After years of trying, Guo Liang and her husband, Zhi Peng, were desperate for a child. Countless trips to doctors and fertility specialists yielded no results for the young couple. Their middle-class earnings as restaurant owners in Chinatown left little to spent on expensive in vitro treatments, and thus the pair resigned themselves to a childless future. Two years after their acceptance of what seemed to be fact, Guo fell pregnant. Shocked and overjoyed, Zhi Peng nearly fainted from the news. In the summer of 1996, Xinyi Liang was born in Boston, Massachusetts. To assimilate her more in American culture, Guo and Zhi Peng chose the American name ‘Julie’ for its sound and similar meaning. Considering her a ‘miracle baby’, Guo and Zhi Peng showered their daughter with affection. Julie’s early years were spent at the heels of her parents, shadowing their every move. She was a curious and energetic child; so curious, in fact, that she was constantly getting into trouble for exploring dangerous areas with reckless abandon. Worried she may find herself defenseless and in trouble, Zhi Peng enrolled a young Julie in their local wuguan, where she practiced wushu and kung fu. Zhi Peng, a practitioner of martial arts himself, was impressed to see his daughter’s natural aptitude for the sports.
School was a unique challenge for Julie. She was not a particularly bright student- her grades typically hovered around or slightly below average. Her father, a Taiwanese immigrant, and her mother, half Chinese and half American, came from cultural backgrounds known for scholastic excellence. Julie’s subpar academic performance was a disappointment to her father. Conversely, Guo saw Julie’s flair for arts and athletics. In addition to her martial arts training, Guo placed her daughter in gymnastics classes (a great complement to her wushu skillset) and enrolled her at Chittick Elementary school, a magnet for performance arts. For the first time, Julie began to excel. She was cast in the lead of several school plays, often bringing home scripts to obsessively memorize. Though she was picked on for her tall, gangly, and often awkward appearance, Julie was quick to stand up for herself. Brash and tactless, her rough-and-tumble attitude led to playground fistfights that she usually won (thanks to her martial arts education). Guo and Zhi Peng, outwardly apologetic for their daughter’s aggressive behavior, laughed in secret at Julie’s resemblance to her father. Zhi Peng, once an ornery street kid in Taiwan, displayed many of the same behaviors in his youth.
Adolescence brought on a rebellious streak. A cantankerous, ornery attitude replaced the playful shenanigans of her childhood. She began to butt heads with her parents, who sought to put an end to her unsavory behavior. Desperate to fit in, Julie ran with a rowdy crowd of mischievous teenagers at Boston Arts Academy. Her grades began to drop as she dedicated more time to her social life; to keep up with her newly demanding schedule, Julie quit gymnastics. This was a great disappointment to the Liangs, who felt Jenna had sacrificed a passion and a great piece of her identity to please those of little importance. Though she continued to diligently practice martial arts, the concession was not enough to please her parents. Guo and Zhi Peng loved their daughter immensely, reminding her that their strict rules and expectations were in Julie’s best interests. In preteen defiance, many of these lectures were ignored. Julie spent her days with her friends at the mall, shoplifting and playing pranks on security officers for cheap thrills. Her wushu and gymnastics training were helpful for both pickpocketing and escaping as she constantly evaded getting caught. Tensions increased at home, but they weren’t completely tumultuous; there were many moments during these rebellious years where she was well-behaved. She sparred with her father and helped her mother cook at the restaurant, sharing laughs and tenderness if only for a brief time.
A particularly heated argument with her father in February 2009 led Julie to leave home in an angry act of rebellion. She walked all the way to Boston Common, intending to return home before night fell on the city. Worried after hours passed without word from their daughter, the Liangs got in their car and drove up and down downtown. Both Guo and Zhi Peng sent several messages to Julie- most of them reading that they loved and only wanted the best for her. Julie, moved by her parents’ dedication, decided to come home. She texted her father to tell her she was on her way and she’d see him soon, to which he replied with a simple heart. It would be their last conversation. In the icy conditions, a drunk driver fishtailed into the Liangs’ vehicle, killing them both in an instant. Expecting her parents, Julie answered the door of their Chinatown apartment to two police officers who broke the news. Devastated and blaming herself, Julie ran. Her heaving sobs hindered her agility; it wasn’t long before the cops caught up to her. At thirteen, Julie Liang became an orphan.
Julie was sent to live with her mother’s sister, Hope Xing, in Boston’s Back Bay. She was kind and accommodating to her, but guardianship was a financial hardship. It was clear to Julie that Hope struggled to pay for her needs. Feeling like a burden, she resolved to use her shifty shoplifting techniques to nick food and clothes from the mall so as not to worry her aunt. The loss of her parents led Julie to care less and less what her peers thought of her, which only drew them in. Bucking the image of a rebellious teenager (though she continued to steal for necessities), Julie regressed to the personality she had as a child- curious, friendly, funny, but ultimately unrefined. She rediscovered her enthusiasm for drama, impressing her art school teachers with her ability and movement. The escapism she gained from acting proved cathartic and therapeutic as she aggressively pursued acting. Wushu also provided an emotional outlet for her sadness, and she continued to practice the art diligently. Julie made a conscious effort to replace her sadness with exhaustion, and her efforts paid off- in 2014, she was accepted to Boston University’s College of Fine Arts as a theatre major.
To pay for the many expenses of college life not covered by financial aid, Julie continues to perform acts of petty theft for food, clothes, and household items, evading security as she always has. She moved back to a small studio apartment in Chinatown, and continues to work with her aunt in the restaurant once owned by her parents. In addition to serving, she does lighting work for school productions she is not involved in. Julie rarely tells her new friends about her parents, though those she is really close with know the sad truth. Over the years, she has learned to compartmentalize her grief, and is outwardly happy-go-lucky and enthusiastic, if not a little mischievous, around others.
Attended Chittick Elementary School, Clarence R. Edwards Middle School, and Chinatown; she now lives on her own on 35 Oak St., not far from the apartment she once shared with her parents.
Has auditioned for several film production in the Boston area, but found herself only getting cast in stereotypically Asian roles. Has since decided to focus primarily on theatre productions, as she finds this side of drama to be less prejudiced.
Does not have a driver’s license; her preferred method of getting around Boston is to travel on the T and using a pair of Megacruiser in-line skates.
Practices Wing Chun kung fu and wushu since age 5. She also has a background in gymnastics, but quit in favor of social pursuits during middle school. Both martial arts have proved valuable skills in her petty thievery efforts- she has successfully evaded arrest for nearly a eight years. Her preferred target is the Prudential Center.
Once worked as an intern for Atlas Pyrovision at Fenway Park. During her tenure, she learned the ins and outs of pyrotechnic lighting. She was fired 3 months into her internship for stealing food from the concession stand. To protest what she thought was wrongful termination, she stole an entire backpack full of concession snacks and nearly 100 fireworks, occasionally setting them off in Chinatown when she feels festive.
Remnants of her delinquent streak include a love for early 80s punk music, leather jackets, Marlboro Menthols, and tattered Vans.
A decent cook of traditional Sichuan food, having worked in her family’s restaurant since childhood.
Speaks fluent Mandarin, Cantonese, and English; can read Simplified Chinese (poorly). Her mother was 1/2 American, 1/2 Cantonese (originally from Guangzhou, China) and her father was Taiwanese (originally from Taipei).
Jubilation Lee is a Chinese-American girl who was born in Los Angeles, California, where she lived with her wealthy immigrant parents. An immensely talented gymnast, she was believed to have the potential to participate in the Olympic Games. However, Jubilation used her agility engaging in petty robberies with her best friend, making their escape on their roller blades. Most of her time was spent in malls. One day, Jubilee was trapped in a dead-end alley by a pair of mall cops. Fearing juvenile detention, and her parents‘ reaction, she panicked and her mutant powers activated for the first time, destroying the entire alley.
Jubilee told her parents about her strange new abilities, but it didn’t seem to be a problem, as she soon learned how to control it to a limited degree. However, her parents were later murdered by criminals Reno and Molokai, hired by Hunter Brawn, who disguised the murder as a car accident. Jubilee was handed over to a couple in the neighborhood, but soon ran away to live at the closest thing that felt like home, the mall. There she survived by giving demonstrations of her mutant plasmoid powers for spare change, impressing many with her powers, and through petty theft. It was while living in this mall that she would first encounter the X-Men, and begin on her path as a superhero.