Stories come to life in photos of memorable times in China

By DONG LESHUO in Washington and KONG WENZHENG in New York | China Daily Global
Updated: May 3, 2019
Grand Prize | Sarah G. Daley (foreground right) makes peace sign during visit to the Great Wall with students from Hebei University in the summer of 2018. 

Sarah Daley, a student at the University of Virginia, has deep connections with China. She has a sister who was adopted from China in 2009, and Sarah spent the summer of 2018 teaching local students English in Hebei province. Both experiences left her with positive impressions of Chinese people and long-lasting friendships.

Those connections led to Daley being honored by the Chinese embassy in the US, after she shared her stories to the world through an event hosted by the embassy and China Daily.

"My China Album" highlights the friendships between Chinese and Americans in celebration of the two countries' 40 years of diplomatic ties.

Daley was among hundreds of Americans who participated in My China Album from Feb 6 to April 19, sharing their personal stories about China through photos and captions.

More than a dozen of the participants were recognized for their genuine and touching stories, with Daley receiving the grand prize — two round-trip business class airline tickets to China for her and her family. An awards ceremony will be held to highlight the stories on May 4 at the Chinese embassy in Washington.

For Daley, the prize is a gift that will afford an opportunity to return to China and to continue to build relationships with Chinese people, whom Daley said "showed me such kindness and welcomed me into their country and into their lives with immediate warmth and curiosity".

The people-to-people connections were highlighted by many participants, including Charlotte Christensen, vice-president of the Oregon China Council, who had worked for years with Chinese people and organizations.

"Since the 1990s, our legislators, businesses, educators and cultural leaders have gone to China in delegations almost every year," said Christensen, who took second prize.

She also witnessed friendships going beyond the personal level. Oregon developed a sister-state relationship with China's Fujian province 35 years ago and with provincial-level city Tianjin in 2014.

For Christensen, it's important to build friendship and cooperation between China and the US on issues like environmental solutions and trade relations, which "is the kernel and the meaning of 'My China Album'," she said.

The event attracted a diverse group of participants not only from the US, but from China and other parts of the world. Some of them started their interactions with China decades ago and have witnessed the tremendous changes in the country through the years.

"I have had great respect for the People's Republic of China over many decades and watched as China raised 800 million of her people from poverty and made it a priority to restore her natural environment to become an ecological civilization," Christensen said.

"The old China is long gone, but the new China is rising," said Roger Brewer, one of the finalists who studied in China in the 1980s and 1990s and revisited the country years later.

All contest participants will receive souvenirs for their contributions to the event, which is sponsored by Air China, the China National Tourist Office in New York and the China General Chamber of Commerce – USA. Some of the stories and photos will be featured in a book to be published by China Daily later this year.

And now the organizing committee has decided that My China Album will continue to accept photos and stories that will showcase the people-to-people relations between the American and Chinese people.

Grand Prize| Sarah G. Daley (right), a student at the University of Virginia, hugs Mia, one of the hardworking and dedicated students at Langfang Normal University, when Daley taught English there in the summer of 2018. "She opened my eyes to the true beauty of China: the beauty of its people and their hearts."
Honorary Award | Justin Diamond (right) is a student at George Washington University. He has a Chinese roommate named Haining Bao. It has always been his passion to learn more about China. The Governance of China by President Xi Jinping was the book that Haining gave him at their first meeting. He often asked Haining about content that he doesn't understand in the book. He said that his favorite part is about the Chinese dream, "Upon reading more, I learned so much about the values and history of China and the Chinese people, my Chinese dream is to explore this country."
Second Prize | Charlotte Christensen (left) accompanies Chinese envoy Luo Linquan (right) and his wife, Li Qiao (second from left) on a farewell tour in southern Oregon after Luo completed his term as consul general in San Francisco. Crater Lake National Park Superintendent Craig Ackerman and his fiancee Susan joined the tour.
Third Prize | Carson Landgrebe, a student at Butler County Middle School in Kentucky, celebrates the 2019 Chinese New Year with his Chinese teacher Mrs. Huang. "Someday I would go to China and learn more about China. Thanks to Mrs. Huang, she opened a new world to me" Carson wrote in the caption.
Second Prize | Kelsey Schoeman, who is currently a student at the University of Virginia, lived in Beijing for six years when she was a child. Every weekend, she volunteered at Hope Healing Home, an orphanage for disabled children in Beijing. "I became a familiar and trusted face and built strong bonds while watching these children grow and learn. I witnessed them all grow bigger and stronger."
Third Prize | Marria Peduto, with her Chinese sister in Chengdu. "I see love, laughter and our long walks to school together every morning. I see the baozi seller who fed us breakfast each morning, and our favorite tea shop. I see the memories of my life in China where I found myself in a city that began to seem more familiar than foreign, and as I exited the car and said my final goodbye to my family before my flight, I found myself saying, "Little sister, I feel at home."
Third Prize | Pauline Rogers, a high school student in Fremont, California, visited a village in Shanxi province in 2018. Rogers competed at the 2018 Water Cube Cup in China and had the opportunity to make friends with many wonderful singers worldwide.
Third Prize | Elizabeth Kiderlen (right), an American who has been living in Hainan for more than 13 years with a woman who is over 90 years old. "I have been visiting a tiny, remote Miao village in the central mountains of Hainan Island in the South China Sea for more than 10 years. … This village has captured my heart over the years, as I have led foreign visitors there to experience authentic Hainan culture. They have become family to me."
Honorary Award | Lincoln High School | Celina Le (third from left in front row), a student at Lincoln High School in Tacoma, Washington, was invited by President Xi Jinping to visit China in 2016. She met many students from different provinces and established friendships with them. The most memorable experience she had was learning Chinese traditional stringed instrument from Chinese students. "Reminiscing about China has always brought back a sense of nostalgia that I hope one day to have the opportunity to return to."
Second Prize | Lee Talbot (right), curator at the George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum, visits a workshop in Matang, a Gejia village in Guizhou, learning how batik is made. "After trying my hand at this ancient art form, I had the chance to experience Gejia dancing, singing and lusheng playing."
First Prize | Susan M. Lyons, honors coordinator and Omicron Delta Kappa campus coordinator at Middle Tennessee State University, with her daughter Lily Grace, who was adopted from Changsha in China in 2005. "I will forever be grateful to China and the Chinese people for giving me the greatest gift of my life. ... We are very blessed to be a Chinese American family."

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