Beijing Diary: An East-West Love Story = (Pei-Ching Jih Chi)

In 1982 the author, then a 21-year-old student in Boston, went to China ``to find out the real story, how this place really works (as much as a foreigner can understand).'' Her exuberant diary records impressions of countryside and people as she wended her way to Beijing, where for two years she studied Chinese language and culture. She is lavish with informative opinions and comparisons, contrasting Western and Eastern differences in mores, politics and economics. In Beijing she fell in love with, and eventually married, Ruo-xin Li, a Chinese biologist. Among the colorful experiences noted in the diary are those springing from the couple's romantic adventure and their efforts to bridge cultural and familial gaps. Married in 1985, the author and her husband lived for a year with his parents in Beijing before settling in Princeton, N.J. Photos not seen by PW. (Mar.)