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had been, but Richard had a couple of suits made and we enjoyed walk-
ing in the city. In Kowloon there were numerous new buildings, but on
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architecture.

The Sheraton hotel that we stayed in Hangzhou and in Beijing
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The architecture and the building materials were superb. During the trip
we had seen a variety of Chinese crafts, including extracting silk threads
from cocoons, weaving silk and beautiful china. I had made it a rule
in travel to avoid buying gimmicky things. Instead, I purchased some
beautiful examples of chinaware that we enjoy to this day.

When we had eaten in the hotels where we stayed, the food was
good. As we toured each day, we would stop at local restaurants the tour
had arranged. In some of these the food or its condition was poor, such
as being served cold rice. Richard adapted better to such treatment than
I did. When the food was lousy, I would retreat to our bus and chew on
the beef jerky that Jean had sent with me.
At night, we were usually free and we would go walking around
the cities to see what the people’s lives were like. Most of the people
seemed to be out walking at night, probably as a means of escape from
their tiny apartments. Nearly every couple had a small child and nearly
all of them were boys. In China, a boy is one’s social security since it is
the Chinese custom for children to support their parents in the parents’
old age. A daughter becomes a part of the family into which she marries
and there is no similar consideration for her parents’ welfare. The trag-
edy of the lack of wives for these boys under the “one child per family”
limitation lies somewhere in the future. I am reminded of something my
father once said to me regarding China with its huge country and mas-
sive population. He quoted Napoleon as saying, “China is a sleeping
giant. Let her sleep. When she awakens, the world will have cause to
regret it.” I enjoyed Richard’s company throughout the trip and he has
told me that it was really the trip of a lifetime.

In the spring of 1991 Jean, Richard and I discussed the possibil-
ity of taking Dan, Paul and Chad on a trip to Europe. Jean and I had felt

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