Becoming a graduate student
in the aftermath of CR

CR stands for Culture Revolution.  That is, the "revolution" that Mao launched in 1966, and that was ended in 1976 with the arrests of Mao's "Gang of Four" within 4 weeks of Mao's death. The following year, college enrollment via open entrance examination was restored.  The year after that, 1978, enrollment examination for graduate students was open.  At the time, I was a lead teacher of the English Teaching Group of the County (Longhai County, Fujian Province) and school (Longhai First Secondary School).  Having conducted training sessions for English teachers for the whole county, I was quite a celebrity.  But my dream of becoming a graduate student, dormant for 15 years, was now revived.  The place I intended to go was Xiamen University, which was only two hours away from my hometown by boat, and which was the hometown of my wife and her family and friends.

Prior to this open enrollment, I had already applied in person in the Department of Foreign Languages, Xiamen University.  After an interview and a written test, they accepted me and had contacted the education bureau of my county to have me transferred over. At the time, transferring from one job place to another was a complicated and tedious process.  First, the Party A (in my case Xiamen University) needed to have a state quota for the position.  Then the human resources of the Party A mailed out a request to Party B (in my case Longhai County Education Bureur) indicating that they were ready to accept the applicant (in my case, me).   Party B would have to contact the work unit of the applicant (in my case Longhai Secondary School) to see if they agree to let me go.  If everything went well, the applicant's secret dossier would be mailed from Party B to Party A.  The applicant would have to go the the local Public Security Bueau to "move out" his or her city residence registration, then to to the local “grain supply center" to "move out" his or her "grain allowance" (such as 30 kilogram of rice a month). A lot of papers with a lot of approval stamps would be necessary before the applicant could move out and go to the Party A, where he or she would have to go to corresponding offices (human resources, public security, grain supply, etc) to move in--usually into a room or a bed Party A provided.

Now since the graduate enrollment examination was sponsored and administrated by National Education Bureur, those who passed and were admitted could directly report to the school that accepted them, without the need to break the red-tape involing Party A and Party B.  So I took advantage of the open door, and submitted my application.  Over the years, even during the Cultural Revolution and the years I was forced to live in the countryside, I kept practising and improving my English, and was in my best shape physically and academically.  Of the 13 graduate students admitted to the Foreign Language Department, Xiamen University in year 1978, I was the second oldest, and was told that I was the second best in the examination.  Upon graduation in 1980, all 13 of us were assigned good jobs as each wished for.  I, along with other five classmates, stayed to teach at Xiamen University.  I taught the undergraduate classes, from freshmen to senior, and taught a lot of other classes outside the campus.  In October 1988, I came to Willamette University as a visiting scholar.

The two years of graduate studies meant and helped me a lot.  We also had "foreign experts" as teachers.  One of them was Marion Ng, from Canada.  The others were Derek Bryan and his wife Hongying from England. From them, we began to have a visual understanding of the world and culture outside China. During our graduate study years, we never watched television, did not have subscription to foreign journals, and never saw a computer.  But we did listen to BBC and VOA daily, and knew more than ever before about that the world outside China, and--more importantly--about China .

1978 graduate students of English Department, Xiamen University, with department professors and administrators

1978 graduate students of English Department, Xiamen University, with Marion Eg

School and department heads with Derek and Hongying Bryan

my entrance examination permit

notice for my interview (after passing the written examination)

my graduate school diploma