Chinese and American Love for Kuliang.

The ancient lotus buried in the ground for thousands of years can still germinate and bloom once it is replanted; The seeds of education planted a hundred years ago have also constantly pushed forward the friendship between Chinese and American teenagers in the years.

In 1994, Fuzhou and Tacoma became sister cities, and Fujian South China Women’s Vocational College and Puget Sound University in Tacoma became “sister schools”. Puget Sound University regularly sends outstanding graduates to South China Women’s College as English teachers. This cooperation has been going on for 30 years.

The two schools are separated from each other by the Pacific Ocean, and it is the “Kuliang visitors”-a Trimble family dedicated to the educational exchange between China and the United States for four generations.

In December 1889, 26-year-old Cheng Lydia came to Fujian from afar, founded four women schools, and died at the age of 78 in Lixue Building, South China, devoting all her life to Fujian’s education. Among them, South China Women’s College initiated the modern women higher education in Fujian.

The first batch of teaching staff in women schools basically came from China and the United States. Since then, faculty members of different ages, nationalities and genders have continued to struggle for women’s enlightenment and right to education.

Time spans a hundred years. In the 1980s, the third generation of the Trimble family, Cheng Mindai, returned to Fujian, his second hometown. The Trimble family traveled to and from both sides of the ocean like a bird, which brought back a hundred years of love between the two places.

In 2005, after Cheng Gaodeng, the son of Cheng Mindai, retired, he took his wife, Cheng Sonia, to South China Women’s College to volunteer to teach, and donated money to set up scholarships to encourage teachers and students of the two schools to exchange visits and continue to promote educational and cultural exchanges between China and the United States. Since 2008, the Trimble Family Foundation has sponsored five groups of nearly 100 teachers and students from Puget Sound University to visit Fujian, and sponsored several groups of students from South China Women’s College to exchange and study in the United States. Because of the contribution of non-governmental exchanges between China and the United States, Cheng Gaodeng won the “Friendship Award” in Fujian Province in 2009 and the “Honorary Citizen” in Fuzhou in 2020.

This year, there have been constant exchanges between the two schools-

In January, the President of Puget Sound University and his party were invited to visit, and they had an in-depth discussion on sending outstanding graduates to teach in Fuzhou, mutual visits and exchanges between the two sides, and the Asian scholars program.

In June, the delegation from South China Women’s College was invited to the United States to participate in the 30th anniversary celebration of the “Trimble Volunteer Teacher Project” and presented scarves with the school logo to the volunteer teacher representatives.

In July, at the invitation of teachers and students of South China Women’s College, a delegation from Puget Sound University visited Kuliang to trace the source of friendship. Shi Daochen, a professor at Puget Sound University and an Asian cultural scholar, lamented that South China Women’s College has the “Trimble’s Building” and Puget Sound University also has the Building. The enthusiasm for education has closely linked the two schools.

In September, South China Women’s College welcomed Cecilia Cobbs, the 20th Puget Sound University graduate and teacher. Now she is an English teacher in South China Women’s College.

“Bond with Kuliang” leads to more friendship. During the “Bond with Kuliang” China-US Youth Exchange Week in 2024, more than 200 American youths and nearly 300 China youths gathered in Fuzhou, and witnessed by the Millennium Cryptomeria, they started heart-to-heart communication and continued to write new stories.

During the activity, Zhenglin Shujie, a teacher of Minjiang College Music School, and Eileen Ginapu, Executive Director of Tacoma Refugee Choir, will join hands to sing. In the case that they have never met before, they rely on the internet to pass books and complete the re-creation of “Somewhere over the rainbow”.

The night before the welcome banquet, the two met for the first time. During the half-hour rehearsal, they had a surprisingly tacit understanding. At the welcome dinner on June 25, the two joined hands on stage, encouraging each other to complete their first show and winning applause from the audience. The two also entered each other’s friend circle. The fate forged by singing has become the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

On December 26, the awarding ceremony of the China-US youth exchange camp will be held in Kuliang. Chinese and American youths will go to a youth contract centering on Kuliang, so that the friendship between the Chinese and American people will grow sturdily and endlessly like the Millennium Cryptomeria on Kuliang.