February 2000

Dear Friends,

Many of you have already heard our good news: On January 26th, Kim gave birth to a healthy baby boy at Nanjing's Mother-and-Child Hospital. His name is Benjamin Springfield Strong, a formidable new contender in the game of life, weighing in at 8.5 lbs. and 19.7 in.. His big blue eyes and blondish hair made quite a stir among the nurses on the maternity ward, where we rented a private room for a week after the birth. The environment there was quite comfortable for the three of us, and we concluded that a one-week hospital stay after having a baby (especially a first baby) is just right.

An interesting detail of our stay was that the new mothers in the ward get food delivered to their rooms, but the daddies have to find food elsewhere, so I took daily hikes into the surrounding neighborhood, hunting for food and finding things like roasted yams, steamed dumplings and noodle soup. Also, Chinese friends kept us well supplied with fish soup and chicken soup, to help mother's milk come in. And while we were there, the Nanjing television station sent over a reporter with a cameraman, and we got featured on local T.V.! Benjamin's birth being so close to China's New Year Festival, they were on the hunt for interesting feature stories. We weren't the first foreigners to have a baby at that hospital, but it happens seldom enough that it is definitely an "event."

Our first two weeks home, a college student named Zhou Ying volunteered to come over every day to help us with domestic chores, and to cook for us, which she was very happy to do in exchange for being able to practice speaking English with native speakers! We did succeed in getting her to accept a hong bao from us. During the Chinese New Year holiday, it is a social custom for married couples to give red envelopes (hong bao) containing money to single people. But she sincerely only wanted the opportunity to spend time with us and use her English. It continues to make a deep impression on me: the huge numbers of people intent on learning English—the international business language—and the scarcity of opportunity for them to have one-on-one contact with a native speaker.

Since Benjamin's birth we have felt the eyes of the community upon us. The day after we got back from the hospital, I needed to walk down the street to the supermarket. I was hailed by an old man I'd never seen before, who wanted to express his enthusiastic congratulations. And when I stopped in at the noodle shop to say hello, the couple who runs it pulled out the newspaper that had the headline about us in it. Then, at the vegetable market, the egg-vendor and the man I bought cauliflower, cabbage and carrots from both made reference to the big news. I know that new parents everywhere generally get doted on. "Foreigner status" just adds a surreal dimension to the phenomenon, which can make you feel very special, or on alternate days, can make you resent the intrusion of your privacy.

All these surface struggles indicate something else much deeper that needs attention. We feel that the core reason for being filmed and featured in the local news has very little to do with us. In this time when China is trying so hard to be accepted by the West as a world player, stories like this need to be told. The Chinese people need to hear that there are Westerners who don't dismiss Chinese medicine, who trust Chinese doctors, and who appreciate Chinese hospitality. It is self-evident that China is trying to forge a new self-image and to earn a place of respect in the world. Within this truism, there are many personal perspectives: those who mythologize America and dream of emigrating. Others who are proud of their national identity and just hope for mutual respect between East and West without having to compromise their own cultural values. Still others who disdain and distrust the West in general, and the United States in particular. Wherever they're coming from, one thing is very true: the Chinese people are tuned in to how they are being perceived by
other countries. During the recent occasion of the 50th anniversary of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, a policy statement has been published concerning interfaith relations. An excerpt reads: As to our Christian discipleship, we can only live by the clear obligation of the Gospel. When Jesus was asked, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" he, referring to his Jewish tradition, answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your
mind; and your neighbor as yourself" (Luke 10:25-27). Love of God and love of neighbors cannot be separated. Our actions must be based on genuine respect for all men and women. "The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy" (James 3:16-17). And beyond respect, we are called to love all people so that, by the working of the Holy Spirit, we may "above all, clothe [our]selves with love, which binds everything together in perfect
harmony" (Colossians 3:14).

Now one month old, Benjamin is 10.3 lbs. and 22 in. Pray with us that he grows up in an environment of love, courage, peacemaking and tolerance. His birth here already symbolizes a bridge between two cultures. May God nurture that dimension of his life, so that it blossoms into a great reconciling power in this world! And we pray for the peacemaking potential in your children, as well!

John and Kim Strong