Smeared Type

I gave a talk about Mulberry Child to the Glenview Sunrise Robtary Club at the Glenview Country Club yesterday. I was touched by the Rotarians’ interest in my story and China in general.

All the photos are courtesy of Richard Hill, Public Relations Chair of the club. Thanks, Richard!

Presenting Mulberry Child

Sharing family story

 

Joel Levin, President of Glenview Sunrise Rotary Club, comments on Jian's talk

Jill Brickman, Chair of Program, makes closing remark

Jian Ping, author of Mulberry Child: A Memoir of China. For more information, visit www.mulberrychild.com, www.moraquest.com. Mulberry Child is being developed into a feature-length docucumentay film by award-winning director Susan Morgan Cooper and will be released in 2011.  

By Jian Ping 

Book Signing at Rotary Club in Deerfield, IL

During a recent Thursday, I gave two talks in two states, a record. The first one was a talk at a Rotary Club over lunch in Deerfield, IL; and the second, at KazooBooks to a book group and the public in Kalamazoo, MI. Despite the rush—I forgot about the one hour time difference between Illinois and Michigan and committed to start the 2^nd event at 5:30 P.M. local time. But despite the rush, I enjoyed both events.

Deloris at the Deerfield Rotary Club invited me to speak at her club and introduced me to her fellow Rotarians.  I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Deloris had read my book before contacting me. She gave a detailed description of my book to the audience, along with her comments—a better job than I could ever do. I proceeded from there, using a few visuals to illustrate the stories covered in my book and the atrocities of China’s Cultural Revolution. Since I just received permission from my film director Susan Morgan Cooper to use photos of the documentary based on my book (production is scheduled to finish in early 2011), I eagerly shared images of three reenacted scenes that had been filmed recently in Los Angeles—images of Nainai, my grandmother, Father and me at six in the mud house we were forced to live in.

After the Q & A and a rushed book signing, I charged to the parking lot in front of our meeting place where my friends Joyce and Hank had been waiting. I was 15 minutes late, making our tight schedule more challenging to meet. “It’s 172 miles,” Joyce had sent me an email the day before, reminding me we need to get on the road no later than 1 P.M.  I threw my bag into the trunk of their car and settled in the back seat as soon as I could.

“Okay, ready to roll,” I said. I was very grateful that they generously offered me a ride from Deerfield to Kalamazoo, Michigan!  

Jian Ping, author of Mulberry Child: A Memoir of China. Visit www.moraquest.com, www.mulberrychild.com

By Jian Ping

Site of Accident

I took the 1^st outbound Metra train at 5:55 this morning to give a talk at a Rotary Club in Algonquin, a northwest suburb of Chicago. Randy, a Rotarian at the club, graciously agreed to meet me at the Fox River Grove Station. It was a beautiful morning. As I read a book on the train, I couldn’t help from raising my eyes and looking at the trees and the buildings that passed by, their colors turning quickly from a light gray to bright gold with the rising of the sun.

As the train moved closer to my destination, I left Randy a message, telling him I was 10 minutes away. But shortly after I put away my phone, the train halted to a stop in the middle of nowhere. Passengers got restless after five minutes and I heard people talking over their phone, trying to find out what was going on. I picked up words such as “an accident,” “a pedestrian being hit.” The speaker on the train was eerily quiet. Just as I reached Randy over the phone, the train started moving. But my relief didn’t last long—the train pulled into the Barrington Station and the conductor got everyone off the train, saying this was as far as it could go. Fortunately, Randy offered to drive over and pick me up at the Barrington Station.

We managed to get to the breakfast meeting at Algonquin 20 minutes late. With the help of another Rotarian, I was able to hook up my computer to a projector and gave my talk after a quick breakfast. We rushed through a Q & A session and book signing. Donald, another Rotarian, gave me a ride back to the Barrington Train Station. We watched one train moving out of the station as we pulled in, and I was surprised to see the bright headlight of another train approaching. I thanked Donald and walked toward the platform. As I settled in a seat five minutes later, I heard a male announcer’s voice: “This is the 6:48 a.m. train. We are being delayed for more than two hours.” He didn’t give any reason for the delay and a conductor told me a high school student was hit and killed by a train earlier in the morning. My heart sank at the news.

Looking out through a window, I could see a few clusters of high clouds against the blue sky and the sun was shining beautifully, oblivious to the tragic loss of a young life. I couldn’t bring myself to imagine the fatal moment when the teenager decided to step onto the tracks as a fast moving train approached.

“Once again, sorry for the delay,” the male voice from the speaker brought me back to reality when the train moved into the Chicago Station. “We’re doing everything we can to manage the situation,” the voice continued. “It’s still a beautiful day out there. Let’s make the best out of it.”

I got off the train, nodding farewell silently to the conductor. Streams of people rushed out from the platform and moved quickly to get to their offices or other destinations. My thought turned again to the teenager who lost his or her life earlier in the day. I felt keenly aware of the vulnerability of life.

Yes, I thought of the announcer’s words, we sure need to “make the best out of it,” out of every day of our life.

(Only later in the afternoon I found online that the death of a senior from a high school was ruled suicide. His car was found 20 feet away from the accident site and an engineer on the train saw him walk onto the tracks as the train approached!)

Jian Ping, author of Mulberry Child: A Memoir of China. Visit www.moraquest.com, www.mulberrychild.com.

By Jian Ping

Ron Koller and me at Crystal Lake Rotrary Club

I talked with Ron over the phone a couple of times before meeting him in person. He called to invite me to speak at his Rotary Club at Crystal Lake and offered to pick me up at the Metra Train Station. As promised, at 11:30 A.M. on the day of the event, I saw a silver-haired man approach and extend his hand to me.

“You must be Jian,” he said.

It was not difficult to spot me, the only Asian, at a main street in Crystal Lake, close to the train station.  

It was a hot summer day, and I was surprised to see Ron wear a jacket. Most of the Rotary Club members I had met were in their forties to sixties, professionals who gathered regularly over breakfast, lunch or dinner to participate in club activities and networking.

“I’m 79,” Ron said, as if he had read my mind. “I’m the oldest member and have been active in the club for 40 years.” As we drove toward our meeting place, I learned that Ron was the owner of a car body shop at Crystal Lake and had been playing an active role in the local commerce and communities over the past 40 years. He was also a veteran who was at the Korean War in the early 50’s. “The U.S. and China were enemies then,” I blurted out. He nodded, appearing to be deep in thought as he looked ahead.

He soon changed the subject and told me he loved photography and two of his photos had won “honorary” mention and would be shown at the local theatre in an upcoming exhibition. One photo was submitted for “Peace for Children” in which he presented his two adopted Korean grandchildren; and the other was a scenery shot he took when he was traveling with his wife in Europe. As he mentioned about his wife, his voice softened. “We celebrated our 50^th anniversary two years ago,” he said. I congratulated him. When I received no immediate response, I turned to look at him. He was dabbing away tears at the corners of his eyes with his fingers. “My wife passed away last year,” he said.

“I’m so sorry,” I said. I was touched by his genuine feeling for his wife.

I lost my father two years ago and knew how painful it was to loss a loved one.

“We traveled to Europe three times and I’m glad we did it,” Ron said.

The talk at the club went well and Ron gave me a ride to the train station afterward. His grandfatherly manner drew me to him and I felt like we were friends. Ron asked me to notify him when the docu-drama film based on Mulberry Child would be released. “If it is okay with you,” he said. “I’d like to show the film to my local community.”

Ron bought a hardcover copy of my book and said he’d like to share it with his grandchildren—a total of 17.

Meeting with people like Ron and sharing our life stories for inspiration and understanding make the time and effort on writing and public speaking worthwhile and rewarding.

Jian Ping, author of Mulberry Child: A Memoir of China. Visit www.moraquest.com, www:mulberrychild.com

 By Jian Ping

Jim Hahn and me, photo by Dr. Jae Ro

I visited several Rotary Clubs in the greater Chicago area recently, talking about my memoir Mulberry Child and today’s China. Elizabeth, a club member at Barrington, introduced me to Jim at the Korean Club after my appearance at her club.

I exchanged a few emails with Jim and set the date on July 19th. Jim was very detailed oriented and extended his hospitality by picking me up from the Metra Train Station at Arlington Park. We chatted on our way to Woo Lae Oak, a Korean Restaurant where they had their meetings. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that nearly a third of their members were Korean women.

Rotarians at other clubs I had been to were mostly casual. I was amazed to see all the Koreans, men and women, appear in formal attire—men all had a jacket, and some even a tie, in this hot summer day. Each of them came over to make a self introduction as they arrived and addressed me as Ms. Ping. Apparently, they had been well informed of today’s program. I was impressed. I also noticed how extremely polite and friendly they were, not just to me, their guest speaker, but also to one another. One woman, Rose, told me she was not a member, but came specially to hear me talk. We chatted and compared notes on raising children in the U.S.—we certainly had similar experiences.

A Presentation on Mulberry Child

The club meeting started with the ritual of the National Anthem, followed by a pledge, which I always found touching. Then the language changed from English into Korean, beginning with a prayer. I watched Jim take center stage and assumed he was making announcements of their activities. Suddenly, the familiar sound of Jian Ping, Jennifer Hou Kwong, and even Tsingtao Beer caught my attention. I realized he must be introducing me. I smiled. The foreign syllables sounded like music to my ears. I was no stranger to conversations that I couldn’t understand—and they were not even conducted in a foreign language. Over the last decade, my husband and I had spent our Christmas with my in-laws in San Francisco. They spoke Cantonese and Tai Shan dialects, and I spoke Mandarin. Since they knew little English, and my understanding of Cantonese or Tai Shan was next to zero, we smiled and gestured, but couldn’t talk without an interpreter. I learned to fit in without the help of language. The benefit? No conflicts, ever!

At this Korean Club, most of the members knew about the Cultural Revolution or had experienced China firsthand. So I rushed through my talk and left some time for questions. I nodded to the first gentleman who raised his hand. “One, what compelled you to write the book?” he said. “And two, is Tsingtao Beer really started by Germans in China?” Everyone laughed, including me. The two-way dialogue became casual and easy afterward. “Why is it titled Mulberry Child?” “What’s your daughter’s reaction to the book?”…. We carried our conversation over dinner.

I also learned quite a bit about them and their culture. James, who sat next to me, told me about how he learned Chinese characters when he attended school in Korea. “A total of three thousand words,” he said, writing down “天”“heaven” and “地” “earth” in Chinese, but pronounced them in Korean. Brian, who sat across the table asked me the meaning of my name and wrote the correct Chinese characters on a piece of napkin—his handwriting indicated a good training in calligraphy and was much better than mine! Again, I was impressed.

I was honored to sign copies of Mulberry Child for the attendees and found my book bag nearly empty when it was all said and done.

A few members walked me to the door. Rose came over to bid farewell.  “I’m so honored to meet you,” she said, her expression genuine and touching. She had asked me to sign a copy of Mulberry Child to her daughter. We shook hands as if we had known each other for a long time. “Send me an email,” I said to her as we parted our way. “I will,” she said, waving.  

Jim, thank you and your club members for having me. I really enjoyed the unique experience. 

Jian Ping, author of Mulberry Child: A Memoir of China. Visit www.moraquest.com, www.mulberrychild.com