老潘, 你好！
Hi John,
I got your book as a Christmas gift. I could not keep my hands off it from
the first moment I saw the picture on its cover. I read it day and night. I
was so much intrigued by it, as the stories you told reminded me of my
childhood in Beijing and evoked my echo as I am living in the US.
Maybe I should call you 老潘, as I am a few years younger than you. I was
raised up in Beijing, got into Tsinghua University in 1982 when you
graduated from Nanda, and moved to the US in 1996. Now with my wife and two
children, I am living in King County where you and Mei married.
My father was a loyalty communist party member. But he was almost beaten to
die during the cultural revolution, simply because he was a follower of
Mr.Hu Yaobang. My mother’s uncle was the famous Chinese general, Zhang
Zizhong who was the highest rank Chinese general killed in WWII. As the
youngest in her big family, my Mom survived through the cultural
revolution, but my aunts were all in trouble. Both my parents passed away
in their 50s, right during the dramatic changing age of China. I didn’t get
a good understanding of their views on that time, but from one thing I
could know my father’s position. As the top student in my senior high, I
was recruited by the party secretary of the school to become a party
member. I talked with my father about this, and thought he had to be very
proud of me. To my surprise, he said I was too young to truly understand
communism and wish I could spend time to study more and make decision
later. I never turned in my application.
Many of my cousins who were 5~10 years older than me, had very similar
experience to your classmates. I could even match their stories to some of
my cosines who were sent to countryside being re-educated by the peasants.
I also was in Tiananmen Square during the hunger strike in spring of 1989.
Just assigned my first job as a college teacher in 北科大, I was sent by my
department party secretary to Tiananmen to pursue my students back to
school. My girl friend, who was from Nanjing and was still a student of
Tsinghua at that time, was also on hunger strike. I spent a week in the
tents on the square and witnessed a lot what you described in your book.
As a college teacher, I was paid $10 a month in the early 90s. My mother’s
income was $30, as an English professor and one of the first Chinese
holding a master degree of Russian language from Moscow. After my father
passed away in 1983, my mother used her $30 income to support me through
Tsinghua. Unlike Xiao Guan, she was weak and dependent, and depressed after
my father’s death. She died a few years later, due to 小脑萎缩. By the way,
I was mostly moved by Xiao Guan and Old Ding’s story.
I joint in Siemens in Beijing in 1992. My first month salary was 1800 yuan.
No credit card at time, I dare not to count the paper bills in public. I
choose to sit on a toilet with the cube locked to count the money that I
had never seen before. Later I joint in Hewlett-Packed and married my wife
who is also a Beijinger, and we were transferred by Hewlett-Packard to the
US.
When reading your book, I felt so much resonance not only because my
experience in China, but also because the fact that as a Chinese living in
the US for 11 years, I am very interested and happy to find you, as an
American with rich Chinese knowledge, understand so well of the Chinese
culture and history. I really enjoyed reading your book and appreciate very
much that your contribution providing insight to China from a new angle,
which no one else has the unique experience to view. I wish you could
continue your writing and wish to see your future high impact works like
your “Chinese Lessons”. I am actually thinking of writing something about
China, and about my experience in the US. If you are interested, please let
me know and I would love to share my story that may add to your
collections.
Thank you John for the great work. I wish you and your family the best. If
you visit your parents in the Puget Sound Area, please call me and we can
have coffee and chat.
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