FEATURES
Monday, February 28.1994 5
Living In The Land Of Noodles And Fireworks
BY PAM WHITFIELD
Pam Whitfieldgradu-
atedfromSt. Andrews
College in 1991. She
studied in China dur
ing the spring of her
senior year at St.
Andrews and has re
cently returned there
to teach for two years
through the Amity
Foundation. The fol
lowing excerpt is
from an article she
wrote for the St.
Andrews College
alumni magazine.
I passed a water buffalo on
my way to work this morning. As I
pedaled into campus, choruses of
“good morning” and “hi. Miss Pam”
greeted me. I’ve tried to convince
them to drop the “Miss” but the Chi
nese are just loo polite.
I’m a volunteer English
teacher in Hiangzhou Teachers Col
lege, located in subtropical Fujian
Province, the ancient birthplace of
tea. I see 240 different faces in my
classes each week so I don’t know all
their names, but I’m still trying. Since
I’m the first foreign teacher to call
this small town home, my Western
ways make me a celebrity, a mystery
and sometimes even a “foreign devil.”
Chinese may stare, point,
even scream “hello” at me from a
safe distance, but they are easily be
friended and always generous to a
fault. They treat me like they’d wish
to be treated were they suddenly
transported to America: wined and
dined, fussed over, led around by the
hand.
I wouldn’t be eating sugar
cane and slurping noodles today if it
weren’t for Sl Andrews College. An
offhand remark made by professor
Skip Clark prompted me to study in
Beijing my senior year. After that
spring term it was never a question of
whether I was coming back just when.
After professor Tom Will
iams reminded me that [other St.
Andrews graduates] were teaching
in China through the Amity Foimda-
tion, I contaaed Amity’s stateside
liaison, the National Council of
Churches of Christ USA, who urged
me to apply to the Presbyterian
Church USA for sponsorship.
Amity, a volunteer organi
zation created by ChineseChristians,
works at the grassroots level to pro
mote education, social services,
health and raral development. For
eign teachers are just one program to
aid China’s struggle for moderniza
tion, but for those willing to devote
two years. Amity provides unprec
edented training, support and perks
in the field. I’m here as a “mission
worker” for the Presbyterian Church,
which for the past nine years has
been sending people to serve China ’s
struggling educational system.
Considered remote and
poor, this college could never afford
foreign teachers without Amity as
sistance. Many of the library’s rooms
and shelves remain empty. New
teachers live in shanties beside the
dusty playground while they await
housing assignment Students bunk
eight to a room about 1S feet by eight
feet The administration wants to
solve the staff and student housing
crisis, build a real sports field, pur
chase up-to-date classroom equip
ment and, of course, hire more for
eign teachers. But since it’s not con
sidered a key college in a growing
area and serves rural students, fund
ing is very limited.
These students are among
the three percent whose entrance ex
amination scores admit them to
higher education each year. When I
asked them to write a journal entry
about the happiest moment in their
lives so far, 95 percent of them de-
saibed the day their accq)tance let
ters from the college arrived.
China is a country of stark
contrasts. She’s been aptly compared
to a car speeding through the dark
ness, moving so fast that it outdis
tances the beams of its headlights.
For instance. Pizza Huts and
McDonalds are springing up in ma
jor cities, but in the western prov
inces nearly one million people still
live in caves. The new shops crop
ping up in our city streets sell VCRs,
compact discs, microwaves and even
cellular phones to the increasingly
affluent middleclass. But on the edge
of town, just beyond our campus
wall, peasants still water their fields
with wooden buckets slung over
shoulder poles. Their wives beat the
washing on fiat rocks in Nine Dragon
River and sleq) on straw mats in
bamboo thatched huts.
The Chinese hunger for
Western goods, imitate Western fash
ions and adopt Western ideas whole
sale. For many, Michael Jackson and
Madonna effectively embody Ameri
can cultural values. The few “culture
shocks” I receive are a result of dis
covering my culture transplanted, and
thriving, in the third world.
The Chinese celebrate the
simple, accept the inevitable and
make do with less, values that are
missing from the West’s fast food,
go for it, insta-automatic society. The
citizens of the middle kingdom fairly
exude inner peace, harmony and bal
ance. I came back to get a piece of the
IN-action. And with the slower-paced
life, I grow younger and more serene
each day.
Don’t be fioled: "rtie
People’s Republic of China is still
communist in praaice. Post office
policies change every time a new
worker comes on shift I need 10
different official seals on five differ
ent forms to withdraw money at the
bank and some days J,^a|t
electricity or running water in my
apartment I just accq>t it China
defies comprehension. The longer I
live here and the more I study her, the
less I understand. She is a daily chal
lenge, a constant enigma. That’s what
drew me to China in the first place
and that’s what keeps me on my toes.
I never know when I might turn the
comer and come face to face with a
water buffalo.
A Letter To The St.Andrews Community From W. D. White
The following is a letter from W. D.
White, former professor at St.
Andrews, that he wanted to us to
print letting everyone here at St.
Andrews know how he is doing.
Dear Friends and Family:
I am breaking my long-time resolu
tion not to write impersonal notes at
Christmas! This year, however, I have
news that I am eager to share with all
of you.
Arleene and I have just about
completed our move into our new
home. She has worked "like a young
bride with her first house" to deco
rate and personalize our place, mak
ing it both comfortable and attrac
tive. In August I finished my 28
years of tenured teaching at St.
Andrews, sold our home in
Laurinburg, and moved to our tem
porary Chapel Hill address (where
Arleene has beai living since Octo
ber 1989). We spent some weeks
looking for the new place we now
have, into which we moved at the
end of September. This involved
moving things twice: first from
Lfaurinburg to a temporary Chapel
Hill location, and then into our more
f)ermanent place. I was fortunate to
have strong-armed St. Andrews soc
cer players to help me with both
moves, which I was therfore able to
do at minimum cost!
We have a guest room, and
considerable space in our new place
— so we anticipate that all of you will
consider this an inviution to visit us
when you are in this part of the world!
Arleene's health is better than
it has been in some years; and I seem
to persist without too much change.
Arleene is enjoying many old (and
new) Chapel Hill friends. I am "re
connecting" with University of North
Carolina and Duke friends. And I
have the good fortune of a very inter
esting teaching position at UNC.
My good . friend Larry
Churchill appointed me to a three-
year contraa as a research professor
in the Department of Social Medi
cine in the Medical School of UNC.
This year I am teaching 2nd year
medical students — biomedical eth
ics this fall, and literature and medi
cine classes in the spring. I like my
students very much, and they seem
to respond positively to my work.
My colleagues here have been splen
did in every way, welcoming me
with sincerity and openness. A splen
did climax to my many years of teach
ing!
Our children seem to be do
ing well despite the usual problems
we all have. We are very happy and
thankful for all the good things we
are experiencing here, not the least
of which is your continuing devotion
and good will! We wish you all the
best!
Much love,
W. D. White and Arleene
Their home address and telephone
number is:
2105 Fountain Ridge Road
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
(919) 408-0626