July 11, 2011: China Day 1 - trip to Beijing

July 11, 2011: After Yang arrived at my hotel, we went to a nearby restaurant for breakfast before he accompanied me on the subway towards Gimpo Airport. He got off the subway part way to go to work and I continued to the last station on the line which was Gimpo. Check-in went easily and soon I was sitting in the waiting area to board my plane for Beijing, China. After a short flight, I arrived in Beijing and my friend Mr. Xie met me with a friend of his who was to drive us to my hotel that Xie had booked and paid for.

Background: Back in 1978 at Ohio State University when I was a mathematics graduate student, I became tired of studying math, math, math, and asked my advisor if I could take Chinese language in addition to my math courses. (Ever since I was a small kid, I had been fascinated with Chinese calligraphy and I was really anxious to learn it.) He agreed and during one of the quarters in Chinese, I was invited to attend a party at which there were a number of graduate students from China, these students being among the first to study in the US in a program begun during the Carter administration. At this party I met Xie and we have been good friends ever since. After the party, Xie met with me once a week and taught me Chinese. In fact, Xie helped me to write a story in Chinese about the first sentence I learned in Chinese: “I say that big watches and small watches are both good.” After two years in metallurgical engineering studies, Xie returned to China but we still remained in touch. Although Xie specialized in the sciences, he eventually left that field and became the editor of several Chinese magazines and has since then written over twenty books - at first about metallurgical engineering, but later about Chinese history and other non fiction subjects. Right now he is writing a book that is autobiographical in nature and will eventually publish it himself. However, shortly after returning to China, he became the editor of a new Chinese magazine and he asked me if he could publish the Chinese story that I had written under his tutelage, and of course I agreed. So I can claim that I have written something that was published in a Chinese magazine! Eventually Xie left that magazine but he stayed in touch with editing and publishing and was sought after by several foreign businessmen who wanted him to manage the publishing of their texts. One of these jobs was to publish a biography of Armand Hammer in Chinese and it was so successful, that Xie was invited to Hammer’s 90^th birthday party in Los Angeles with Hammer paying all the expenses for Xie to attend it. To this day, Xie still has his finger in a lot of pies and is very active corresponding with his contacts from overseas. In this blog you will see how organized he is after learning about the jammed agenda he had me follow while visiting him and then going to Shanghai to be escorted by his friend’s assistant.

Meanwhile, in 1980, I went to China for the summer to teach English to Chinese scientists and technologists. I was there for ten weeks as a guest of the Chinese government and taught for eight weeks and was treated to a two week vacation in various cities in China. Obviously, I was anxious to see how China has progressed over these past 31 years, and has it ever!

Back to the blog: After we had checked into my hotel, Xie took me nearby to see his apartment and meet his wife, the apartment being near my hotel. 

Xie at his apartment complex

Xie and his wife in their apartment

Then, he whisked me away to a nearby restaurant

where another of my Chinese friends (actually, Xie’s replacement Chinese teacher for me when he left the US – Xie had found someone to take over my Chinese lessons at OSU!), Dr. Jan Yi Zhang and his wife were waiting for us. Zhang warmly welcomed me and I learned that he had lived two years in New York and then several years in New Zealand working as a Chinese linguist in those countries before he returned to China, worked more years at a university, and then retired. He also gave me a book that he had written – his own calligraphy and pictures of some paintings -- that he signed for me. Shortly after that, Dr. Yu arrived to join the party. Although I had never met Dr. Yu before, he had also studied at Ohio State and we had a great time talking about life at OSU. And so, I found myself again sitting at a table of a feast.

After dinner I returned to my hotel and crashed in preparation for my next busy day when Xie would pick me up at 5:50 a.m. to begin sightseeing! (He wanted to avoid rush hour.

Meanwhile at my hotel, I attempted to update my blog and access Facebook, but China has blocked access to both of those websites plus others, so I wasn't able to do anything with my blog until I returned to the US.