news story / By Japhet Weeks

Lost in Translation

36 Chinese students and their Humboldt hosts take a walk in the woods

(July 10, 2008)  Wu Yulun wants to be a C.E.O. when he grows up. His parents are successful real estate developers in a large Chinese city. His father – already the C.E.O. of his own company – drives a Ferrari, his mother a Maserati. Little Wu has traveled all over the world – from Italy to Singapore. But this is his first time in the United States.

A mop of black hair frames the 11-year-old’s dark, round face. He wears a red T-shirt with a big yellow Nike swoosh across the front and the Chinese characters for China – pronounced zhongguo – emblazoned on it. He says he’s going to Beijing later this summer to attend the Olympics with his mom.

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The story of his family’s success is becoming more commonplace in 21st century China, but it’s still far from the norm. China’s average urban dweller earns a little over 2,000 yuan ($300) a month, not nearly enough to buy an Italian sports car, or even to send one’s child on a two-week trip to America.

Little Wu is one of 36 primary school-aged students from Chengdu, China, who spent last week in Humboldt County, staying with American host families. Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan Province, the site of a recent, devastating trembler that claimed the lives of almost 70,000 people. While here, the students – all beneficiaries of China’s economic boom – spent their mornings learning English at Union Street Charter in Arcata, and their afternoons dancing hip hop, making masks and putting together mosaics.

Last Wednesday, they took a break from their regular schedule to travel to Fern Canyon, which is how Little Wu ended up in the backseat of my car, enthusiastically teaching me and my wife some of the more colorful elements of Chengdu dialect. (Before moving to Humboldt County my wife and I spent two years in China, where we learned to speak Mandarin, or standard Chinese, passably well.)

Little Wu wasn’t the only kid along for the ride. Yuan Huating, 10, told us he wants to be an engineer when he grows up. And Hu Jiangshan, also 10, announced proudly that he wants to be a cop.

None of the students would be telling me anything about their future plans had it not been for Resha Reneau, who put this summer’s program together in conjunction with Northwest International Student Exchange (NISE), a Portland-based organization that arranges for 500 Chinese students to come to the United States each year. Reneau got involved because she hoped to share an alternative vision of American society with the youngsters. And she’s confident the program worked, regardless of its minor kinks. “We have created and shared an amazing vision of community together,” she wrote to the host parents in a farewell group e-mail sent out on Sunday after the students had left. “Let’s hold on to the spirit of goodwill and nurturing that inspired us to make this happen.”

The project’s goals were lofty indeed, considering that the 36 students lacked solid English skills and were here for just a little over a week. It was also only the second time that NISE had organized a trip for students this young. Some host parents were frustrated by their inability to communicate with the children and felt that 10-year-olds weren’t equipped for such a far-flung adventure. Nor were they aware when they signed up that the students came from such wealthy families. (The program costs around $4,000 per student – more than the average annual salary for an urban Chinese worker.)

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