Returning to China, ready for change
By Donald W. Whisenhunt
Editor’s note: Donald W. Whisenhunt is an emeritus professor of history at Western Washington University. He is lecturing for several weeks at Nanking University in China and will share his experiences in this column.
This is an introductory column to a series of columns that will be run in the next few weeks. My wife and I are going to China for five weeks.
We were in China the first time in 1995 when I was a Fulbright Professor at Nankai University in Tianjin, China. We lived there for five months.
Our first trip was an incredible experience. We had traveled to various parts of the world before that, but this was our first experience to actually live in the country among the native people.
We lived in a special building on campus that is reserved for foreign teachers – “foreign experts,” the Chinese call it. So we were close to other Americans and others from around the world.
Other than that, we lived in the country and experienced the culture first-hand.
We are anxious to go back next week to see how the country has changed in 14 years. We have maintained contact with two people that we met when we were there. From them, we know that there have been many changes, but we are anxious to witness these changes ourselves.
When we recall our earlier trip, our minds are overwhelmed with memories. We remember the thousands of bicycles on the city streets; we remember the street vendors and the street food that was available almost everywhere. I remember especially the barbers who set up their chairs on the street and cut people’s hair out in the open. Some of them had mechanical clippers, but a few had electric equipment that they plugged into the walls of the buildings on the street.
We recall the delicious Chinese food that we ate while we were there. Chinese food in the United States has been modified for American tastes. But we also remember the pervasive influence on Chinese culture of such American icons as McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Since the Olympics were held in Beijing in 2008, even more changes have occurred. We know that some of the Olympic events were held in the city we are going to visit. In 1995, it was about two hours by train from Beijing, but we now have been told that new trains were built and the trip takes about 45 minutes.
Obviously, there are many things that will be different. I expect some of the changes to be for the better, but I suspect that some of them have made living in China more difficult.
So, for the next five or six weeks, I will write about our experiences and compare them to 14 years ago. Obviously, in a short column each week, I will be able only to scratch the surface of our experience.
• Donald W. Whisenhunt lives in Sycamore. Reach him by e-mail at donw69@comcast.net.
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