Curiosity!

There was no question that the participants, who were from all over China, were very curious to find out what was going on in the USA. China had closed the gates to the outside world for close to thirty years and they were eager to find out what had been happening outside their doors. I found out that  they had had no access to Chemical Abstracts, which was and still is the only literature recording all that happens in the field of Chemistry. Without access to CA, a chemist is like a blind person! One would not be able to accomplish anything - either in research or in teaching! I was also very curious to find out what had been happening there, in the country where I was born and where I lived until the age of 10. So we met in a very large classroom, talking about the conditions which I experienced daily in the USA, but which were brand new for all of the people there! I am posting below two pictures, one colored and one black and white (which is better for identifying who was there). These pictures were taken in front of an old school building in Beijing. Beijing Normal University was the first public university in China and was established in 1902.

Workshop started on July 21, 1980

The two-week workshop started on July 21, 1980. I tried very hard to include subjects which would be of interest to the class. Clearly they were not sure what they wanted me to do and I was not sure what they wanted. We decided that I would talk first about teaching the Physical Chemistry Laboratory: what experiments were included, how the students succeeded in carrying them out, and what we expected of them. Then I was to talk about my research topics in chemical kinetics and mass spectrometry. An outline was distributed to all the participants using mimeographed copies. A photo copy is shown below:

There were a lot of participants, coming to this meeting from across the whole country, including every province of the whole country, including the remote areas, like Xinjiang and Qinghai!!The list of participants were also included in the momiographic copies as shown below:

Arriving Beijing at Night!

At the Lo-wu Chinese entrance check, I remember that the officer checked my luggage carefully and that he was very interested in the two copies of the ETSU students' catalog. I do not know how much he could read English, but the pictures in the book were what he was concentrated on. It took a while for him to check but I was released without any problem. Then I got back on the train to go to Canton, where I was picked up by an official from the Ministry of Education who took me to the airport. When I finally  arrived in Beijing, it was already 8PM at night and no one was there to meet me. I called Prof. Hu and he came with two faculty  members in the Department to help me to get to the Friendship Hotel which was located near all the Universities. Clearly they were very tired by the time we arrived in the room. But it was day-time for me! I took their picture in my room and thanked them for their trouble before they left to go home. This was the starting point of my China visit!

Just a Small Hole opened up in 1980

A "hole in the curtain" was opened up between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China, by the People's Republic sometime before 1980. I went through that "hole", from Hong Kong, in July. Of course, Janice did not go with me, as I was not sure whether I was making a big mistake by accepting the invitation from China to make the trip. That was the first time I visited Hong Kong. It was not a very clear day, but it was a big, impressive city as I took a picture below!

I stayed there only one night without taking any side trips. The next day I took a train to Lo-Wu, a border town with China, which had the only "hole" opened to the People's Republic. And for more than a decade, it was the only "hole" for all visitors of China to go through. The town changed quickly from a very small place to a very large city in just a few years. The pictures below can give you some idea of the change:

 

Seen from the British side in 1980. (The red flag represents the PRC.) 

the same location after 1985 

Not only did I pass through this "hole" several times, but in later years my family also passed through it more than once and we certainly saw the changes in this whole area.

Finalize my Historical China Trip

By the end of May, 1980, with my father's strong objection on my mind, I made the final decision to go ahead and make the trip to China in August. There was the attraction of the tear in the iron curtain after Nixon's trip opened up the possibility of such visits. Added to that was the fact that I was one of the few invited to visit the country in those early days. Clearly the chance to visit the the country where I was born had more attraction to me than the dangerous possibilities envisioned by my father's experience with the communists. Here I am posting the final two letters from the Chair of Beijing Normal University which provided the details necessary for the trip. They included a description of the materials for the workshop, as well as the background of all anticipated personnel, and, of course, the dates of the workshop (from July 22 to August 3rd). It is clear from the fact that the letters I received were all in Chinese that one of the reasons for my selection was my ability to speak and read Chinese.

After Camp Report Party

You might not know that, after the sixth grade camping trip, there was a party at the University School where the students were asked to make a report on their experiences. All family members were invited to participate. I no longer remember who was there and what was reported at the dinner. However, I have a few pictures to prove that it was a serious matter for all sixth graders, including Margaret, who can be seen below reporting on her experiences at the camp before the dinner. Pictured are her teacher, Polly Taylor, and Margaret's best friend, Wendy Whitmore, and her mother Kay.

Steven's Camp Out

I do not remember how many camp outs our family participated in while both Margaret and Steven grew up in East Tennessee. It was a very homogeneous university community with many academic people. Not only were the value systems similar, other things, like income, family tradition, family size and outlook, as well as future expectations for our children, were very similar. This was one of the camp outs in which Steven and his friends/classmates participated. They certainly had a great time in the wilderness. His best friend at the time, David Crockett, was his bunk mate. They were close friend for all the twelve years they were in school together. Steven and David both liked playing basketball. They played for their high school team together and, of course, they did a lot of trout fishing together both at Watauga Lake and in the rivers nearby. Yes, his name is David Crockett! I did not make it up for your attention!

Chinese Students

When I went to East Tennessee State, I found that there were not as many Chinese students as at the University of Kentucky, since it does not offer a PhD degree in Chemistry. But there were always some Chinese students at the MS degree level. In 1980, one of my students finished his MS degree. He was from Taiwan and a good student. His name was Jack. To celebrate, Janice had a cook-out for him. Below are two pictures of Jack, Wendy, and Victor with our family. Margaret was away somewhere that weekend. Over the years, we had quite a number of Chinese students, especially after I started to visit China in 1980 when we had a dramatic increase. The final list was compiled and is posted below the pictures!

A Most Important Invitation Letter

On April 9th, 1980, I received the most important Invitation letter from the Chair of the Chemistry Department of Beijing Normal University, which is reprinted below. The other letters posted in my last blog were just formal letters to show that the important decision had been made by the Department of Chemistry to invite me to be the main speaker for the UN sponsored program to provide appropriate specialty experts for the development of modern science in China. Hu Tze-bing (胡志斌）, who was the Department Chair at the time, and the head of the Physical Chemistry Section (邓希贤）and a few others made the selection and asked me to visit the Department as a visiting scholar. It was a very important event for them. And I am sure that it was a very difficult and time-consuming process for them to make that selection. Clearly it was an important decision for me as well. While my Father did not want me to make this trip, as he was still leery about the communist world and felt that they could not be trusted,  I was determined to accept the invitation. This turned out to be a crucial decision, which had consequences, not only for me, but also for my family. It changed my life in many ways, as it not only affected my career, but also caused me to re-examine my identification as a Chinese person.

Invitation from China

I had put my resume on file with the United Nations about possible technical support which I might be able to provide if there was a need somewhere in the developing world. In early April of 1980, I was informed that China was very interested in my visit regarding to my specialty, Physical Chemistry laboratory education. First I heard from a UN Representative from China, then I received a formal invitation from the President of Beijing Normal University. Both letters are posted below. They were sent to me in April, 1980. After that, everything moved very quickly. By the middle of May, I had made my plans to visit China at the end of July. In the meantime, I was trying to convince my father that I knew what I was doing and that there was no danger to me concerning my visit to China, a communist regime. He was very much against my going there to teach! I am sorry that both letters below are in Chinese. Clearly one of the reasons I was given the assignment was my fluency in the Chinese language!