男友太凶猛1v1高h,大地资源在线资源免费观看 ,人妻少妇精品视频二区,极度sm残忍bdsm变态

Global EditionASIA 中文雙語(yǔ)Fran?ais
World
Home / World / Friends Afar

Journey to strengthen friendship continues

By LIA ZHU in San Francisco | China Daily Global | Updated: 2024-10-16 09:40
Share
Share - WeChat
Steve Harnsberger (first from left) and Ellen Roots (first from right) are greeted by Chinese Consul-General in San Francisco Zhang Jianmin and his wife at an event in July. PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

Editor's note: China Daily presents the series Friends Afar to tell the stories of people-to-people exchanges between China and other countries. Through the vivid narration of the people in the stories, readers can get a better understanding of a country that is boosting openness.

In an era of strained US-China relations, Steve Harnsberger is on a mission to rekindle the flame of friendship between the two nations.

From a family with deep ties to China, Steve Harnsberger has taken up the mantle of "citizen diplomat", dedicating himself to discovering and sharing forgotten stories of cooperation and mutual respect between US and Chinese people during trying times.

Steve Harnsberger, the founder of US/China People-to-People Exchange, or PPX, an educational nonprofit organization based in San Anselmo, California, believes it is his "calling" to tell such stories.

"These stories are deeply rooted in our families' histories, including oral accounts and photographs. We are the descendants who can share how Americans and Chinese worked together during past disasters and pandemics," he said in a recent interview with China Daily.

Steve Harnsberger's journey began in 2001 when he accompanied his Chinese-born father on a trip back to the country. Visiting the houses and cities where his family had lived decades earlier, he was profoundly moved by the experience.

"When we first returned to Gaoyou (a city in Jiangsu province), all my father wanted to do was go on the Grand Canal on a boat because he had grown up living on a native Chinese houseboat," he recalled.

"The life of an innocent child born in a different country and his desire to 'go home' before he died moved me in a way that changed my life," said Steve Harnsberger. His father passed away in 2005.

The transformative experience led to his first project in China: a 2005 exhibit about the 1931 flood in Gaoyou in partnership with the Gaoyou Water Conservancy Department. The exhibit honored his grandfather, Thomas Harnsberger, who arrived in China in 1912 as a missionary and was known as He Bokui among Chinese people.

Thomas Harnsberger played a crucial role during the catastrophic 1931 Yangtze River flood, one of the world's deadliest natural disasters, with an associated death toll exceeding 2 million.

In August of that year, he traveled to the Gaoyou dikes to assess the situation and proposed raising funds for reconstruction to the Shanghaibased China International Famine Relief Commission. The commission funded the project, with Thomas Harnsberger serving as a supervisor.

"This story has persisted in my family for 75 years. This was my father's dream to remember his father," Steve Harnsberger said.

For his efforts to commemorate this forgotten chapter of US-China friendship, Steve Harnsberger was named an honorary citizen of Gaoyou city in 2005.

For years, Steve Harnsberger balanced his passion for US-China cultural exchange with running a small software company. However, a trip to China in October last year changed everything.

"When I was in Shanghai, a porter at my hotel walked up to me and said, 'We are not the enemy.' This came out of nowhere, and it really affected me — just a common man in Shanghai seeing an American. This is why I feel a responsibility now," Steve Harnsberger recounted.

The encounter prompted him to commit to his cultural exchange work full time. He recently established PPX to broaden the scope of his efforts.

Steve Harnsberger is currently leading two projects that exemplify his approach to cultural diplomacy. One is a concert in memory of Frances Roots' The Lushan Suite, a piano duet composed to celebrate her love for the Chinese people and the Lushan Mountain.

1 2 Next   >>|
Most Viewed in 24 Hours
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: 山东省| 通山县| 涿鹿县| 抚远县| 个旧市| 思南县| 玛纳斯县| 淄博市| 崇礼县| 芮城县| 漳州市| 垫江县| 尉犁县| 闻喜县| 蕉岭县| 兴海县| 云霄县| 泰来县| 余姚市| 韩城市| 疏附县| 和平区| 红原县| 从江县| 普宁市| 忻城县| 南雄市| 夹江县| 岑溪市| 清涧县| 隆子县| 海南省| 青阳县| 永川市| 资兴市| 资溪县| 北安市| 拉萨市| 雷波县| 大安市| 陇南市|