Hangzhou Sino-US Friendship Folk Museum 10.1.2022
Today, as my wife Joyce and I were taking a stroll in Hangzhou, we stumbled on a curiously named back-street called "Jesus Lane", where we saw a shabby building with the sign, “Hangzhou Sino-US Friendship Folk Museum”, hanging next to the front door. Of course, we walked in, where we were enthusiastically welcomed by an elderly couple. They introduced themselves as the curators, Dr. Pan & Mrs. Fan. Before their retirement in 1999, he was a playwright and she was an elementary school teacher. After retiring, they decided to use their savings to personally finance the museum, host speakers, and organize exhibitions to remember Sino-US history and friendship.
I asked them, "why did you want to open this museum?" Mrs. Fan answered, "I have been to the US and the people there are kind and have 素质 sù zhì (basically meaning to “have class”). I was thinking to myself, "she probably didn't visit my neighborhood then". She continued, "our country has been helped by Americans so much, especially through the 20th century. We want to preserve and promote the historical friendship."
Upon closer inspection of my appearance and accent, Mrs. Fan asked, "you aren't Chinese are you?" I gave a reply in my typical aloof style, "it's a bit complex but I am American.” Upon hearing this, she hastily took me by the arm and in true Chinese fashion said , “我们合影吧”wǒ men hé yǐng ba (let's take a photo together). They hadn't had American visitors for a long time because of the difficulties of cross-border travel. Not only Americans, but foreign people in general are seen less in China nowadays; COVID restrictions and a general change in sentiment have led to what I call, "foreign flight". So, they were excited to have a chat with Joyce and I.
Dr. Pan talked with us about the importance of keeping the dialogue between the two countries going. He believes that the Sino-US relationship does not only need to be from official channels, but also starts with gestures by average individual citizens.
Hearing that we came from Kunming, Dr. Pan was eager to show us his collection of Flying Tiger books lying in a glass case with a portrait of the stoic-looking, "Old Leatherface", Claire Chennault hanging above. Mrs. Fan proudly talked about her correspondence between US Presidents: Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. The couple also shares a personal friendship with Henry Kissinger and traveled to the US to celebrate the 80th and 90th birthdays of the former Secretary of State. Dr. Pan even commissioned a sculpture of Kissinger's bust that sits as a centerpiece of the small museum. We were enjoying the conversation and taking-in all the pictures and artifacts of the museum, but I couldn't help but laugh while looking at the poster of "Mark Twin"... I liked the "twang" of that. Although the English translations were chalked with errors of every sort, the message they were trying to convey was clear.
The museum was quite small and it was about time for lunch, so we didn’t stay long. As we were leaving, Dr. Pan left us with a request to be, "advocates for Sino-US friendship", as the countries face increasingly difficult times. Taking Joyce’s hand, I gave a nod and we went on our way.
