May term 1999 (retrospective in 2024)

The trip was fairly standard by now.  South East Asia, working our way to China, with a Yangtze cruise, ending up in Beijing.  One thing Brad Hannam and I did was to cross the border into Malaysia for a look at the palace of the richest man in the world (at one time), the Sultan or Johor.  What I remember most about the palace was his use of elephant legs as waste baskets and umbrella holders.  But we did get a stamp for Malaysia in our passports, which was an added benefit.

The other “different” event was a monkey wrench thrown on May 7, 1999, when we received news that the US had “accidentally” bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, and that anti-American protests had erupted in response in the China.  With the safety of our charges in mind, Dr. Jin spent a lot of time  contacting his friends in China to make sure we would not be endangered.  We cautiously entered China, prompting our students to downplay their American identity (e.g., no Cubs shirts).  At times it was tense, and we were known to say, “Ottawa is lovely this time of year”.

We were lucky enough to connect with two of our alumni–at opposite ends of the expat spectrum–in Shanghai. One was Omar Sadeque, son of a Pakistani diplomat, who had gone to Baylor for an MBA.  Hired by Cargill, at this point in his 20s, Cargill gave him $25 million to establish a chicken processing plant.  He hosted our class and talked about his career and his opportunity.  At the other end was Tuan Nguyen, who had come to China with me in 1994 as his last class at IWU before his January graduation; Tuan was so smitten by China that he resigned the job he had lined up and went to China to take his chances.  When we met him, he was married to a Chinese woman and living a la Chinese.  Omar, by  contrast, lived in a gated community with a driver, a cook, and several servants.

The only place I caught some flak was in Xi’an, on my extended trip.  When I got a haircut, the barber talked about bad Americans.  I told him, in Chinese, I was in China to see where my dad had fought for China against the Japanese.  That put paid to that discussion.