The home-coming story of an American couple

BEIJING -- "Kuliang, Kuliang..." Milton Gardner kept uttering the word in the final hours of his life. His wife, Elizabeth Gardner, knew it was a place in China where her husband spent his childhood, but she was unsure of the exact location.

Years later, in the summer of 1992, Elizabeth was finally able to fulfill her late husband's last wish, traveling from the United States to Kuliang, or Guling in Mandarin, with the help of none other than Fuzhou's Party chief at that time, Xi Jinping.

Xi learned about the American couple's story in the People's Daily newspaper in April 1992. Gardner traveled with his parents as an infant to China in 1901 and spent about 10 years of his childhood in suburban Fuzhou, Fujian Province. Those years influenced him deeply, and Gardner kept many Chinese elements in his life, such as collecting ancient Chinese art pieces and having Chinese cuisine.

Gardner returned to California in 1911 and became a professor of Physics at the University of California later in life. He had longed to revisit his childhood home in China but could not make the trip.

After her husband died, Elizabeth made several trips to China to find the small place her husband had so much affection for, but her efforts ended in vain as she had few clues about the exact location. Eventually, a Chinese student, who penned the People's Daily story, helped her identify the place as Kuliang, a summer resort popular among foreign expatriates in Fuzhou a century ago.

When the news story came out, Xi was touched and immediately arranged contact with Elizabeth and invited her to Kuliang. Xi met her on the evening she arrived in Fuzhou. They exchanged Chinese vases as gifts.

"What moves me is your husband's attachment and longing for Fuzhou and Kuliang in his later years. It naturally occurred to us to invite you here. You can see for him the place he had missed all his life and rekindle the friendship," Xi said.

The next day, with the arrangement made by Xi, Elizabeth visited Kuliang. She saw the mountain landscape and foreign villas her late husband mentioned a lot and met with his childhood friends. Elizabeth said the trip made her understand why her husband had missed China so much, and she would continue to pass on the friendship between the two peoples.

Two decades later, Xi shared this story at a welcoming banquet when he traveled to the United States as China's vice president. "I believe there are a lot of touching stories like this between Chinese and American people," he said, calling for stepping up people-to-people exchanges to consolidate the most solid public support for China-U.S. mutually-beneficial cooperation.

In the United States, descendants of American families who once lived in Kuliang also founded the group "Kuliang Friends" to extend the friendship between the Chinese and American peoples.

On Wednesday, members of the group attended the "Bond with Kuliang: 2023 China-U.S. People-to-People Friendship Forum" in Fuzhou. Xi, now China's president, sent his congratulatory letter.

"I was very glad to hear from members of the Kuliang Friends and to know from your letter more touching stories about your connection with Kuliang," said Xi, adding that amity between peoples holds the key to the relationship between countries.

It has been shown once again that "the Chinese and American peoples can transcend differences in system, culture, and language, and build a profound friendship," Xi said.