By the time Della Adams' younger brother Louis was born, the family had moved from Wuhan into a big compound in Beijing, with three or four buildings surrounding one courtyard. It was populated by, to use her words, "people like us", meaning foreigners or mixed-race families. The father made his daily walk to the nearby Foreign Languages Press, where he translated children's books.

A fantastic dancer, Clarence Adams also socialized widely with African diplomats stationed in Beijing and was told by some to "work for yourself", an alien concept for most black Americans at the time that later inspired him to open his own restaurant in Memphis.

These days Della Adams still recalls sneaking into the courtyard to pick grapes with other children, before an adult chased them out. She also remembers watching with amazement "grilled lamb flaming on skewers" in a Mongolian restaurant.