Doors Cracked Open: Teaching in a Chinese Closed City

by Fran Martens Friesen, Mary Ann Zehr, Myrrl Byler (foreword)

In their memoir, two American Mennonite women share stories of how they connected with students at a medical college in Sichuan, China, in the mid-1980s. Their host city, Luzhou, had been designated a “closed city,” which meant that foreigners could not visit it without special permission. Fran and Mary Ann were initially escorted whenever they left the campus. Even though they eventually were able to roam the city, their interactions with Chinese people were always scrutinized. Still, by hosting English conversation parties, taking taiji lessons, interacting with students in the classroom, meeting people on walks, and going on outings, the teachers made meaningful connections. Educational, cross-cultural exchanges such as the one Fran and Mary Ann participated in suggest a path forward for easing tensions between the United States and China today.

224 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 27, 2024

Reviews

[Rosanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I need to admit, right up front, that I know the authors, but I'm convinced I would have also really enjoyed this even if I did not. Sometimes we don't quite notice when we are living through major historical moments, and changes come on so rapidly that it is hard to recall clearly the course the history took. Fran and Mary Anne had a front page view of a time when China went from being incredibly foreign and unfamiliar to slowly opening to the rest of the world in a real way. They have good recollections of their time living in a closed city in China in the 1980s, and they also kept great records. Quotations of letters and journals strengthen the immediacy of the book.