China Asks Once-Reviled Citizen to Come Back

Retired UCSF Pharmacology Professor Nancy Ma and Internist Peter Lee both fled from China for different reasons. However, recently they created the foundation WuWei Harmony which does projects with China. 
Nancy was born in Shanghai during the 1940s. Her father worked as Asian General Manager for Colgate-Palmolive, a wonderful position...until the Communists took over in 1949.  He fled first to Hong Kong, a British territory back then. The rest of the family , however, could not get exit visas. (See post one.) After seven years of waiting, they finally managed to get to Hong Kong. (See post two.) 
Husband Peter fled from China for different reasons. His parents were part of the Nationalist Army that fought against the Japanese from 1937-45 and then the Communists from 1945-49. (See post three.) While Peter was safe from Communism, he realized upon college graduation that there weren't many job opportunities. Fortunately, he got a scholarship at the University of Texas. (See post four.) Meanwhile, Nancy struggled in Hong Kong. Her mother enrolled her in a Cantonese/English high school, two languages Nancy did not understand. Nancy only lasted three days. (See post five.)But she did well in college, and managed to get a scholarship to Southwestern University in Georgetown Texas. (see post six.) She started looking for a job, and ended up getting her Ph.D. (see post seven.)

In 1981, Nancy who was Professor of Pharmacology at UCSF received an odd request. China asked her to come back, to give a talk to the Beijing Medical school and Chinese Academy of Sciences. She was wary. She and her family had undergone so much suffering. At the same time, she reasoned,  Mao was gone.

Deng Xiao Ping had taken over, and he was pushing the brightest of the bright to study abroad and bring the knowledge home. He was pushing for education and science. Maybe things were changing.

“That was the first time I’d been back after 25 years,” said Nancy. She said she could easily pick out her house, school, shops, etc. “Not a single building had been painted during that 25 years. The only difference was they planted some trees."

Although they enjoyed their trip, Peter and Nancy did not rush to work with China. They continued to live their very busy, very accomplished lives. They only returned again in 1991.

“I realized it (China) was really changing,” said Nancy. “You could sense it. The atmosphere was different. It was like—you’re not being oppressed anymore. You’re not being watched anymore. People could talk about the government..”

“There was also a lot of construction,” said Peter.

"Now when I go back to Shanghai," said Nancy. "I couldn’t find my house. I couldn’t find anything.”

“She’s like a stranger (in her own hometown),” said Peter.

(To be continued. Next: Wanting To Do More Than Just Writing Checks)