A Sign from the Heavens How I got here
Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
Many ask how I ended up in Xiamen and I reply, "A sign from the heavens!" And this is literally true, as I wrote in the intro to the book "Xiamen University--Strength of the South". Also read "China--our Matchmaker" to learn about my blond, blue-eyed made-in-Taiwan wife and our "match made in heaven" (but assembled in China).
How I Got Here (???
(A Sign from the Heavens!)
Adapted from "Xiamen University, Strength of the South"
Many Chinese expect some deep, philosophical response when they ask me why I chose XMU in 1988, but my answer is rather prosaic: XMU was the only Chinese university at that time that let foreign students bring families. A far more interesting question is "Why did I come to China at all?" The answer is-I received a sign from the heavens!
After 20 years in China it is hard for me to believe that I never met a Chinese or ate Chinese food until I was twenty years old. I remember being told that one in four people on earth were Chinese and I said, "Thats not true. Our family has 4 people and none of us are Chinese!" But I got oriented quickly when the U.S. Air Force sent me to Taiwan for two years in 1976, and that was the beginning of a decade-long chain of events that led me right to XMU.
Sign From the Heavens As a young Air Force missile systems expert, my only interest in the mainland was as a military target. With hindsight, Im very thankful that by the 1970s Taiwan and the apocalyptic Yellow Peril were exchanging not weapons but words.
On a bright, spring morning, a batch of mainland propaganda leaflets fell from the heavens like colored snow right onto our Air Force base. I could not read the Chinese so they did not interest me in the slightest-until the Taiwanese police told us, "Youll go to jail if you even touch them!" Forbidden fruit is always sweeter, and I stuffed my pockets with contraband propaganda, raced home, closed my curtains, and studied them secretly. I didnt believe the mainland was as rosy as the photos depicted (Red maybe, but not rosy), but they piqued my curiosity, and I began reading about Chinese history and culture.
I had already fallen for Taiwan and her people, and when I learned that 3/4 of Taiwanese were from South Fujian, I decided that someday Id visit the mainland. I never dreamed that a decade later Id not only visit but become Fujian Provinces first permanent resident foreigner.
Heard of Xiamen? In April, 1988, right after the birth of our second son, Matthew, a total stranger phoned from Thailand and said, "I hear youre interested in studying Chinese in China. Have you ever heard of Xiamen? Their university has dorms for families..."
"No, never have," I said, "and my wife just had a baby so we cant go anywhere for a couple years. But thanks anyway."
Exactly one week later, a man from Orange, California, phoned and said, "Ive heard you want to study in China. Have you ever heard of Xiamen?"
"Yes, I have," I said. "Last week!" I met with him, and 5 months later my wife, two infant sons, and I were in Xiamen University.
Only English Teachers! When I showed up at Xiamen University in 1988 with a PhD in management, half a dozen "China Hands" said China wanted nothing but English teachers, and they suggested I return to the U.S. to get a degree in TESL. So imagine my surprise and delight when I heard that XMU was starting one of Chinas first MBA programs, and that they did have one foreign teacher. And as "luck" would have it (for me, if not for him), the American teacher left China mid-year because of family issues back home. The Dean asked me if Id take his place, and I said, "Let me think about it." And after thinking about it for a good 30 or 40 seconds, I said yes, and weve been here ever since.
It was the right place, and the right time, and I felt so proud to be part of the team that a couple years later awarded Chinas first MBA degrees (beating Nankai University by 6 days). But in 1988, neither Xiamen University nor Xiamen City was remotely like the idyllic city and campus we take delight in today.
A Poor SEZ XMU may well have been Chinas only key university in a Special Economic Zone, but China was still a poor country, recovering from decades of difficulties, and XMUs living conditions left much to be desired.
The electricity and water were shut off several days a week (we were once without water for 4 days and I lugged it up the hillside in buckets). When we did have water, it gurgled from the faucet brown, like tea. The air was dirty as well, full of coal soot, and I coughed like a veteran smoker.
Roads were poor, we had only 3 main bus rouses, and buses were dilapidated. Black exhaust often billowed through the busses wooden plank floors and sometimes I looked like a minstrel1 by the time I staggered off.
Rains transformed our campus dirt roads into quagmires, with vehicles mired in the mud at the university gates. Though were an island the drainage was poor and XMU often flooded. After one typhoon, Foreign Affairs (now ICE) spread their documents on the lawn to dry them in the sun. (I was curious to read what they had on me, but I didnt have the nerve to sneak a peek).
If foreign teachers living conditions were bad, those of famous Chinese professors and leaders were even worse. I often encountered Liu Peng, our MBA Centers Dean, walking home in a robe from the public bathroom a block away. Ji Yuhua, now the nationally famous Uncle Beard, lived in one room, and like other teachers he had built a kitchen of cardboard in the common hallway (replete with padlock on the cardboard door!).
Changed From Within We would have never imagined in 1988 that only a decade later wed have the idyllic campus we take for granted today, and that Xiamen City would be a garden city recognized internationally for balancing record economic growth with sound environmental preservation.
In 2002, I spent eight months researching Xiamen to help represent her in an international competition for livable cities in Stuttgart2. I was awed at what I discovered. While anyone with eyes in their head can see that the "Garden City" is indeed one of the most beautiful cities on the planet, the casual observer does not see the tremendous quality of leadership and planning that made such comprehensive changes possible.
`XMU, like Xiamen City, has undergone not a mere cosmetic makeover but an evolution of purpose and spirit-though I did not have an inkling of the sheer scale of change until I researched this book. I also had no idea of XMUs contributions not just to China but to the rest of the world over the past 85 years. This book only scratches the surface, but I hope it will help you understand, in some small measure, why XMU is not only the Strength of the South but the Strength of the Nation as well.
Below is a list of some of Xiamen Universitys Many "Firsts!"
Some of XMUs Many Firsts
Chinas only key university founded by an Overseas Chinese
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Chinas only key university in a Special Economic Zone
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Chinas most beautiful campus (only Wuhan University comes close).
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Chinas largest university auditorium (overlooking the sea)
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A "Cradle of modern aviation"
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A "Cradle of modern Chinese oceanography" (1st PhD in Oceanography)
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Chinas 1st to award the MBA degree
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Chinas 1st EMBA to enroll students (4th most popular E-MBA today)
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Chinas largest number of enrolled EMBA students
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Chinas leading chemistry department
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Chinas 1st Institute of and degrees in Higher Education Research
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Chinas first modern college for foreigners (OEC)
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Chinas pioneer in correspondence education (since 1950s!)
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Chinas leading mathematicians, including talents like Chen Jingrun.
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Chinas closest university ties with Taiwan.
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Chinas 1st Taiwan Research Center
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Chinas 1st Taiwan research quarterly)
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Chinas 1st institute of S.E. Asian and Overseas Chinese Studies
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Chinas 1st Anthropology Museum
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One of Chinas 1st universities to teach International Law
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One of Chinas Leaders in Political Affairs Research
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Chinas only Public Economics Dept. designated as a "National Key Branch of Learning"
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Click Here to read more of XMUs firsts
And Click Here to read "China, our Matchmaker"
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