Cultural Exchange

By TESE NEIGHBOR

Chen Zude, chairman of the Beijing Go Center, watching Chinese and American children play.

IT all started with two dreams an ocean apart.One dream took root in a public school classroom at Kimball Elementary in Seattle, Washington. Third grade teacher, Carter Kemp began to introduce a few of his students to the ancient Chinese board game of Go (or weiqi) during school lunch breaks. Soon more than twenty students were gathering regularly every Monday after school for an hour-long Go Club. Carter saw this game as one of strategic challenges for the children to learn, and also as a door to begin studying Chinese culture.

Another dream blossomed somewhere in the Taklamakan Desert in northwest China. It started with a conversation between an American and a Chinese tour guide that were leading a group of intrepid travelers along China's famed Silk Road. Tese Wintz Neighbor was so impressed with the excellent work of Li Yong Kai, the national guide assisting her, that she soon began wondering (and dreaming) aloud: Could he help her bring her children and other Go Club Kids on a trip to China? Li immediately pledged his assistance.

This April the two dreams became one reality when United Airlines flight 853 touched down, and eight children ran down the runway at Beijing's Capital International Airport. Accompanied by their parents and Go teachers, these children had arrived on a young diplomatic mission. The goal of these 8-14 year-olds was to build bridges of friendship by playing Chinese Go with their Chinese counterparts.

The Seattle Go Kids took their ambassadorial roles very seriously. They spent their first afternoon in Beijing at the China National Children's Center, where they were greeted by the famous Go master, Chen Zude. Soon the Seattle kids were sitting face to face with young Beijing students -- communicating in a common language. As each child took turns placing their black or white counter on the Go board, language barriers dissolved. Proud parents from both countries built on this fundamental friendship by exchanging e-mail addresses and challenging each other to ping-pong.

Pupils from Beijing's Erligou Primary School exchange gifts with visiting American children.

The group felt privileged at being invited to visit primary schools in Beijing (Erligou) and Shanghai (World Foreign Language School) where they played Go, and also a newly established Go center in Suzhou. One of the highlights of their trip was most certainly their visit to the famous Beijing Go Center, where they met Chen Zude, chairman of the Beijing Center, again. The young Seattle Go players wandered in awe around the Center, sitting in seats often occupied by the best Go players in the world. Chen, who visited Seattle last year (during the Chinese-US Chess Friendship Tournament) invited Jon Boley, manager of the Seattle Go Center (and accompanying tour member) to play a game of Go with one of Beijing's aspiring professional players. Jon happily agreed.

As the group traveled from Beijing, to Suzhou, to Zhouzhuang, to Shanghai, they continued quietly to build bridges of friendship and understanding by playing Go inside and outside the classroom: in outdoor parks, hotel lobbies, tour buses, and overnight trains with old friends and passersby. Hours of quiet concentration would often be shattered by the sound of eight-year-olds singing "zhao a, zhao a, zhao pengyou (Looking for a friend)."

As the children played and sang with their new Chinese friends, the accompanying adults reflected on the appropriateness of using Go to promote US-China friendship:

Go is a game of simple beauty. The shapes formed by the black and white counters flow across the wooden board in almost organic patterns. Its four thousand-year history imbues it with a significance and weight that by far transcends today's computer games. As we watch our children playing Go, we see them enmeshed in a web of possibilities, and considerations. Their skillful moves seem to swing between attack and defense; they consider alternatives, make choices, and commit to courses of action that lead to either victory or defeat. Each child playing Go is conscious that any move on the Go board carries with it consequences that will only become apparent in time. Playing Go is very much like living life. . .

Competing in the basketball court.

. . . As the game of Go builds bonds that transcend borders, it also strengthens bonds between the generations. The search for a strong game is accompanied by a growing respect for your opponent. Just as we are challenged in the game of Go to strengthen our skills, we have come here as parents and teachers to challenge our children to help build positive, strong connections between the US and China.

The strategy of Go is to claim territory and slowly, one small section at a time, tilt the outcome of the game in one's favor. Our dream as a small group of 17 Americans has been to build bridges and tilt the friendship between our two countries into stronger and stronger bonds. On hearing the children singing the end of this simple song to their new Chinese friends: "Ni shi wo de hao pengyou (You are my close friend)," we knew our dream had come true.

The author, who lived in Beijing from 1981-1983, working as an English polisher for China Pictorial, has led more than 30 tours to China. She now lives in Seattle and works for the World Affairs Council and teaches East Asian History for the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia.

Contact Li Yong Kai (General Manager of China Travel Service in Lianyungang, Jiangsu) if your dream is to travel to China either alone or with a group. He can help you with your arrangements. FAX: 86-518-5416947. E-MAIL: li_yongkai@263.net