 The Roys were on furlough in the United States when the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out, and when they returned to China, the family moved with the university to Chengdu, Sichuan.The brothers did not have formal schooling, but their father taught them poetry and were tutored in other subjects by faculty from local universities between 1939 and 1945.After the war, Roy attended the Shanghai American School, but as the Communist Revolution came closer to power, other students withdrew until Roy was among only 16 students left.