Doors Cracked Open: Teaching in a Chinese Closed City - Paperback

by Fran Martens Friesen (Author), Mary Ann Zehr (Author), Myrrl Byler (Foreword by)

In their memoir, two American Mennonite women share stories of how they connected with students at a medical college in Sichuan, China, in the mid-1980s. Their host city, Luzhou, had been designated a "closed city," which meant that foreigners could not visit it without special permission. Fran and Mary Ann were initially escorted whenever they left the campus. Even though they eventually were able to roam the city, their interactions with Chinese people were always scrutinized. Still, by hosting English conversation parties, taking taiji lessons, interacting with students in the classroom, meeting people on walks, and going on outings, the teachers made meaningful connections. Educational, cross-cultural exchanges such as the one Fran and Mary Ann participated in suggest a path forward for easing tensions between the United States and China today.

Author Biography

Fran Martens Friesen is associate professor of English at Fresno Pacific University where she has been teaching writing and literature for nearly twenty years. Her husband, Ken Friesen, also teaches at Fresno Pacific. They have three adult children, two of whom have visited Luzhou.

Mary Ann Zehr is the writing program director for Eastern Mennonite University. She was a journalist for Education Week newspaper for fourteen years and a public high school teacher for eight years.