Blog archive
April 2024
Tulsa reparations, Religion and Politics
04/09/2024
March 2024
Trumps War with Black Women
03/31/2024
Addressing The Needs of Older Adults Through Pasadena Village
03/25/2024
Coming Soon: More Resources for Older Americans, Online and in Person
03/25/2024
Community Building Locally and Nationally
03/25/2024
Preparing for the Future with Ready or Not
03/25/2024
Volunteering is at The Heart of the Village
03/25/2024
Women's Liberation: Then and Now
03/25/2024
Writing Memoirs Together
03/25/2024
Current Views on Current Events
03/20/2024
Unchained
03/18/2024
Rumr of Humor issue # 2409
03/10/2024
Blacks Portrayed by European Artists
03/03/2024
Rumor of Humor #2408
03/03/2024
February 2024
Caring for Ourselves and Each Other
02/27/2024
Doug Colliflower Honored
02/27/2024
Great Decisions Connects Us to the Worldwide Community
02/27/2024
Letter from the President
02/27/2024
Pasadena Village's Impact
02/27/2024
The Power of Touch
02/27/2024
Villages as a New Approach to Aging
02/27/2024
Addressing Gang Violence in Pasadena-Altadena
02/21/2024
Rumor of Humor Issue 2407
02/19/2024
Thank You For Caring.
02/12/2024
Rumor of Humor 2405
02/11/2024
Curve Balls
02/10/2024
Sylvan Lane
02/10/2024
Rumor of Humor 2404
02/09/2024
Larry Duplechan, Blacks in Film
02/03/2024
January 2024
Pasadena Village Joins Community Partners in Vaccination Campaign
01/29/2024
Rumor of Humor #2403
01/28/2024
Pasadena Village Joins Two Healthy Aging Resource Projects
01/25/2024
Decluttering: Do It Now
01/24/2024
Village Volunteers Contribute to the Huntington Magic
01/24/2024
Villagers Creating Community
01/24/2024
Villagers Reflect on Black History Month
01/24/2024
Walk With Ease, 2024
01/24/2024
Wide Ranging Discussion on Current Issues
01/22/2024
Wide Ranging Discussion on Current Issues
01/22/2024
Rumor of Humor # 2402
01/21/2024
Rumor of Humor # 2401
01/15/2024
Re- Entry Programs, a Personal Experience
01/08/2024
NANCY PINE - BEYOND THE VILLAGE
By Blog MasterPosted: 02/01/2021
NANCY PINE – BEYOND THE VILLAGE
- Sue Kujawa -
Pasadena Village member Nancy Pine has a PhD in education and has travelled and studied in rural China for decades. She is one of the leading American experts on Chinese early childhood education. She founded the Bridging Cultures US/China Program and has advised the administration and faculty on China at Mount Saint Mary’s University in Los Angeles. Her latest book, “One in a Billion – One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey through Modern-Day China”, has just been published. In late January she spoke to Village members and guests about how she came to write the story of An Wei, a stubborn, hardworking peasant, whose life encompasses the development of modern China.
Nancy had been doing research and consulting in China for a decade when a friend introduced her to An Wei because they were both working to improve communication between China and the United States. Nancy had always wanted to learn about life in the Chinese countryside since she herself had grown up in a log cabin in rural New Jersey. Through An Wei, she learned about the organization, Global Volunteers, and in 2004 she joined their project to teach oral English to rural High School teachers in An Wei’s village.
She soon realized that An Wei had started his primary school education in 1950, when the new nation of the People’s Republic of China was only one year old. He had grown up amid the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution. He had experienced and survived famine, re-education campaigns, and the changing interpretations of “Mao Zedong Thought.” Nancy decided that the story of An Wei, with his deep desire for education, his strong work ethic, and his commitment to improving his life, provided a vivid backdrop for understanding the development of modern China.
Nancy was already travelling to Nanjing once or twice a year to conduct research on young children’s learning. She began spending extra time in X’ian, where An Wei and his wife lived, to interview him and learn details of his remarkable life. Ever resourceful, Nancy used photos from old National Geographic magazines to stimulate An Wei’s memories and peppered him with questions about how they farmed, what clothes they wore, what he did in school.
As her research continued and data accumulated, the big question was how to decide what to include. Nancy realized that she needed to understand the history of the first half of the 20th century as well as the realities of rural life and how it influenced An Wei. She applied for and was accepted to attend a writers’ retreat where she set the arc of the story and began re-writing her drafts, and always, she said, “cutting, cutting, cutting.” In addition she took narrative writing courses at UCLA to flesh out her skills that had been honed on research articles.
After that she put it all aside! She had another book to write, and in 2012 her book, “Educating Young Giants: “What Kids Learn (and Don’t Learn) in China and America.” Family health issues took priority for some time. But An Wei’s story was still there. Finally, 16 years after she first met with An Wei and his wife, she completed the book. It turns out that Nancy Pine and An Wei share some characteristics – they are both stubborn and determined!
After Nancy’s fascinating presentation the group listened as Nancy described the enormous changes in China over the past 25 years. By 2006 China was more open to the west. There was a loosening of restrictions and some free enterprise. However, since 2015 there has been a gradual closing down and turning inward. Censorship is strong. Now instead of “Mao Zedong Thought” there is “Xi Jinping Thought”. Through it all An Wei has been “pretty fearless” and he “knows how to be careful.” But Nancy has not communicated freely with him and other friends in China for their own protection for the past couple of years.
For an hour or so, those of us at Nancy’s presentation were truly transported from our pandemic lock down to another world. We were left with a better understanding of men and women living their lives in a very different culture.
This book can be bought through Vroman's Bookstore