Epilogue

Li Songshu and Paio Xiuyu are both from Beijing. Both are graduates of Masters Degree programs at ETSU.  At various times they have stayed in our home, because years ago when international programs, our housing department was unable to have apartments available right away when students arrived in China.  Paio Xiuyu, or Judy as she called herself in America, served as my graduate assistant for a couple of years. We got together for a day in Beijing.  It was like a reunion with family.  I remember their struggles with English and the American education system when they were younger.  Both now work for international companies and are extremely successful.

 

Beijing is hot this time of year, and thick smog surrounds the city.  This was especially hard on Songshu, who married last year and is now pregnant.  We broke for green tea lattes at the ever-popular Beijing Starbucks.

Near Tiananmen Square, security was tight.  The so-called People’s Police patrolled with the sidewalks with metal detection wands, pulling aside random pedestrians. Fortunately, no one selected us for a pat down.

Later in a park adjacent the Forbidden City, I briefly joined a Tai Chi class. Practitioners of this martial art learn to channel energy from the universe to strengthen their own life force or Chi so they can defend themselves against an attacker.