Americans 'friendly but frank,' Chinese visitors say
MPA students visit Marion during Christmas break
Staff writer
During their visit to Marion, Ken and Gavin made a couple of observations: The people are friendly, but frank, and the surrounding countryside is beautiful.
Gavin, whose given name is Pang Tianhong, and Ken, whose name is Li Jian, were in Marion Dec. 17 — 25 visiting Herb and Joyce Jackson.
Gavin and Ken came to Marion during their Christmas break from college. They are both working on master's degrees in public administration at New Haven University in Connecticut. They will be in the United States until August when they finish their one-year course of study.
Their home is in the People's Republic of China.
"It's very important for the Chinese to get their master's degree abroad," Joyce explained.
Gavin met the Jacksons during the time they taught in China between 1998 and 2001.
"I met Herb and Joyce during a spring festival. I drove them many places and took them on many visits," Gavin explained.
Joyce said Gavin was a great friend to them during the time they were in China.
"He took us to meet many business and government leaders while we were there," Joyce said.
In China, both men are professionals. Gavin is involved with forestry management, while Ken is the chief of the education division of the justice department of the Guangxi Province.
"Ken is the leader of our group," Gavin explained. Nineteen leaders are studying in America, while 13 are studying in the United Kingdom, he said.
The students are in the United States learning how the capitalistic economic system works.
For decades, China has been a socialist country with all business and industry being controlled by the government. However, in recent years, private business has begun to flourish in the country.
"We watched the first McDonald's go up in China during the time we were teaching there," Herb said.
"We came to America to learn to develop our economy," Ken explained. "We have a socialist economy. We want to develop a marketing economy.
"We're here to learn the management of a marketing economy," he added.
While on Christmas break from college, Ken accompanied Gavin to Marion to meet the Jacksons and see an agricultural state.
"I always told Gavin that if you come to America don't just visit the East Coast or the West Coast. Come to the Midwest if you really want to see America," Joyce said.
The men's trip to Marion was their first long trip since coming to the United States in August. They'd taken short trips to Boston and New York, but this was their first trip venturing from the northeast.
"I wanted to see Kansas because it's the biggest state as far as agriculture is concerned," Ken said. "China is a big agriculture country. We can learn a lot of agriculture and farming in Kansas."
During their stay in Marion, Ken and Gavin met many people including members of Joyce and Herb's church and Top's Club.
"We've been introducing them to the American Christmas holiday," Joyce said.
Besides meeting people, the visitors also did some sightseeing around the area, and even tried fishing at Marion County Lake.
"We caught nothing," Gavin said.
Although they didn't have much luck fishing, the two had good luck meeting people.
"American people are very friendly, especially in Marion. Americans are very frank — honest," Ken said.
However, Americans overall are very limited in their knowledge about other countries — especially China.
"People don't know much about China. Not many people have been to China," Ken said. "I would like to see more cultural exchange between the two countries. We need more people like Herbert and Joyce to teach in China."
So far, the men's visit to the United States has been a big change from home. One obvious difference is the mode of transportation. In China, most people get around by walking or riding motorcycles.
"The population is very different in China," Gavin said. "American people own many cars."
Another obvious difference is the climate.
"Their home in China is a sub-tropic climate," Herb explained. "It's about 125 miles from the South China Sea."
As of Christmas, Gavin and Ken had just seen the first snows of their lives while in the northeast.
The snow probably got old pretty quickly for the two visitors. Joyce noted that after Gavin and Ken left Marion, they were caught in the Christmas snowstorm in the northeast.
"Their flight out of Detroit was stopped and turned around due to the snow," Joyce said. "They had to turn around and spend the night in the Detroit airport.
"And of course, when your flight is canceled you're put on standby," she said. "Welcome to America."
Luckily, Gavin and Ken's visit to Marion was not nearly so dramatic. Both invited Marion residents to visit them in China and said they enjoyed themselves while here.
"It's my first time here. I feel at home," Gavin said.
