Ignore doubters and rebuild ties one step at a time, former US teacher says

Retired United States history teacher Ronald Sakolsky has called on people in China and the US to stop listening only to doubters and begin rebuilding people-to-people ties one step at a time, saying that mutual trust will take time but must begin with "a first brick".

The former high school teacher who taught in Luoyang, Henan province, in 1999 through a teacher exchange program, is on a 10-day visit to China from Aug 23 to Sept 1 at the invitation of the China Education Association for International Exchange.

His visit drew public attention after he was reunited with Yin Yuzhen, a desert restoration pioneer in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region whom he helped with a $5,000 donation 26 years ago. The money has since helped contribute to the planting of more than 50,000 trees.

On Sunday afternoon, Sakolsky visited the National Museum of China in Beijing, wearing a blue-and-green Chinese-style brocade vest as he toured the "Ancient China" exhibition.

Reflecting on how China has changed over the past 20-odd years, he recalled a chance encounter with a 10-year-old boy in Beijing.

"His English was better than that of everybody here. Maybe better than my English, and he is 10 years old," he said. "The change is that China has moved to the future. You've kept your past, but you've moved to the future."

Sakolsky also called on people in the US to come to China to learn about Chinese culture, and those in China to visit the US, saying there are many similarities between Chinese and US history.

On doubts about China-US friendship, Sakolsky said too many people had been listening to doubters and the problem was that only one side of the story was being heard.

He urged people to listen to the other side as well, not necessarily to believe it, but to consider both perspectives and make their own decisions.

"That, I think, is the first brick," he said. "And after that, others will follow."

Sakolsky pointed to the teacher exchange program in which he participated in 1999 as an example of what worked.

"In 1999, there was a teacher exchange program. We had a bridge. There were American teachers coming, and Chinese teachers going," he said. "Build the bridge again, have more, have a bridge."

On Monday morning, Sakolsky attended a China-US teacher exchange event hosted by the China Education Association for International Exchange in Beijing. There, he spoke passionately about the teaching profession and the importance of gratitude.

"I'm just a simple history teacher who had a great history teacher when I was in sixth grade — that really, really affected me. I never got the chance to say thank you to him," he said, his voice filled with emotion.

"You never realize as a teacher the rewards that you are getting at the time you are teaching. You get those rewards years later."

He then urged everyone in the room who had ever been a teacher to stand up, saying that teachers are among those who deserve to be appreciated and thanked.

Contact the writers at zoushuo@chinadaily.com.cn