Fawzia in Wuhan, China, in December 2005

I was invited by my friend Serena Xi, who had assumed a Dean position at the Zhongnam University of Economics and Law in Wuhan, to give some workshops for her staff. Wuhan is in central China, on the Yangtze River, so Fawzia and I visited in December, 2005. Wuhan is a large city (I was told that it has more than 30 universities) and is crowded and polluted, and usually covered in smog. But the warmth of our welcome by Susan Liang and others in the English Department was enough to dissipate the gloom.


Fawzia seemed to enjoy herself during the trip, and is seen smiling in most of the photos.

Susan Liang is next to Fawzia. Susan later completed a PhD. at the University of Hong Kong.

All the above photos were taken on the campus of Zhongnam University of Economics and Law.

Ever the curious librarian, Fawzia is looking around the university's library. The English collection was meager. 

At the National Stone Museum. We underestimated the Wuhan winter and Susan lent a coat to Fawzia.

The smoggy city in the background. 

We took a day trip to Mao's summer villa, along the lovely Red Lake. The road was lined with pine trees all the way.

Mao's summer villa is in the background. At the time of our visit, the villa and its furniture were maintained in their original condition. Faded photos on the walls, 1950's style furniture. Mao was a voracious reader and his vast bed had stacks of books. He's supposed to have entertained Nixon and Kissinger at the villa.



The famous photo of Mao swimming in the Yangtze in Wuhan. Besieged by his failed policies and after "cloistered plotting", Mao took this well publicized swim in the summer of 1966. I saw a photo of the swim in a Sri lankan newspaper. http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2054250,00.html

At the Hubei Provincial Museum.