A Journey Between China's Past and Present

Home , Chinese given name, Peter Hessler, Time in China

y students were hungry. In rural China, it was the first time such a state- sion and expansion abroad.”) In Chapter ment could be made in the figurative sense, which was the joy of these IV, “Social Problems,” the book explored Myoung people, coming out of poverty and into college. Almost all of them the oddities of the American character: had grown up on farms, along with 800 million other Chinese, but many members of the younger generation would never touch a plow or weed a rice paddy. They were Homosexuality is a rather strange leaving the farms, bound for the cities; by the year 2000, almost 90 million people social phenomenon that most people had already departed the countryside. My students were among the lucky ones—they can hardly understand. It widely had been born around the time Mao Zedong died in 1976, and they grew up with spreads. One reason for this may Deng Xiaoping’s changes, the period known as Gaige Kaifang, “Reform and Opening.” be the despair in marriage or love These reforms began in 1978, and since then China shifted steadily toward free- affairs. Some people fail in marriage market economics and increased contact with the outside world. and become disappointed with it. … Another reason may be that some In a small way, I was part of the new When American parents host their adult people just want to find and do cultural landscape. After years of nego- children for a family meal, is it true that something ‘new’ and ‘curious,’ as the tiations, the Chinese had finally invited they hand them a bill afterwards? Americans are known as adventur- the U.S. Peace Corps into the country, It was strange to hear the things they ous. So they practised homosexuality and in 1996, I became a member of believed, the things they were taught. as a kind of new excitement. the third group of volunteers to arrive The college issued a Chinese-published in the People’s Republic. Along with textbook entitled Survey of Britain and As a teacher, I often wondered: Where another recent college graduate named America, which explained that Americans to begin? For decades in China, the out- Adam Meier, I was sent to Fuling, a small refer to the lower part of their nation as side world had been distant and abstract, city on the Yangtze River. We were the the “Sunny South,” because of the fine but now it appeared in scattered facts and only foreigners at the college; the city weather. According to the book, most anecdotes. Some were accurate, others hadn’t had an American resident for people in New England work in facto- half-true; occasionally, something was nearly half a century. Our job was to ries (“They are good at making watches completely mythical. And every move teach college English majors, many of and clocks”). A chapter about “Food and that Adam or I made became representa- whom had been studying the language Dining Customs” began: “Eskimos near tive of the “real America.” Because of for six years without any contact with a the North Pole prefer raw meat to roasted us, the Fuling students believed that all foreigner. That’s where the hunger came meat of sheep and goats.” There was Americans play Frisbee, wear baseball from—they wanted to learn; they wanted information about American slang (“for caps, and carry Nalgene bottles full of to understand; they wanted answers to example, ‘draw one’ or ‘shoot one’ means drinking water. They often commented questions that had piled up over years ‘pour a cup of coffee’”). A chapter on reli- on our brilliant blue eyes. (In fact, mine of isolation. What do Americans think gion focused largely on the Jonestown are about as blue as tree bark, but peo- of China? Why are some Americans so massacre. The U.S. political system was ple see what they expect to see.) When rich while others are so poor? Why are described as “the dictatorship of the an American friend visited and wrote guns legal? Is it true that American fami- bourgeisoisie [sic].” History was covered on the blackboard with his left hand, lies abandon elderly people after they quickly, and if some judgments seemed a ripple of amazement swept through reach a certain age? Did the Washington extreme, they at least had the virtue of the class—in China, where calligraphy Bullets really change their name to the being easy to remember. (“Theodore follows strict rules, everybody writes Wizards because of inner-city violence? Roosevelt carried a mad policy of aggres- with their right hand. (At another Peace

Social Education 28 Corps site with a southpaw teacher, students were given a survey and reported that 50 percent of all Americans are left- handed.) Sometimes we succeeded in breaking down stereotypes; other times, we unknowingly reinforced them. One student named Richard wrote an essay entitled “Why Americans Are So Casual”:

For example, when Mr. Hessler is having class, he can scratch himself casually without paying attention to what others may say. He dresses up casually, usually with his belt dropping and dangling. But, to tell you the truth, it isn’t considered a good manner in China, especially in old people’s eyes. In my opinion, I think it’s very natural.

After finishing the Peace Corps, I moved to Beijing and became a freelance writer, but I always tried to maintain some contact with education. Often I found myself thinking about schools on the other side of the Pacific. Once, I accepted an assignment from the American Junior Scholastic Magazine, which asked me to profile two “average” Chinese middle-school students. After I submitted the story, an editor came back with a request: Insert something about the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. I resisted, explaining that the tragedy wasn’t so relevant to the children I wrote about; the event was undoubtedly Local residents in Shanghai walk past a training center of Wall Street English, one of China’s leading English language-training companies, April 16, 2009. (Imaginechina via AP Images) important, but it belonged in a different type of story. It would be like describing the daily routines of a middle-class ment? Why do they force migrants to challenge, but there are a few elements American kid and then, out of nowhere, work in terrible factories? Often there’s that should make the job easier in the embarking on an account of the Rodney at least a grain of truth behind the ques- United States. Nobody in an American King beating. tions, but sometimes that’s the hardest classroom needs to get stuck with the But it’s hard to think about context part. It’s also true that the Washington equivalent of A Survey of Britain and when certain facts and details are so Bullets changed their name because of America—nowadays there’s a greater vivid. Over the years, I’ve often spoken inner-city violence—but this fact isn’t range of articles and books published in American classrooms, and the chil- necessarily the best starting point for about China than ever before. And over dren’s questions sometimes remind me a kid from rural China hoping to learn the past half-century, many of China’s of the way I felt back in Fuling. Is it true something about the United States. changes have followed distinct trajec- that Chinese people eat dogs? Why do Both of these nations are enormous tories. As a teacher, it helps to think the Chinese kill girl babies? Why aren’t and complicated, and they have far more about movement: the various shifts and they allowed to go to church? Do people diversity than most outsiders realize. developments that have led the nation really go to jail for criticizing the govern- As a teacher, it makes for a significant to where it is today.

January / February 2010 29 resolved the old uncertainty about for- Class Activity eigners in the simplest way possible. For Political cartoons often feature stereotypes. How and why do we form them, and, Deng Xiaoping, there was no question if we choose, how do we change them? How do stereotypes influence relations that the opportunities outweighed the between countries? While working with the Peace Corps in Fuling, the author threats, and he led the Chinese to see the observed students who, in their small inland city, had been isolated from direct outside world as a potential marketplace contact with Westerners. He describes the stereotypes that students on both sides of and a source of new ideas. the Pacific had formed. Based on his descriptions, students should create political Mostly, Deng counted on young cartoons illustrating the stereotypes that Chinese students have had of Americans people like Eileen. He knew that the or that American students have had of Chinese students. Individual cartoons can average Chinese would be grateful for be compiled into a single cartoon or booklet featuring an introductory essay in any opportunity to improve their lives, which students comment on changing perceptions and the impact of stereotypes and he essentially turned them loose. on international relations. —Patience Berkman Individuals were allowed to start businesses, and farmers could migrate to the cities. Today, more than 130 million In terms of modern China, the nation’s Mao Zedong died in 1976, most Chi- Chinese have left the countryside, the path was changed irrevocably by the nese people were exhausted by politics, largest migration in the history of the Opium War of 1839-1842. This conflict and the next generation never forgot the world. Most of them have found work in with England marked the beginning of lesson. In Fuling, when I asked my stu- the factory towns of the coastal regions, a great decline, when the Chinese, long dents to write about their parents, a girl producing goods for export. In economic isolated from European powers, first named Eileen responded: terms, there’s no question that Reform realized the technological superiority and Opening has been a success. During of foreign nations. Interactions with the Today, when we see those days with the first 30 years of the policy, China’s outside world became intensely trau- our own sight, we’ll feel our parents’ economy grew at an average annual rate matic, and reactions swung wildly. Some thoughts and actions are somewhat of nearly 10 percent, and more people Chinese blamed the weakness of their blind and fanatical. But if we con- were lifted out of poverty than in any own cultural traditions; others felt vic- sider that time objectly [sic], I think, other country, at any other time. timized by immoral foreigners. The out- we should understand and can For the most part, the citizens have side world could represent a threat, but understand them. Each generation done the hard work themselves. After it could also be an opportunity, and for has its own happiness and sadness. Deng Xiaoping, there haven’t been any decades Chinese intellectuals struggled To younger generation, the impor- visionary national leaders, and China to find some kind of balance. tant thing is understanding rather hasn’t been shaped by ground-breaking In such a climate, the rise of than criticising. Our elder genera- policies or events. The nation has been Communism was natural. It involved tion was unlucky; they didn’t own driven by the rise of the individual, but the new, foreign concepts, but it also con- a good chance and circumstance to relationship between citizen and govern- nected with certain Chinese traditions: realize their value. ment remains essentially passive. People the importance of group thinking, or demand precious little of the Communist the Confucian intellectual distrust of Deng Xiaoping’s Reform and Opening Party. There’s no nationalized health care business. And the nationalist isolation of was essentially based on such attitudes. or retirement pension, and schools are Mao Zedong was appealing after decades In China, there was never a real historical poorly funded. There’s no free press, no of conflicts with foreigners. In the new reckoning—Deng himself said that Mao independent labor unions, no opposition People’s Republic, China closed itself off was 70 percent correct, and 30 percent political parties. The gap between rich and from much of the world, ending all pri- wrong, and left it at that. He ignored poor has grown wider than at any other vate enterprise while seeking to redefine other, more troubling numbers, like the time in the history of the People’s Republic. the way citizens lived and worked. All estimated tens of millions who starved to In factory towns, when I talk with workers, of these elements—the fear of foreign- death during the 1958-1961 Great Leap they often say the same thing: “If you have ers, the sense of disillusionment with Forward, one of Mao’s tragically mis- a problem, you have to solve it yourself.” China’s own traditions—culminated in guided political campaigns. Deng’s goal And thus far most people seem satisfied the chaos and destruction of the 1966- was to look ahead, and his brand of prag- with this arrangement. Decades of poverty 1976 Cultural Revolution. matism wasn’t obsessed with theory or and political instability created a popula- When a nation attacks both its own definition. When he initiated free-market tion of tough, resourceful individuals, and traditions and the ideas of the outside reforms, he simply called it “Socialism they have been grateful for the opportu- world, there isn’t much left. By the time with Chinese Characteristics.” And he nity to improve their lives. Even last year,

Social Education 30 when people around the world became Like many Americans living abroad to overstate the potential threat of the pessimistic about the financial system, a during the past decade, I’ve often found People’s Republic. But for the most part Pew Research study showed that 82 per- myself pessimistic about the future of my the interest is sincere and surprisingly cent of Chinese viewed their economy as own country. In the years after the attacks open, and it’s growing all the time. An good—the highest rating in all countries of September 11th, there have been fre- enormous number of young Americans surveyed. quent calls for Americans to learn more are even studying Chinese—the first time As always, it’s an issue of context. When about the Middle East. Invariably, the that so many people in the United States I taught in Fuling, that was the hard part prime inspiration is fear: People need to have been inspired to tackle a difficult about introducing America; scattered study Arabic in order to protect against language of the developing world. And facts and anecdotes often obscured the terrorists. It reminds me of the century- motivations are also unique. It’s not a big picture. But my students taught me to long Chinese debate about the outside question of national defense, or even of avoid seeing China in the same way. For world, the question of threat versus “saving China,” like the missionaries of them, the key point of comparison was opportunity. And I know that people the nineteenth century. Nowadays, young China’s past rather than the outside world, don’t learn languages because they’re Americans want to learn about China be- and they were inclined to be grateful that afraid. In Fuling, my own students were cause they’re fascinated by the place, and things were better than they had been for not motivated by fear, or anger, or xeno- they’re convinced that better knowledge their parents. But already this has started phobia; those old reactions had, at least to will benefit them in the future. It speaks to change. English is now a compulsory a large degree, been set aside. They stud- to a healthier attitude toward the devel- subject for all Chinese from third grade on, ied English because they were hungry to oping world, one based on partnership and people have a better understanding learn about the outside world, and they and mutual benefit rather than conflict of foreign countries than ever before. In had faith that education would improve and condescension. To all the teachers local terms, they show signs of demanding their lives. who introduce Chinese subjects to their more from their leaders. Each year there For the United States, this has been classrooms, I salute you, and I hope that are tens of thousands of small protests, a period of troubled foreign relations, you are blessed with students as enthusi- usually because of some localized instance but I’ve found attitudes toward China astic as the ones I had in Fuling. of government corruption or unfairness. to be a bright spot. Americans are truly There has yet to be a national equivalent: interested—a rarity when it comes to the Peter Hessler is a journalist and award win- the Chinese people haven’t made any sort developing world. The Peace Corps of- ning author of River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze (2001) which chronicles his experiences of concerted effort to overhaul the larger ten warns volunteers about the transition as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching English in system, and the Communist Party shows back to U.S. society, where most people Fuling, China. His most recent books are Oracle no sign of collapse. But the country’s fun- won’t show the slightest interest in Burki- Bones: A Journey Between China’s Past and Present damental trajectory—toward economic na Faso, or Uruguay, or wherever else the and Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory. Currently living in Beijing, he freedom, increased individual mobil- volunteer spent two years of his life. But has contributed to several major publications and ity, and a strong sense of self-reliance— I’ve never found that to be the case with was a contributing editor of National Geographic’s suggests that someday bigger changes will China. Inevitably, Americans have some issue on China. He can be contacted via his agent, occur. misconceptions, and they’re inclined William Clark, at [email protected].

Personal Experiences of China

heart of Qiaokou [pronounced “Chi-ow-ko”], our new home Life on Liberation Avenue in the northwestern outskirts of the city.1 We moved here in September 2008 to open an English school on the campus of Ryan Bradeen Wuhan #4 High School. In Qiaokou, Liberation is strangled with convoys of public t was only a day or two after arriving in Wuhan, capital of buses jammed with commuters heading into the city center, Hubei province, that my wife christened our new neighbor- dented turquoise Citroen taxis challenging sparkling private Ihood “The dodgy end of Liberation Avenue.” Not that the cars for the slightest gap, lumbering cargo trucks, and darting other end of Liberation Avenue is a glittering high-end dis- motor scooters. Traffic weaves around giant concrete pylons of trict, but, in a down-on-its-heels city of nine million in central an elevated commuter rail project stalled dead in its tracks for China, this is a down-on-its-heels neighborhood. Liberation two years due to lack of funds. Bicyclists are relatively few here, Avenue is one of the central corridors of Wuhan and at the dissuaded by the freelance “chicken” buses charging backwards

January / February 2010 31 1906. When the mission school was first established, the campus was surrounded by farm fields. The agricultural origins of the area are preserved in street names Small family run shops such as Ancient Fields #1, 2, 3, 4, and line the school-side of 5 Roads. Lanes like Han Family Village Liberation Avenue. Alley recall entire hamlets that have been absorbed as the city has expanded. (Ryan Bradeen, Feb. 28, 2009) After 1949, the fields of Qiaokou were converted to factory floors. Shabby seven-story walk-ups were thrown up to house workers, and to offer commercial space on the first floors. These buildings still comprise the majority of housing down the bike lanes. Pedestrians either fruits of economic expansion have been in the district, though tight clutches of take their chances in the bike lanes or step distributed unevenly, with interior cities older, dilapidated mud brick two- and gingerly around the rubble of sidewalks like Wuhan lagging their coastal coun- three-story houses still stand around that have been dug, buried, and re-dug terparts, and outskirt neighborhoods the ancient agricultural village hubs. But month-after-month in a seemingly end- like Qiaokou only belatedly gaining the today wide and busy Liberation Avenue less gas line project. attention of Wuhan city planners. And might as well be a river; the two sides Long-time residents of Qiaokou claim even when development comes, it is a of the street seem like entirely different that this neighborhood has changed less process that disrupts, complicates, and towns; one affluent and modern; the than any other part of Wuhan. Guests strains daily life for years on end. The other gritty and poor. from other Chinese cities consider the first major Qiaokou efforts at post-reform When we arrived in September, the area to be trailing their hometowns by five redevelopment began in 1998. Since then, opposite side of the street was largely cov- or more years. If so, the dramatic remak- residents have struggled with growing ered in iron scaffolding and netting. The ing of this 1.5 km stretch of Liberation pains that have destroyed homes and staging concealed a four-star hotel and Avenue that we have witnessed in the displaced residents, torn up sidewalks, shopping mall that will anchor the out- last six months is even more telling of tangled traffic, and transformed simple side façade of the newest housing complex urban China’s experience over the previ- tasks like going to the market into har- in the neighborhood, Han River Sunset. ous three decades. rowing journeys. This luxurious compound of condos and Much has been written about the The symptoms of economic growth or villas backs onto the Han River shore- remarkable transformation of the Chinese decline are often visible to the naked eye; line. Every month, upscale retailers have economy and the blistering pace of its new construction or abandoned build- opened new storefronts including a hair economic growth since Deng Xiaoping’s ings, store openings or closing, housing salon, several spas, a fitness club, home 1979 “Four Modernizations” reforms in developments or blighted neighborhoods. appliance outlets, and clothing stores agriculture, industry, technology, and Six months of observation of a Chinese with names like Euromoda. This new defense. In these 30 years, China has neighborhood has allowed me to paint a retail strip ends at the German superstore maintained a stunning annual economic reasonable portrait of its economic devel- Metro, which opened in 2001, just after growth rate of roughly 10 percent, and opment. For students in the United States, the completion of the first new residen- lifted 400 million people out of poverty. modern (and free) tools like Google tial compounds that began middleclass The World Bank estimates that 75 percent Earth allow them to explore Qiaokou migration into the neighborhood. of the world’s decline in poverty in the (or any community on the planet for that The school-side of Liberation Avenue past 20 years has come from improvement matter) through satellite imagery. Using has changed much more slowly. The in the lives of Chinese people.2 China is the Google Earth .kmz file (download- majority of the small, run-down shops in the midst of an economic expansion able from this author’s blog), students can cater to the 2,500 students at Wuhan #4 that has its nearest American parallel in see for themselves many of the areas and High School and similar numbers at the the Eisenhower era of post-World War II buildings mentioned in this article. adjoining middle and elementary schools, highway building, urban renewal, and the As the Google Earth tour will reveal, as well as students from a sizeable school opening of the suburbs. But despite 30 Wuhan #4 High School is the center of for the deaf nearby. If we leave school years of record economic development, the Qiaokou neighborhood. Newer class directly after class, we inevitably run neither Wuhan nor the Qiaokou neigh- buildings embrace a handsome British into mobs of students in the shops buy- borhood has been remade in a day. The missionary schoolhouse constructed in ing dinner, school supplies, magazines,

Social Education 32 and DVDs or milling among the gauntlet of snack carts outside the school gates. Class Activity In general, these family-run businesses This article presents a micro study of the impact of rapid urban/economic develop- seem frozen in place by a complacency ment in Wuhan, and raises questions about the human and environmental costs of engendered by serving a largely captive urban redevelopment in Wuhan. Students should prepare a cost-benefit analysis and undemanding student market, lack of after listing examples of positive and negative effects or changes, and compare capital, and a sense of impending doom— their findings. What is being torn down and paved over? What is the human cost? awaiting the news that their building is Students should consider the larger question of China and the environment: How next to be torn down. serious and effective is the government in terms of establishing and implement- In mid-October, seemingly overnight, ing environmental policy? Excellent starting points for this topic can be found the windows disappeared from an apart- at www.pbs.org/kqed/Chinainside/nature/environment.html and www.nytimes.com/ ment block next to the school. A crew interactive/2007/08/26/world/asia/choking_on_growth.html. of workmen appeared the next day and The article also touches on the lives of Chinese high school students as Wuhan began to tear the building down brick- undergoes an urban makeover. After reading the article, students should discuss by-brick using pickaxes, sledgehammers, opportunities that have opened up for teens from Wuhan # 4 High school and and shovels. Slowly, light began to shine the other nearby schools that did not exist before. As a follow up, teachers might through the building like a worn curtain ask students to bring to class images related to teen culture in both China and the as the back wall came down. Then one United States along with short paragraphs describing the contexts and significance day, the building was gone. Rumors of of their image, and comparing the teen cultures of the two countries. —Patience what will go up in its place abound; some Berkman say a big Cantonese restaurant; others say a housing development. The residents of the old building vanished with the willows, bamboo, and pools separating a stream of neighbors loaded down with windows. the units. Young couples and mid-career purchases, we passed the open storefronts Further up, at the intersection of professionals bought most of the con- of the two dozen small sundries stores Liberation Avenue and Ancient Field dos; only a few rentals like ours remain. along Liberation Avenue selling plastic #4, there is no guesswork about what the Units are sold bare; not even flooring, basins, underwear, and cheap shoes. The future holds. Billboards and neon lights ceiling lights, kitchen sinks, or toilets storeowners sat idly in the entryways, running down the sides of the high rises are included. Home improvement has played cards, chatted with neighbors, proclaim the imminent completion of become something of a national pastime, or napped. Some wearily watched the Hong Kong Impression Phase #2. From and “DIY,” as in “do-it-yourself,” has parade of Wal-Mart shoppers. Our our balcony in the back building of Phase made its way into advertising and every- lives had just gotten materially better, #1, we have watched the seven 30-story day conversation. but theirs were opening up underneath buildings go up. Work begins by 5:00 Our introduction to DIY in China them as the plug was pulled on their a.m., seven days a week, and, in warmer came immediately upon arriving. The businesses. Mentally, one could check weather, continues until after 8:00 p.m. lane into our compound was lined with off which buildings would be next to go Workers live on site in the standard blue banners hung from streetlights announc- down, but only guess where their resi- pre-fab bunk houses seen at building ing the grand opening of B&Q, a British dents and shopkeepers would end up. projects all over the country. When Phase home improvement big box retailer on the In the real estate business, they would #2 is complete, it will be the largest of model of Home Depot (the clerks even call this 1.5 km stretch of Liberation five modern residential complexes built wear the same orange aprons). B&Q was Avenue a “gentrifying neighborhood” in this neighborhood in the last ten years. the first of several international retail- (Emphasis on the “-ing”). A smart guy In total, modern living space for 15,000 ers to open in a new shopping center would buy up apartments now while they people has been constructed; enough just a short walk down Liberation from were cheap so that once the elevated rail to house a population greater than that Wuhan #4. As the Chinese New Year is finished, the sidewalks repaved, the of 95 percent of the towns in my home approached, their signs were unveiled: hotels opened for business, and Qiaokou state of Maine. Wal-Mart, KFC, Dairy Queen, Nike, becomes a fashionable district, he’d be Our apartment is in a pleasant complex Adidas, even a Papa John’s Pizza. About sitting on prime property. Until then, of twelve 11-story housing blocks com- 20 high-quality domestic retailers and watch your step. The process of growth prised of two- and three-bedroom units. restaurants filled in the remaining space. is messy, and the growing pains are Much attention was paid to making the On opening day, the mall was mobbed felt throughout a community; by those gardens and pathways between buildings with holiday shoppers, pockets stuffed uprooted when their buildings are torn lush and inviting, with long corridors of with cash. As we walked home, joining down, by those searching for a better

January / February 2010 33 quality of life in the modern compounds, tions have powerful parallels in students’ 2. FinFacts Team, “China Responsible for 75% of and by those who stay put despite the own communities and can help students Poverty Reduction in the Developing World since 1980,” FinFacts.com (Oct. 12, 2005), www.finfacts. upheaval in their daily lives. become more aware of how macroeco- com/irelandbusinessnews/publish/article_10003611. Often China’s high rates of economic nomic ideas like national growth rates shtml. growth are heralded for the glorious can have local manifestations. Such local end results, rather than as a gritty and development issues provide an excellent unpleasant process spread unevenly opportunity for study and possibly par- Ryan Bradeen was formerly the director of the Bo across a huge country over many years. ticipation in local public life. That public Xue Intensive English Program at Wuhan #4 High School in Wuhan, China. He recently joined the Growth hurts. For every old building torn debate is in itself worthy of study and U.S. State Department as a member of the Foreign down or field paved over to make way for comparison to China, where transpar- Service. Ryan has led numerous professional devel- shopping malls or housing complexes, ent and public debate over local issues opment seminars and study tours to East Asia for who has been moved out of homes, whose is largely unknown. the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA) and Primary Source. With a recent trip business has been shut down, what dam- to Inner Mongolia, he has visited 20 of 33 Chinese age has been done to the environment, Notes provinces or administrative districts. Notes, images, and what history has been lost? For the 1. Many of the sites mentioned in this article are labeled and a Google Earth .kmz file from the dodgy end of and photographed in the Google Earth .kmz filed Liberation Avenue can be found on his blog, http:// teacher in an American classroom, these downloadable from http://rbradeen.blogspot.com/. rbradeen.blogspot.com/, and web album, http://pica- questions can help students appreciate The .kmz file will allow teachers and students to see much of this stretch of Liberation Avenue using sat- saweb.google.com/rbradeen. He can be reached at the process of economic development in ellite imagery and photographs. [email protected]. a developing country. These same ques-

Personal Experiences of China

to move to, or work in, the cities. Since life in the countryside was much poorer than in the cities, young people tried very Richard’s Story hard to change their Hukou to become a city person. However, there were only two ways to change one’s Hukou. Richard Wang One was to join the People’s Liberation Army. When a person performed well and got a promotion to be an officer or if he ’m just a country boy. I grew up in Pangliu Village, about learned special skills, then the government would give him a job 30 kilometers south of Xi’an, the Shaanxi provincial capital. when he retired from the army. This changed his Hukou, and II have been living in Xi’an for over 30 years now, but my he became a city person. The other way to change one’s Hukou country life left a deep impression on me. Often, I recall what is for a person to work hard at his studies and go to university happened to me when I lived and studied in the countryside. after passing the national exams. Then the government would There are two lives in China: one is the rural life; the other give him a job in the city after graduation. His Hukou could is the urban life. The two lives have a world of difference. change, and he would become a city person. If he failed in either Many American visitors—when they see the big cities such as situation, he had to live and work in the village all his life, and Beijing—have said to me, China is a developed country. I often the same was true for his children. (During the 1980s, when tell them that this is not the full picture. They have to see the China adopted the reform policy, things began to change—even countryside and know the rural life. Then they can understand though the Hukou was not abolished yet.) why we always say China is a developing country. In China, we have a strange system called Hukou, or house- Early Years hold registration system. It started in 1956. According to this While I was growing up, the Hukou applied to my family and system, the government registers households with either a rural me. My parents lived in Pangliu village, and I was born with or urban Hukou. When one is born in a village or his family the rural Hukou. In the 1950s, I attended elementary school lives in a village, then he is registered with a rural Hukou and in this village. China was poor. My parents were poor. There regarded as a country boy (approximately 70 percent of China’s was no one-child policy, and my parents had six sons. I am the 1.3 billion people are registered with rural Hukou). oldest. All the land was owned by the state. My parents worked For many reasons that I don’t quite know, the Chinese govern- in a commune to support us, but the system was not productive ment invested little in the improvement of the life of rural people at all. They had to work all year round, but made no money. after the revolution in 1949. The rural people were not allowed They earned only work points.

Social Education 34 into a bowl with boiled water. After doing this a couple of times, the bun would get Richard (Guotang) warm and soft. Then I put salt in it, and Wang takes a minute that’s what I ate every day. from his busy day to In the summer, it was even worse. relax in a restaurant Owing to the high temperatures, the in the city of Xi’an, steamed bun I carried for three days where he and his wife currently live. became moldy. We just scraped off the mold and did what I did in the winter. (Kathleen Woods Masalski, But still we couldn’t eat more than three October 2008) pieces. We always looked forward to going home on Sunday for noodles or porridge as our meals. Sometimes my parents gave me money A man could get ten work points for a homework at night under the oil lamp. I so I could buy noodles at school. It was day’s work and a woman, seven points, became one of the best students in the a luxury meal to me. In the noodles, I because men are supposed to do heavier class. (Today students can automatically could warm soup with bean curd, scal- jobs. After the two harvests (summer go to middle school after elementary lions, or some vegetables with oil. Even and fall), the commune got some cash school. But at that time, students had to now, I don’t like to eat steamed buns, but by selling a certain amount of grain to pass entrance exams.) My class had over I do like noodles very much. the government, which set the amount of sixty students because every family had At middle school, we lived in the grain and the price. The cash income was many children. Upon graduation only school dormitory with no beds. We divided by the total work points, and the five of us sixty students went to middle had to sleep on the floor in a big room. result is the value of a day’s work. school. I was one of the five! It was the The school put some straw on the floor, After the amount of grain was sold to first success in my study career, but I was and all the boys in my class slept in three the government, the rest was shared by too young to get excited about it. rows. It was hot in the summer and cold commune members, according to the in the winter. Dozens of boys squeezed number in the family. But a person had Middle School in the same dormitory, and that was ok to pay the commune with work points. The Dazhao Middle School I attended in the summer, because we could wash My parents worked very hard, but they from 1962 – 1965 is about two miles often with cold water and just be naked still owed the commune a few hundred from Pangliu. It was a boarding school, in the bedroom. But it was hard in the Yuan (the Chinese currency). A day’s and we were requested to live and eat winter. The school had no heating system work could only make .43 Yuan (about there. There were six days of school each for classroom or bedroom. Each of us 5 US cents. The Yuan is also known as week. There was a students’ restaurant had one cotton quilt to cover us, and a the renminbi or RMB). serving noodles and simple dishes. My smaller one, to put on the straw. When family was too poor to give me money it was really cold, two of us boys would Elementary School to buy food. I had to carry my steamed sleep together to keep warm. Then we When I was young, we starved often. bread or pancake made of wheat flour had two layers of quilts over us. To have There was a famine in China from mixed with corn flour. Every Sunday, I a shower or a bath—at any time of year— 1959 – 1961. Many people died from took a bag of my food with some salt to was a dream. I don’t remember having a hunger. I was in elementary school, and the school. I could take three pieces for shower or bath at school before I went I remember every afternoon I had to go each meal. My mother could not give me to high school. with my friends to the fields to pick wild more because my family did not have My score at the end of Dazhao Middle vegetables to supplement our food. Once much. Each time, I took food for three School was third in my class. I could or twice we stole the sprouts of alfalfa days. On Wednesday afternoon, I either decide whether to go to a university or a for animals from the other village. My went home to get another bag, or my par- secondary vocational school. It was a risk mother also gathered the leaves and barks ents sent food to my school. to choose to go to high school because a from elm trees for us to eat. I could not eat more than three pieces. student might fail in the entrance exams During those difficult years my par- If I did, I had to starve the next meal. In to a university. My parents wanted me to ents always reminded me to study hard. winter, the steamed buns got cold and go to a vocational school so that I could They told me the only way to change hard. Like the other poor students, I just help the family when I graduated. But my fate was to go to university. I did my tore the buns into pieces and put them our neighbor was one of my teachers at

January / February 2010 35 Dazhao, and he told my parents I was latter because I was not active in smash- hard to become a model teacher. I got one of the best students in class. He con- ing things. Instead, I went back to Pangliu up early to clean the teachers’ confer- vinced them that I could pass the univer- and worked in the fields. I made work ence room, worked extra hours if other sity entrance exams. Then I would have points, and my brothers did too. As a teachers were sick, helped students after a bright future, and I could make more result, my family finally paid off all the class, and visited their parents often. I money for my family. debt owed to the commune. was picked to be a Communist Party My father eventually agreed. So I In July 1968, I graduated from Chang member (on probation)—the only teacher applied to go to a high school, and I An #1 High School, although I only sat chosen. What an honor for me! passed the entrance exams and became in class for one year. Mao called on us a student at Chang An #1 High School. graduates to go to the countryside to University Life The principal told us the first day of receive reeducation from peasants. I was After six years, the universities reopened. school that over 70 percent of students sent back to Pangliu and my Hukou also Students were recruited through recom- would go on to university. My parents changed back to a rural one. I was a young mendations from their working units were proud. They put all their hopes in man of 18 and not afraid of hard work. (instead of by national examination). I me. They dreamed I would go on to a However, my parents became desperate. won recommendations from both teach- university and a high salary after gradu- In their eyes, I was the hope of the family. ers and villagers and was interviewed by ation, when the government would give They had worked hard to support me a teacher from Xi’an Foreign Languages me a job. for 15 years of schooling. Suddenly their University. I was scared—I spoke the Chang An #1 High School was six bubble had burst. I officially became a local dialect—not Mandarin very well. miles away. So I could not return to peasant like my parents. It was a heavy How could I learn a foreign language? Pangliu to get the second bag of steamed blow for them. (They later died in their But I was assigned to that university. In buns during the week. The government 60s, and I believe this was one of the 1972, I became a worker-peasant-soldier gave me 5 Yuan a month subsidy. I could reasons.) university student majoring in English. buy noodles and other dishes with that I worked as a peasant along with my My dream to go to university finally allowance. The most important thing elementary school classmates. We had came true. The happiness of my parents was that I could move my rural Hukou to to do every job by hand. We harvested was beyond description. I continued to the school. It meant that I would not be the wheat with scythes. About 30 of us, work hard and perform well. I broke a farmer and that I had an urban Hukou. men and women, old and young, pulled the university running record (400 and The government provided us students the plows like cows and donkeys. 800 meters) that had lasted 20 years! I with 15 kilos of grain every month. We Besides farming, I did other work to was named class monitor. I was one of a had beds and showers in the dormitory. help my family. I got up at 5 o’clock in the very few students officially taken into It was a big change in my life. morning and went to a market to buy a the Communist Party. few hundred kilos of persimmons, loaded China was closed at the time, and Cultural Revolution them into a cart and, with others, pulled we students didn’t have many chances A Chinese saying goes, “A storm may arise them to Xi’an. It was midnight when we to speak with English native speakers. from a clear sky.” While I was studying got home. For 20 hours, we had walked There were only two foreign teachers at high school, the Cultural Revolution over 60 kilometers and worked for only teaching English—one from England started. Suddenly, our teachers were RMB 5 Yuan, or US $0.70. I remember and the other from Sri Lanka—in the called counter revolutionaries, and we this hard work whenever I eat persim- whole university. We were not allowed students were mobilized to criticize mons today. to listen to any foreign radio. When I was our teachers. I was too young to under- Good luck came to me in 1969. I was in Grade Three of the university, I was stand, but I had to do as the others. I was chosen to be a teacher at Pangliu Village chosen to be in a special class, in which from a peasant family and had to follow Elementary School. Because we had rural the two foreign teachers gave us more Chairman Mao’s instructions. In 1966, Hukou, I was not given the same salary lessons. The university wanted us to stay I was selected to be on the Revolution as other state-supported teachers. The on after graduation to become teachers. Committee of the school and sent to government gave me a monthly allowance That class survived only one semester, Beijing to be reviewed by Chairman as a peasant-supported teacher, at most for political reasons, and the university Mao on Tiananmen Square. No classes RMB 14 Yuan, about $2.10. plan did not work out. were held. All universities closed. We I appreciated the chance to work became Red Guards. in the school and was active in all the The Years of Reform Soon, students were divided as either Communist Party movements and did I did get a good job after graduation. rebels or conservatives. I was seen as the whatever the Party asked us to do. I tried I was assigned to work in the Shaanxi

Social Education 36 Provincial Foreign Affairs Office. We received an education in England. We books and sports equipment have been made arrangements for foreign govern- live a very happy life. However, I never bought. ment delegations when they came to Xi’an, could forget my life in Pangliu Village. My personal dream of going to univer- and we sometimes worked as interpreters. I dreamt of doing something to help the sity and to live in the city was fulfilled a We enjoyed many privileges. All my fel- village school. In 1998, I met Anne Watt, long time ago. My dream to help Pangliu low villagers envied me. co-founder of Primary Source. She and I Village and its school is also accomplished In 1980, I was sent for one year to the worked together to start a project to help to some degree. But I’ll continue to do United States to study travel and hotel the school. Over the past 11 years, I have more and to help make the village a management in Denver. To me, it was taken more than 1,000 American teach- much better one in the countryside. It is a miracle. When I returned from the ers and students to Pangliu Village. the goal for which I’ll work for the rest United States, I worked for many years Many kind visitors have donated of my life. as a hotel manager and general manager money to the project—more than Richard Wang, a travel agent based in Xi’an, for a travel company. $100,000. With this money, we set up China, has made travel arrangements for over 1,000 Then in 1995, I began my own travel a Sino-U.S. Friendship Library in the American teachers, students and school adminis- agency. My family and I now have an school and a clinic in the village center. trators. He often works as a national guide for tour urban Hukou and live in a big apart- Many village children from poor fami- groups.He can be reached at richard_wgt@hotmail. ment flat and own a private car. My son lies have been sponsored, and many com.

Personal Experiences of China

can do more of what they want and what other people want.” Juefei’s Story That was his philosophy. My mother backed him up. An Interview with Juefei Wang by Kathleen Woods Masalski Did things change for you after elementary school?

After elementary school, I entered the best secondary school Juefei, you and I have known one another for nearly 20 in Beijing—it is still the best—the Fourth Secondary School of years, but I have little knowledge of what your life was Beijing. At that time, in the 1960s, the better schools were seg- like before you came to this country. I wonder if you regated, and the Fourth Secondary School was a boy’s school would begin your story by describing your early years in that had these traditions: working as teams, building school China. spirit, and creating intelligent energies toward the school and toward the outside. I was born in Beijing two years after the founding of the Peo- At that time, the political situation was changing fast. I re- ple’s Republic of China (PRC). In the Chinese way of saying it, member well my second year in junior high school. It was June I was born under the Red Flag. And I grew up under the Red 1966, and we were having study time, a 30-minute period be- Flag. I was the first son after five girls and was the center of my fore classes to study anything we wanted. There were about family until my younger brother was born four years later. 45 students in the room when the English teacher, a Chinese From the time I was in elementary school, I was a good stu- woman, entered. She walked around the classroom, stopped dent for two main reasons: the first, I had five role models to next to me and said, “You’re studying English,” and I said, “Yes, follow. My sisters were all good students. I always knew that I am.” She said, “You are the only one studying English during the first thing that I had to do after school was homework. I was this study time.” She was happy and told me I must get ready very happy. The second reason was my parents. for the examinations. Because we had such a large family, my mother stayed at Later that very day, the loud speaker interrupted classes. A home; only my father worked. My parents had a difficult time student from the high school read in the name of the Fourth making ends meet, which was true of many Chinese families at Secondary School and the First Secondary School for Girls a the time. My parents’ friends said, “You have so many children, letter that criticized education practices. The letter said that why don’t you send one of them to work and then your family schools were not preparing students for society and that the en- situation will change?” I remember my father saying, “No, I trance examinations to colleges were good only for those who don’t want to do that. My children should go to school, and were not revolutionaries. The letter stated that the schools were they should go as far as they can. Once they finish college, they preparing only successors of the bourgeoisie class and that the

January / February 2010 37 Dr. Juefei Wang (left) accepts gifts on behalf of Mr. and Mrs. Houghton Freeman from Lian Ji (center, standing), lieutenant governor of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, at the tenth anniversary of the Vermont-Inner Mongolia performing arts exchange. (Courtesy of the Public Relations Office, Inner Mongolia University, April 2009)

children of workers, farmers, soldiers, then sent his children to school, and applied for Yenching University, the and cadres did not have the same op- my mother received a high school edu- best university in China at that time.1 portunity to study in the schools. cation in Tianjin in northern China. At The person who founded Yenching was In my school, the Cultural Revolution that time, it was unusual for a girl to fin- Dr. John Leighton Stuart, a man born began at that point. The next day the let- ish high school. into an American missionary family in ter was published in newspapers and My father was from a well-known China, who grew up there, and was edu- word went out to all other secondary landlord family in Hebei Province near cated in the United States before doing schools. Students began to criticize their Beijing. In his family, there were five missionary work in China. Dr. Stuart teachers. Schools closed for students to sons, and his grandfather, my great- was the first president of Yenching, and “make revolution.” grandfather, decided that one of these eventually became the last U.S ambassa- sons should receive an education. My dor to China before 1949.2 It would be helpful at this time to father was chosen, apparently because My father received his master’s degree hear more about your family. he appeared to be brighter and more the same year that World War II broke attentive to his study than his brothers. out in Asia in 1937. My father did not Both my father and mother were well My father went to a private school in the have a job and wanted to join his school- educated. My mother’s father, my village until he was ready for secondary mates who enlisted in the Chinese army, grandpa, was a navy officer during the education, and the family sent him to but he had already started a family. He Sino-Japanese War of 1894. China lost Beijing to study. tried to go to the Chinese occupied ar- that war, and my grandpa, who escaped That school was run by Germans. My eas, but on the way was turned around during one of the final battles, later father admired the way the teachers in because the Japanese did not allow peo- established his own school. Grandpa that school taught. He studied hard and ple to do so.

Social Education 38 but it turned out to be longer than Questions for Students three years. During those years, those from revolutionary backgrounds went What role do names play in identity in China and the United States? out and wreaked revolution in society. In the autobiographical account preceding this one, “Richard” Wang took the Those of us who were not qualified had name Richard when he became a guide for foreign tourists. (Many guides in China to find other things to kill our time. in the 1970s took that name “in honor of” their American guest, Richard Nixon, So what I did … my mother got to who was credited with “opening” China to the West during that decade.) Juefei know a neighbor, a high-ranking admin- Wang, on the advice of an American, decided to keep his Chinese given name in istrator who loved literature. He had a this country. In China, what is most important about a person is that s/he is part collection of translated classics from of a family; hence the surname comes first. Of secondary importance is the given, different countries, including some or individual, name, which follows. In this country, the given name comes first, from the United States: Hemingway, followed by the surname. How might you explain Richard’s and Juefei’s choices Twain, O. Henry, for example. I was al- of names, given their life journeys and professions? —Patience Berkman lowed to go to the bookshelves in that house and pick any books I wanted to read. Because his rank was so high, the My father had to have a job. His ists. Highly regarded professionally, my neighbor was not criticized—at least not advisor introduced him to President father had to go through so many po- at first. Stuart, and my father joined the staff in litical troubles. I remember my father On the streets, there were demonstra- the president’s office as an assistant for returning home after a long day’s work, tions, use of weapons, etc., by students Chinese Affairs. He worked in that of- having dinner, and then bending over of my age or older. Because of my not- fice for several years. This experience the table, writing into the night. I did so-good family background, I did not had major impacts on his life. Later on, not know what he was writing, but my join any political group or anything. I he worked for the Nationalist govern- mother told me that my father had to worked with several friends and we tried ment before 1949, and his position was write for meetings. Later on, I learned hard to find out what happened in the quite high, although he never joined that at those meetings my father was schools before the Cultural Revolution any political party. In 1949, he decided criticized. He had to write criticisms of and why Mao did not like the schools. to stay on the mainland instead of go- himself. Mao had said, “The more books you ing to the island of Taiwan. read, the more counter-revolutionary My father got a job at the Union Hos- Was this during the Cultural Revo- you become.” We interviewed teachers pital founded by the Rockefellers. It lution? and administrators who had been criti- was, and still is, the best hospital in the cized to find the facts. country. It was set up to combine clinic, That was even before the Cultural Rev- research, and teaching—the typical olution. I was 14 or 15 years old when When I lived in China in 1988, I American model. My father was hired the whole society was leaning toward could find no one who had anything partly because of his experience deal- a class struggle—workers and peasants good to say about the Cultural Revo- ing with Americans and his expertise against the bourgeoisie. All that had an lution. Do you share that opinion? in English. In the Union Hospital, all impact on our school life. We did not medical records were in English, and really talk about it—about whose fam- Back in the 1980s, I knew that I had all Chinese doctors received education ily was “good,” whose was “bad,” but had more experiences than most in my in English. I was born in that hospital. I everybody knew. age group, because many stayed in the saw my records later on, all in English. When the Cultural Revolution be- city and worked on their jobs. I was sent By the 1960s, my father was in charge gan, those from revolutionary families to the countryside to work on a farm of all medical records in the hospital. became the core who criticized teach- from 1969 to 1974. I made friends, and He applied his skills to create an effec- ers. When the Red Guards were formed, I learned farm work and life skills. I was tive medical record sorting and search I could not join because of my family prepared for life when I left the farm. system. background. It was with the Red Guards For a long time, I was not thinking about Soon after the People’s Republic that all the plans to make revolution the good things that the experience on was founded, political campaigns were were formed. The most I could do was the farm did for me and to me—until launched one after another. My father stand by and watch. I came to this country in 1985. People had to rectify for what he did for, and Schools were immediately closed. At here asked me questions: “What did with, the Americans and the National- first, people thought for a few months, this experience do to you? What are the

January / February 2010 39 impacts of that time?” In China, I was Normal University (BNU). I taught in At UVM, I received a master’s degree not asked those questions, and I did not the same university for three years. in Foundational Studies of Education think about it. My research was in comparative edu- and then completed a doctorate in Edu- Looking back, I can better understand cation in English-speaking countries. I cational Leadership and Policy Studies. how that part of my experience relates published a lot, translated a lot, and my For most of my career, I was on the fac- to today. I know that Chinese culture research institute was ready to send me ulty of UVM and ran a successful out- will stay alive, remain strong, because to England to study British education. At reach program for teachers. back then in the 1960s and 1970s farm- the same time, I had worked with many ers tried hard to maintain the culture American groups. One of the groups had What stands out in your long career and the traditions that were there—even a professor from [the University of Ver- in education? though they were criticized for doing mont (UVM)] who later wrote me a let- that at the time. Chinese people in the ter asking whether I’d like to study there. Looking back on my education, several rural areas will keep Chinese culture I knew that Vermont had one of the things stand out. I always had good teach- and traditions alive. I know it. most decentralized educational systems ers, who taught me skills that I am still in the country, which interested me. De- benefiting from, still using in my work. Let’s go to how you happened to centralization is a concept difficult for When I write in Chinese, I remember come to this country. Chinese to understand—China is such the lessons from my elementary school a centralized system that it was hard to teachers and from my mentor, Professor I came to this country to study. That imagine how local control would work. Gu, who taught me to write good schol- was the only purpose. I went to college So I spoke with my leaders at BNU. arly work. He told me, “You must have in Inner Mongolia and taught English Many said no, don’t go, because I evidence to support what you say. You in a high school for two years in Hebei should not study for a second master’s must quote the original source.” Province. I applied for graduate school degree. But my advisor, Prof. Gu Min- Another person, not a teacher, played in 1979 and received my master’s degree gyuan, today the top person in educa- a crucial role in my career. In 1993, Mr. in Comparative Education from Beijing tion in China, said yes, go. Houghton Freeman visited our China

teaching activity

Reading firsthand accounts of the lives of individuals can help all are the advantages of putting together stories like theirs and of us break through stereotypes and “one-size-fits-all” thinking generalizing about a generation of people, for example? What about others—in this case, Chinese people. Doing so encourages are the disadvantages? us to recognize traits that we all share and at the same time makes Introduce the accounts of Richard (page 34) and Juefei. As it possible to discover larger historic and cultural issues. students read about the lives of these two individuals, have them The two autobiographical accounts in this issue feature the jot down the influences on the men’s lives. Divide the class into lives of “Richard” Wang and Juefei Wang (no relation) that roughly small groups to discuss and record the factors that have made parallel one another: the two men were born soon after the a difference in these lives. Did the time and place of their births founding of the People’s Republic of China, into a generation make a difference? How did their families, friends, neighborhoods, considered “Born under the Red Flag.” Richard (the name he uses schools influence them? Were they affected by decisions made with foreign tour groups) grew up in rural Pangliu Village, south at the town, state, or national levels? What factors had the most of Xi’an, while Juefei spent his early years in urban Beijing. impact in shaping their lives? What challenges did each face growing up? How did each respond? If they had an opportunity, Approaching the story and the interview: what questions would the students ask these two men? Given these two accounts, what hypotheses would the students Before introducing the story and interview, have students think make about life in China since the birth of the People’s Republic? about their own lives and construct a list of the more personal How do their hypotheses support or contradict what they think (family, friends, neighbors, teachers) and less personal (govern- they already know about China? The documentary film, China: A ment, employer, spiritual leader, media, “social network”) factors Century of Revolution, includes two segments, The Mao Years and that have influenced them over the years. As a class, discuss these Born Under the Red Flag, that provide context for the formative factors (and perhaps others) that make up the “stories” that go years of Richard and Juefei. A synopsis can be found at http:// into people’s lives. Remind students that countless stories like ambrica.com/bornundertheredflag.html. The feature film To their own can become a part of a bigger story—history. What Live documents the same era. — Patience Berkman

Social Education 40 program, and he offered to support the used to talking, and people saw the dif- Asian Studies program at UVM, under ference. So that’s one big change—24 one condition—we should support years ago. programs in Vermont schools. Three years later, he said, “Why don’t we Will you go back to China to live make this statewide? Why don’t we your golden years there? provide funding to schools for them to teach languages and cultures of Asia? I might. Senior citizens’ lives are dif- Why don’t we make Vermont a model ferent there. When I take Americans for other states?” Based on these three to China, the Americans see senior citi- questions, we designed the statewide zens in parks, singing. They are amazed. WAShIngton, D.C. program for Asian Studies in Vermont. I tell them that if I were in China I would From the bottom of my heart, with- do tai chi in the morning, do housework, June 28–July 2, 2010 out the support of the Freeman Foun- then go to the park to sing.That is the dation, nothing like this would have typical life-pattern for urban retired July 19–23, 2010 happened in Vermont. And working people, who must retire in their forties on the program has made me develop and fifties—and to me, that’s a waste of professionally. human resources. I promised my mother that someday I’m always taking advantage of You have learned much from both I would be there with her and my father. Chinese and Americans involved My sisters, my brother, and I purchased professional development opportunities . . . in education. You said, too, that a plot for my parents’ tomb. I was the but the institute was one of the best I’ve you learned much from ordinary older son, so I made the decision. I ever attended. We’re putting a new focus Chinese farmers. What have you chose the plot because of the fengshui, on 21st-century learning and skills, and I learned from ordinary Americans? the design, the space. Underneath the think the institute supports that intent. stone tablet there is a tiled space, and I can only tell you what my Chinese I said to my sisters and brother, our —2009 participant friends have said about me. I left ashes can all go there. I said, I’m not China in 1985, at age 34. I was a junior sure about you, but I will be in there professor who had gone through quite with my parents. ull-time teachers for grades a bit. When I spoke in public in China, F4–12 learn to incorporate my face would turn red. I taught, but I Notes artworks to enliven their teaching taught in the Chinese way. 1. Yenching was one of the institutions set up with money from the Boxer Rebellion that was given of core subjects as part of an I studied in Vermont for a year and a to the Americans, who left it in China for educa- interdisciplinary team. Teachers half before returning to my family. All tion. share models for integrating my leaders and my friends in China 2. Because Stuart became the last ambassador to China, his major role was to communicate with American art across the curriculum said I was a different person when I the U.S. government, reporting on the civil war returned. I had become outspoken, between the communists and the nationalists. using Web 2.0 applications, such When the Communist army got across the Yangtze expressive, and I did not hide my feel- River and occupied Nanjing, the capital city for as podcasts, wikis, and blogs. ings any more. I enjoyed talking more. the time, Stuart left China. To the Communists, Visit http://americanart.si.edu/ that was a great victory. On that occasion, Mao People wondered what had happened wrote an article, “Farewell to Stuart.” This is the education/dev/cs/, or e-mail final chapter in the four-volume book Selected to me. AmericanArtClariceSmithInitiative@ I realize now that being in a more Works of Mao Tse-tung. si.edu for more information. open environment, at UVM, in Ver- mont, in this country in general, I Juefei Wang is program director for The Free- forgot what was prohibiting me from man Foundation and the former director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum talking back in China. There I did not Asian Studies Outreach Program at the Uni- talk that much, but once I learned the versity of Vermont. He has lived in the United States since 1985. He can be reached at Juefei. rules in this country, I knew I could [email protected]. Kathleen Woods Masal- talk about what I was thinking about. ski is director of the Five College Center for East The Clarice Smith American Art Education A year and a half was not a long time, Asian Studies and co-director ofthe National Initiative is supported by a generous gift from the but it was sufficient for me to become a Consortium for Teaching about Asia. She can Robert H. Smith Family Foundation. be reached at [email protected]. talker. Once I returned to China, I was

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