Joyce Lee on sun 23 sep 01
I told some of you that i would forward any info i received from China =
regarding=20
their reactions....this is the longest from a young American=20
teacher who is waiting to fly back to U.S.
I also received two short messages from Chinese friends, two male=20
students:
one was panicky "are you OK? please let me know"........
one was very concerned, "I know you live far from New York, and I'm so =
glad=20
you are OK. I think this is a political thing, and we don't need to =
talk=20
about it, OK?"
but this message embodies the kind and warm hearts of the=20
Chinese people I've known, including my former daughter-in-law, Ping, =
who managed to leave China as a teenager, living under dire =
circumstances until she arrived in the U.S. a few years =
later................. received her formal education here and eventually =
became a member of our army intelligence.... where she met our son, =
Pete. Pete&Ping... they received a lot of teasing over that combo...
especially since they were in such a serious business.....
Joyce
In the Mojave
>Subject: reaction
>Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2001 22:29:30 EDT
>
>I thought I'd let you know what my experiences have been with how =
people in=20
>China are reacting to the events in the U.S. I haven't had contact =
with a=20
>whole lot of people because I haven't gone out a lot since it happened. =
=20
>Also, I don't speak Chinese, so I don't know what they're really =
saying,=20
>but everything I've seen has been sympathy. I think I already told you =
>about what happened the morning after the attack. I went to buy a=20
>newspaper and none of the cab drivers bothered me, cars stopped so I =
could=20
>cross the street, and the people at the Post Office, who are usually =
quite=20
>rude, were extremely helpful. On reflection, I think the clerk sold me =
her=20
>newspaper. I went back to buy another copy and they don't sell the one =
I=20
>bought. Some of the other teachers have had students say that the U.S. =
>deserved it, but they are in a very small minority. I had an old =
student=20
>come talk to me a couple days after it happened. She's about 12 and =
she=20
>told me that sometimes when she heard about it she wanted to cry. S
>he also said, "I wish there are no more accidents in the U.S." I was =
on a=20
>train to Beijing and was sitting next to a girl who spoke English. The =
>people next to us were discussing a newspaper that was covering the =
attack.=20
> She told me they were saying how smart the FBI was. The most =
impressive=20
>thing, though, is that I received a letter from the Tianjin goverment=20
>yesterday. It was in Chinese so I had to have it interpreted, but it =
said=20
>that they were very sorry for the attacks on NY and DC and that they=20
>supported the U.S. in its war on terrorism. They said that if I had =
any=20
>problems to contact them and they would take care of it and that we =
were=20
>safe in China. One of my first thoughts when I was watching the attack =
on=20
>CNN was what China's response would be. I was watching the ticker on =
the=20
>bottom of the screen waiting for it to say that China condemned the=20
>attacks, but I never saw it. The next morning I heard that the =
government=20
>had told everyone to be nice to Americans, but I never heard anything =
firs
>thand. A couple days later, the police came around and asked to see=20
>everyone's passports. This made me nervous because I didn't know what =
they=20
>were going to do with. Now I think they were just getting a list of=20
>Americans just in case something happened. One of the guys who works=20
>downstairs has said they called him several times that day to make sure =
we=20
>were safe and they've called several times since then. The letter was =
the=20
>most comforting thing. It was addressed to me (using my full name, I =
think=20
>that's why they needed my passport) and was an extremely nice gesture.
>
>Other than that, life is continuing as usual. I'm not doing a whole =
lot,=20
>so I don't have any other great stories. I'm in charge of graduation =
which=20
>is tomorrow so I'm sure I'll have something to say about that. I miss =
you=20
>all very much and am looking forward to being home.
JAlexan491@AOL.COM on sun 23 sep 01
Our friends in China are very concerned for us. And their first reaction was
to tell us that all the people that they knew around them (these people are
in mainland China in a province call Xiamen) were very angry about what had
happened here.
One thing they don't understand is why our TV people had to keep showing the
planes flying into the towers over and over. They thought that it had to make
us Americans mad all over again each time we saw it.
Janice in NC
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