In June this year, Mu Yanling revisited Guling. (Photo by Southeast Net reporter Lu Jinfu).
Southeast Network December 15** (Reporter Lu Jinfu Li Xianbin Editorial Planning Xu Shangfu) It is almost the end of 2023, and Mu Yanling, a member of the "Friends of Guling" in the United States and a researcher of Guling history and culture, is busy contacting the "Guling family" in the United States to dig out more fresh materials for a Guling story book she is preparing to publish. After attending the meeting of China*** with friendly people in San Francisco, USA on November 15, local time in the United States, Mu Yanling was very excited and always wanted to do something next. Sorting out the Guling story of Sino-US people-to-people exchanges has become one of her concerns. "After Christmas, I would ask a few members of the Guling family to chat face-to-face, and record some little-known stories and tell them to more people. Mu Yanling, 72 years old this year, said in an interview with reporters across the ocean that the story of Guling has a rich connotation and needs to be continuously excavated and passed on from generation to generation.
In October last year, during the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, a reporter from the southeast network interviewed Mu Yanling and launched a report on "The United States "Guling People" Praise China's New Era", and she was sincerely happy about China's rapid development. Over the past year or so, Mu Yanling has been working hard to excavate and tell the story of Guling, and build a "rainbow bridge" of friendship between China and the United States.
After more than three years, he returned to Fuzhou to continue to write the love of Guling.
Three generations of Mu Yanling's family have a deep friendship with China, Fujian and Fuzhou.
Her father-in-law, Mu Airen, participated in China's War of Resistance as a member of the American Flying Tigers, and his name was engraved on the Fuzhou Anti-Japanese War Memorial Wall, making him the first foreigner on the memorial wall. Mu Oiren went in and out of China five times in his life, traveled thousands of miles from the United States to Fujian to teach, and scattered half of his ashes into the Minjiang River.
Mu Yanling's husband, Peter Mu, was born in Fuzhou, and was picked up to the mountain when he was still an infant and spent a good time in Guling. The family has lived in China for a long time, and their two daughters are named "Aizhong" and "Aihua".
In 2015, Mu Yanling climbed Guling for the first time, moved by the story here, and decided to inherit his father-in-law's wish to devote himself to the study of Guling culture and promote Sino-US friendship. She initiated the "Friends of Guling" composed of descendants of American friends, experts and scholars who study Guling culture, etc., to work together to excavate the history of Guling, and the identity of the owners of more than 300 ancient houses on the mountain has gradually become clear, Mu Airen, Ke Zhiren, Fu Yihua, Pu Tianshou, Bai Lingwei, Fu Moral ......A picture of Guling's life is slowly unfolding.
Over the years, Mu Yanling has gone to Yale University and other places in the United States many times to find the original map of Guling in the early 20th century, and has visited many descendants of foreigners who have lived in Guling. During the epidemic, Mu Yanling still insisted on the research of Guling culture, and she collected a lot of Guling-related living objects and ** in the United States.
Last year, in an interview with a reporter from Southeast Net, Mu Yanling thought that he could "return to Fuzhou" as soon as possible and reunite with everyone in Guling. In 2023, she got her wish and returned to Fuzhou with her daughter Aihua to participate in the "Gulingyuan" Sino-US People-to-People Friendship Forum held in Fuzhou in June. She brought three large boxes of old belongings, including pens, a bag of marbles, a black lady's felt hat, an iron kettle, a manual compression blower, a tin cigar box, etc., which were displayed in the Guling Mountain Residence Life Museum (Rich Family Villa).
The place where our ancestors lived and left traces is home, and this time we are sending old objects home. Mu Yanling said that the most precious thing is not the object, but the people behind the object and the story that happened, so that more people can understand the life of foreigners in Guling a hundred years ago.
This time back to Fuzhou, Mu Yanling stayed for a whole month, and the itinerary was full. She and her friends visited Guling again, and at the "Foreign Local Public Well", she and her daughter worked together to dig out spring water, stamped postcards on postcards with their own hands at the Guling Post Office, sent transoceanic postcards, and planted laurel trees with friends from China and the United States at the entrance of the International Public Welfare Society.
During his stay in Fuzhou, Mu Yanling also went to the Memorial Wall of Fuzhou Anti-Log Fighters to pay homage to his father-in-law and the anti-war soldiers on the wall. She pasted a red missing star on Mu Airen's Chinese name on the memorial wall, and printed her father-in-law's name on rubbing paper. She wants to rub the film back to the United States and tell the story to her family.
In June 2011, Mu Yanling applied for a permanent residence ID card for Chinese foreigners (commonly known as the "Chinese green card") in Shanghai, but the card could not be renewed after it expired during the epidemic, causing many inconveniences for her to carry out academic research and cultural exchanges in China.
This time when he returned to Fuzhou, Mu Yanling's greatest wish was to renew the "Chinese Green Card". On July 3, 2023, she successfully applied for a "Chinese green card" at the Exit and Entry Administration Department of the Fuzhou Public Security Bureau.
China is my home, and to go back to China is to go home. Mu Yanling said that in the future, she will often return to China to continue her research on Guling culture.
Inherit the "Guling Spirit" and promote people-to-people friendship between China and the United States.
After returning to the United States, Mu Yanling was still busy promoting people-to-people exchanges between China and the United States. At the end of October 2023, she participated in the national conference held by the US-China People's Friendship Association online, and talked about the results of Guling cultural research and the spirit of Guling story. She also "gathers" with the friends of Guling from time to time through online and offline means.
Entering November, Mu Yanling participated in a number of activities. On November 5, Consul General Huang Ping met with Mr. and Mrs. Mu Yanling to exchange views on people-to-people exchanges between China and the United States. Mu Yanling also presented Consul General Huang Ping with the "Guling Picture Book" compiled by him.
On the evening of November 15, local time, President ** attended a joint welcome banquet of American friendship groups in San Francisco, and met with old friends from all walks of life in the United States again to recount friendship.
Mu Yanling was invited to attend the banquet, and when she received the invitation from the Chinese Embassy in the United States, she was very excited, and contacted Lee Gardner, Bi Lehua, Cheng Gordon and his wife, Pu Guangzhu and his granddaughter Cathy, and Patrick's great-grandson Ernie to go to San Francisco, and she made a special trip from Rhode Island to attend the banquet.
Mu Yanling said that it is an honor to be regarded as one of the many Chinese friend groups, and on behalf of the "Friends of Guling", he was invited to participate in this banquet, and deeply felt the strong support and promotion of Chairman Xi Jinping to enhance exchanges between the Chinese and American peoples and promote mutual understanding and cooperation.
As early as 1992, he invited Mrs. Dana to visit Guling, helping the old American to fulfill her husband's wish to return to his homeland, and also talked about the story of Guling on different occasions many times, so that the story of Guling was widely spread. Mu Yanling said that the chairman was very familiar with Guling, and they talked about the people and things on Guling Mountain in a short exchange.
The story of Guling is a good story of Chairman *** personally promoting friendly exchanges between China and the United States. In Mu Yanling's view, Guling is an unusual place, where businessmen, diplomats and missionaries gather, they run schools and hospitals, and foreigners and Chinese living here help each other and form strong friendships.
Every Guling story tells us an important fact, that is, people from different countries, different families, and different cultural backgrounds come together to have a harmonious life and build friendships that can be passed on from generation to generation. Mu Yanling has repeatedly mentioned the importance of the Guling spirit of understanding, respect, peace, friendship and love on different occasions, and the Guling story symbolizes the continuation and inheritance of friendly exchanges between the American people and the Chinese.
The foundation of China-US relations lies in the people, hope in the people, youth in the future, and vitality in the localities. On November 16, local time, Mu Yanling also participated in the "Sino-US People-to-People Exchange Friendly Dialogue" jointly organized by China ** Radio and Television Station and the US-China Youth Student Exchange Association and other groups in San Francisco. Mu Yanling hopes that Guling will become a place where children from all over the world will come, and that the younger generation of Americans can go to China and Guling, Fuzhou, to live for a period of time, have in-depth exchanges with the local people, and make friends with China.
Communication is very important for young people, they are open-minded, it is easier for them to exchange ideas, and once people realize that they have friends in China, they will feel different. Mu Yanling said that young people in the two countries have received different education and growth backgrounds, and if they are given more opportunities and stages to better understand each other and each other's countries, it will have a very positive impact.
After returning home, Mu Yanling shared her time in San Francisco with her husband, daughter, and other "Friends of Guling." "I shared the San Francisco gathering on social media, and everyone was happy and inspired. "Mu Yanling.
Enrich the story of Guling and tell it to more people.
This year, in addition to participating in exchange activities, Mu Yanling spent most of her energy on collecting materials for a Guling story book, and she wanted to write down the stories of local villagers getting along with the Americans in words. Previously, she drove an hour and a half by herself to the residence of Lynn, a member of the Pallinger Wei family, many times, chatting with him and reminiscing about the past in Guling.
There are no written materials in Lynn's house to record the experience of Guling, and many stories are in his mind, and he has to sit and talk slowly before memories come out. Mu Yanling said. Lynn was born in Fuzhou, his parents Bai Lingwei used to teach in the "Fuzhou Private Union Middle School", before the age of 16, he would spend the summer in Guling every year, and also used a small camera to take hundreds of photos of Guling life **. Unfortunately, Lynn passed away in the United States on August 30 this year at the age of 103.
Next, Mu Yanling will also visit the members of the Guling family one after another. "I plan to publish this book in Chinese in October next year, and return to Fuzhou to release it, hoping to let more people know the Guling story in the form of words." Mu Yanling said that as the members of the "Friends of Guling" gradually aged, they are also constantly recruiting the new generation of the Guling family to participate in this work.
2024 marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, and Mu Yanling also hopes to make a contribution to promoting people-to-people exchanges between China and the United States. "The exchanges between China and the United States are very important, and the connections between our people are also very important. Mu Yanling plans to return to China in March next year to complete a Guling documentary interview with teachers and students at a school in the United States.
Mu Yanling looks forward to working with Chinese friends and colleagues to jointly promote the study of the history and culture of Guling, and to work hard to enhance the friendship between the people of the United States and China, which is also the best way to carry forward the "Guling Spirit".
We hope to make the world a better place through our efforts. Mu Yanling said.