In their memoir, two American Mennonite women share stories of how they connected with students at a medical college in Sichuan, China, in the mid-1980s. Their host city, Luzhou, had been designated a “closed city,” which meant that foreigners could not visit it without special permission. Fran and Mary Ann were initially escorted whenever they left the campus. Even though they eventually were able to roam the city, their interactions with Chinese people were always scrutinized. Still, by hosting English conversation parties, taking taiji lessons, interacting with students in the classroom, meeting people on walks, and going on outings, the teachers made meaningful connections. Educational, cross-cultural exchanges such as the one Fran and Mary Ann participated in suggest a path forward for easing tensions between the United States and China today.

Fran Martens Friesen received her MA in English from Georgetown University and was an English Language Learner instructor and academic counselor at the University of Maryland for six years. Fran has just completed 22 years as an English professor at Fresno Pacific University in California.

Mary Ann Zehr was a journalist for Education Week in Bethesda, Md., for 14 years and a high school teacher in D.C. Public Schools for seven years. When she lived in Silver Spring, Md., she was an adopted member of a Takoma Park neighborhood book club. Mary Ann is now the writing program director for Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va.

Murray Hiebert was a journalist in Southeast Asia and China for two decades and is the author of Under Beijing’s Shadow: Southeast Asia’s China Challenge (Roman Littlefield, 2020). He currently heads up research for an Asia-focused strategic consulting company in Washington, DC, and is a senior associate in the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Hiebert first became interested in Southeast Asia when he worked in Vietnam and Laos for a relief and development agency in the mid-1990s.

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