My experience as a Fulbright recipient has been instrumental in making me into the scholar and teacher that I am today. I received a Fulbright dissertation research award in 1988-89 to conduct research on modern Chinese literature in Taipei, Taiwan. Most of my time was spent in libraries hunched over my books, but what nobody predicted was that in 1989 China would explode into the largest and most sustained student demonstrations since the founding of the PRC (People’s Republic of China). I travelled around China earlier that year, but because I needed to stay on track with my research, I observed the fomentation in Tiananmen Square from my outpost in Taipei.
Actually, this turned out to be a great vantage point because I was able to read Chinese language newspapers everyday and gain a highly detailed understanding of student activities and military movements in China, which were not available to those living in China. I had a carrel on the sixth floor of the National Central Library that looked out onto the big square of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial across the street. After the June 4th crackdown in Beijing, the square was filled with protesters estimated in the hundreds of thousands. I’ll never forget that experience.
