From an Inside the New York Times story by Soumya Karlamangla headlined “Language, Opening the Door for Connection”:

When the news broke about the mass shooting in Monterey Park, The New York Times dispatched journalists from across the country to help cover the story.

One of them was Isabelle Qian, a video journalist based in New York who typically reports on China for The Times. Isabelle grew up in Shanghai and speaks Mandarin, as do many of the patrons of Star Ballroom Dance Studio, where 11 people were fatally shot. Monterey Park is one of the most predominantly Asian American cities in the country, and it is considered the first suburban Chinatown in the United States.