Chinese scholar takes new perspective home

Professor Ruicheng "Eric" Pei of Liaoning University in China was most struck by something missing in Montana when he arrived last fall.

"It's quiet," he said. "My city is noisy with 7.5 million people."

In May, Pei wraps up his academic year as a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at Flathead Valley Community College. He returns to Shenyang with a few new books, loads of memories and a firsthand view of Americans to share.

He recalls wondering in China what he would encounter living in America.

"We look different, we speak different and we even eat different," Pei said. "Now I see we're really the same family members. We may be racially different but people are the same."

He had high praise for the students he taught and the faculty with whom he worked.

"My students are fabulous," he said. "They are very hardworking and dedicated. They are awesome."

Pei expects many, like Jane Beard, to continue their Chinese language studies. Beard joined several of Pei's students in China this week as part of a large group visiting from the Flathead.

"He really has inspired me," Beard said.

Her plans include studying Chinese abroad through the University of Montana.

During fall and spring semesters, Pei taught a wide range of courses in Chinese language and culture on both the credit and non-credit sides of the college curriculum. He recently presented an honors symposium lecture on China before and after 1979.

A true child of the Cultural Revolution, Pei was 5 when the upheaval began in 1966. It continued for 10 very long years.

"It's very bad memories - painful and hurting," he said. "No one was abiding by the law."

According to Pei, the People's Republic of China turned a corner after the death of Chairman Mao in 1976. Pei said things got better and better as the country found a successful path to development.

Pei contrasts the beginnings of America with a blank slate a few hundred years ago to China's evolution toward a freer society.

"China had 5,000 years of feudalism," he said. "Change comes bit by bit. You can't change a country overnight."

The youngest of five children, he grew up in a small town in Liaoning Province to an educated family. His father was a businessman and accountant with his brothers, Pei's uncles, who spoke various languages including Russian, Japanese and English.

"I wanted to be a teacher since I was a small boy," he said. "That was my dream."

Pei said a friend of his father first recognized his language ability and started tutoring him in English.

He started just for fun but evolved into a serious student, studying at his tutor's home for several hours each evening.

Pei still recalls listening covertly as a small boy with his teacher to the "Voice of America" radio program.

"We listened after 8 p.m. or before 6 a.m.," he said. "We got a lot of ideas about what America was."

His teacher was persecuted during the Cultural Revolution but, just in time for Pei, better days arrived by 1979, opening up universities to foreign language study.

He attended Dalian Foreign Languages Institute. Pei went on to earn a master's degree in English language and literature.

For the first seven years of his career, Pei traveled the world as a simultaneous translator.

"It was exhausting and demanding work," he said.

He moved into education in 1992 and continues to teach English literature and language as an associate professor at Liaoning University, an institution he compares to the University of Montana.

His work there came to the attention of the Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence program.

"One of my bosses at the university recommended me," he said.

After filling out a mountain of paperwork, Pei submitted his application then had an interview over a network at the American Embassy. Even before he finished, the interviewer told him that he was approved.

"They asked me if I would like to come to Montana," he recalled. "I said I would like to go anywhere."

From movies and reading, he knew a little about Montana and quite a bit about major U.S. cities. In China, Pei read publications such as Newsweek and the New York Times provided through a cultural exchange.

"They were all uncensored," he said.

Pei has had many American and American-educated teachers in China and has interacted with Americans living in China.

But arriving in Montana still meant a bit of culture shock.

He said his earlier travel and many friends help him adjust quickly.

"My coordinator, Colleen [Unterreiner] and Joe [her husband] take good care of me," he said. "They take me everywhere. My students also give me a lot of help."

He gave high marks to Joe's barbecues.

After seven months living here, Pei came to know Americans as very honest, frank and candid. Perhaps his most surprising discovery about the United States was the attitude toward aging.

His first shock was to receive an offer to participate in the Fulbright program at the advanced age of 47.

"In China that is too old," he said with a laugh. "In America, life begins at 50. In China, life ends at 45."

When people reach 60 in China, Pei said they focus within their family. He was excited to find himself teaching students in their late 80s in Montana.

"Here, you're never too old to learn," Pei said.

He pointed to Rosalie Heinecke, a woman in her 80s who attends many of his classes, came to social events with him and informally adopted him. This openness of Americans to strangers warmed Pei's heart.

"People invite you to be a guest in their home when they may only have known you an hour," he said. "We seldom do that in China. You would have to know someone a long time - three or four years or longer."

Pei attributes part of the Chinese reserve to the animosity generated during the Cultural Revolution. He said he sees that changing slowly in his homeland as people began to trust each other again.

Attitudes toward America have taken a 180-degree evolution in China as well. As a hallmark of change, Pei said the younger generation can recite the names of the American presidents.

"My idol American president is Abraham Lincoln," he said, citing the Gettysburg Address and the Emancipation Proclamation.

Although impressed with many aspects of the United States, Pei looks forward to returning home to his family and familiar surroundings. When people ask his preference, he has a diplomatic response.

"East or West, home is best," he said. "But I will miss Kalispell. I have two hometowns now."

Looking to the future, he hopes the two cultures assimilate, integrating the good and discarding the bad.

Among the best of American culture, Pei points to citizens voluntarily taking care of the environment and living full of confidence and enjoying their lives.

Pei said a country becomes strong not from the military or thriving economy but from its citizens' bond and commitment to each other.

"If people really love and sincerely want to help each other - if people believe in and trust each other - I think then people have a future."

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.