2The Daily Tar HeelMonday, February 24, 1 992
Students, professor journey
By Kelly Noyes
Staff Writer
The Ming dynasty pot, handmade
butterfly paper cuts, wall-hanging
scrolls and Chinese flag that Lawrence
Kessler tucked away in his suitcase as
souvenirs from a semester in Beijing all
paled in comparison to the vibrant
memories he kept in his mind.
Last August, two UNC students,
seven from other universities and
Kessler, their faculty director and Chi
nese history professor, arrived at the
Beijing Foreign Languages Normal
Col lege and began their four-month stay
with 100-degree temperatures.
"This always happens to me," said
Kessler, a UNC professor of traditional
and modern Chinese history. "It was the
hottest August on record in Beijing for
many years. It was so hot, but that lasted
just for four or five days."
Melanie Kirk, a senior English major
at Wake Forest University who accom
panied Kessler, said the first few days
were the worst part of the trip.
"There was no air conditioning, and
it smelled really bad," Kirk said. "Now,
I feel like I could go anywhere."
But the heat yielded way to better
days. "September and October are ab
solutely gorgeous in Beijing. I have
never seen a bluer sky. There was al
most no rain. It was clear and crisp with
blue skies and temperatures in the 60s
and 70s," Kessler said.
The flatness of Beijing allowed
Kessler to explore the city between
teaching class and advising students.
"You can get all over Beijing on just a
one-speed bicycle," Kessler said. "Ev
erybody buys these old, beat-up, used
bicycles. They are extremely cheap."
A Little Well Spent Time
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February 24, 25 & 26
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Students participated in organized
tours of factories, schools and neigh
boring communities and took trips to
the Great Wall, Manchuria and Hong
Kong. One of Kessler's students, John
Dean, a junior history and anthropology
double major at Wake Forest, took a
37-hour train trip to Hong Kong.
Dean was in a compartment with six
Africans who had also been traveling in
China. Dean said the group attracted a
lot of attention when they spoke to each
other in Chinese.
"There was always a big group sur
rounding us," Dean said. "They saw a
big group of foreigners: two whites and
six blacks, and we were all speaking
Chinese. They kept asking us why we
were speaking Chinese"
Because Kessler already had visited
China three times as a tour guide, he
used his semester to pursue other inter
ests. "I'd been to some of these places
on these previous tours, so I didn't feel
ascompelled to travel around. I've been
to about 30 cities in China already."
Kessler developed many relation
ships with the local people in Beijing.
He was able to see the Chinese up close
and personal, he said.
The Chinese love basketball, volley
ball and soccer. "I couldn't get any
other Americans to play soccer with
me, so I just went out and played with
the Chinese."
Kessler developed a close friendship
with Professor Ye, a Chinese historian
and antique collector.
"We would exchange ideas about
what life is like in America, college life,
his own situation and Chinese history.
We talked about his own background,
his college life, his teaching."
He said he was thrilled with Ye's
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UNC Professor Lawrence Kessler
gifts from his personal art collection,
which included antique pottery, coins
dating back to 100 B.C., pots from 1,000
years ago and Chinese porcelain.
"Of all the people I met there, we
were probably the most alike. We had
similar interests historic or cultural
interests," Kessler said.
Friendships between the American
students and Chinese students were en
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to China,
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displays his mementos from China
couraged, but only to a point in male
and female relationships, Dean said. He
developed a friendship with his female
tutor, but their contact was restricted.
The two would go to her house, where
he would eat dinner with her family.
Her father, a Russian professor, also
coached basketball.
"The first thing the father asked me
was if I knew Michael Jordan," Dean
said. "I told him I had been to see him
play and that he was famous because he"
lived in our state. Every time I went
there, the father would ask questions
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forge friendships
about him."
To show his appreciation for the
family's hospitality. Dean had a friend
from home send a Michael Jordan poster
to give to his tutor's father. "I pulled it
out a picture of Michael Jordan's
'License to Jam.' (The father) almost
fell out of his chair.
"He was so excited, he couldn't get
over it. He was teaching 5-foot-10-inch
Chinese people to play basketball. He
had probably never seen anyone slam
dunk the ball."
Kessler heard many stories as a fac
ulty adviser. "Students would come and
talk to me about some of the problems
they were having," he said. "But more
than that, they would really come and
talk to me about some of the exciting
experiences they had had some of the
places they had traveled to or some of
the Chinese people they had met."
One student was questioned by the
Chinese police, because he took a pic
ture of the bumper sticker and album
cover of a rock group called Carnival of
Shame in Tiananmen Square, he said.
"Afterwards, we laughed about it, but
during the time I was concerned."
Kessler said he tried to experience
Chinese culture. He never went out to
eat a western meal but attempted to
learn Chinese cooking and never took a
taxi but always rode his bike or took the
bus. Except for on Thanksgiving.
"We prepared a traditional Thanks
giving feast and then invited the Chi
nese staff to join us," Kessler said. He
received positive response for most of
the food.
"Mashed potatoes," he said laugh
ing. "(The Chinese) are not into mashed
potatoes. But we made some kind of
apple desert that they thought was abso
lutely delicious."
The Chinese concept of table man
ners was surprising to Dean. "They don't
have any. They slurp, drink the soup
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from the bowl and eat really fast." '
A culture shock for Kirk was the
difference between the American and
Chinese family systems. "Family life is
so important (in China)," she said. "It
was unbelievable to see generations of
families that clung together."
Kessler's class. Contemporary China
in Historical Perspective, helped the
American students appreciate their cul
tural differences with the Chinese. "I
learned so much in class," Dean said.
"He made us work, but he rewarded us
things that he was teaching us, we
needed to know. You can't put a value
on that."
Kirk agreed Kessler's teaching was
thorough. "He dealt with current issues.
He dealt so specifically with Chinese
politics, government and history."
Kessler's knowledge of China began
with a class he took to fill a requirement
as an undergraduate at the University of
Chicago. "I took a Chinese course for
no particular reason. I got real inter
ested and did real well," Kessler said.
"I lived in Taiwan for two years as a
graduate student, finished up my Ph.D.
and have been teaching (at UNC) ever
since," Kessler said.
"(Kessler) was outstanding," Kirk
said. "He was just the dad of the group,
and there was no end to his knowledge
of Chinese history."
Dean said, "Before we left, he got
really, really sentimental. He was tell
ing us how much he enjoyed getting to
know us. He told each person how they
had added to the trip. He fit right in with
the students. There was nobody there
who didn't love him."
And as if the weather knew leaving
would be hard for the group, the day
before Kessler's departure, there was
an unusual circumstance that added the
perfect touch to his trip. "The day be
fore I left they had a beautiful, white,
sprinkle of snow."
Campus Calendar I
MONDAY
10 a.m. Rape Action Project will have office
hours in Suite A 215D Union until 3 p.m.
2 p.m. JOB HUNT 101 : Orientation. Basic infor
mation on how to use the UCPPS office. 210 Hanes.
3:30 p.m. Internshipsession. sponsored by UCPPS.
4 p.m. American Advertising Federation wel
comes Bill Cokas, 203 Howell.
Orientation interest session. Cobb Training Room.
5:30 p.m. Orientation interest session in
Carmichael Ballroom.
6 p.m. Black International Student Association
will have Bible Study in Upendo Lounge.
UNC Feminist Alliance. 205 Union.
Orientation interest sessions in CraigeGreen Room
and the fourth-floor lounge of Hinton James.
6:30 p.m. Peace Corps presentation. 20V Hanes.
7 p.m. BCC. Alpha Phi Alpha & CABJ will
present Chuck Stone to lecture on "Black Politics
the While Power Structure" in the BCC.
Leadership Matters will present "Collidascope?
Exploring 'Isms' and Understanding Difference," a
skills workshop in 213 Union. , ., ., , .. , .
U.S. Department of Energy presentation. 2 1 0 Hanes.
Orientation interest sessions in Morrison Rec
Room, Connor Lounge and Graham Basement. ' V
Black Pre-Professional Health Sociely.226 Union.
7:30 p.m. Ballroom Dance Club, 026 Woolen for
Rumba lesson followed by dancing at 8:30 p.m.
Orientation interest sessions. Granville Cafeteria.
ITEMS OF INTEREST
University Registrar's Office will be closed on
Monday and Tuesday, to resume in Hanes basement.
Peer Leadership Consultants applications are
available at 01 Steele or at the Union Desk. Due today.
Jl
$20 Deposit
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