Chinese channel showing Hongkong TV shows. I read all the Chinese books, that I could find, mostly Martial Arts novels.