'Recovery of the Heart' inspires dialogue
- By Zhang Rui
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E-mail China.org.cn, September 29, 2012
This is Tansey's first book and the overall creative process proved to be quite the struggle. But the hardest aspect of it was, in her words, "to trust myself that I could write a book that people would read." Additionally, she would like for a Chinese edition to be published, hoping that it will enable non-Chinese to better understand the underpinnings of the Chinese.."I want to encourage the Beijingers to believe in themselves and in their city. The key is to bring people on board step by step, to not rush towards this – just build it slowly. Motivated people can build a sustainable society together," she explained.
For her most memorable moment during the writing process, Tansey recalled her interview with Yan Xiaohui at the Little Donkey Farm. She asked about how they had developed an understanding between the farmers and themselves and Yan told her about the progress of their relationship.
"So I told him So, you have broken through then.' He said it was Western logic to think like this," Tansey recalls, "Everything is a work in progress he said. It was right then and there that I realized my poor understanding of Chinese thinking. You know we Westerners really have to listen, really listen, and ask questions when we talk to Chinese so we can get rid of our assumptions and begin to build a respect for an entirely different kind of thinking. "
"We in the West think of Beijing as just a city, the capital of China. In fact, it is a place where thousands of people have lived for thousands of years and will continue to do so for thousands of years to come," she said, "It is difficult for Westerners, especially Americans, to realize what it feels like to be a resident of a city that is so old."
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Stephanie B. Tansey signs autograph for her readers at a book talk after the book lauch at the Bookworm in Beijing on Sept. 19, 2012. [China.org.cn / Photo courtesy of New World Press] |
For China's urbanization and related issues such as environmental problems, Tansey suggested to let people know about the Beijing 2020 Master Plan – the municipal plan to create a more livable city.
"Residents need to feel that the municipality has a vision. If they know there is some kind of plan they will not feel so hopeless about the future. They might want to be helpful," she said and added, "New Yorkers had similar problems in the past and today in New York State there are more trees than ever before and they are dredging the Hudson River. Fifty years ago we all felt helpless and hopeless too, much like the Beijingers today."
"Beijing was always a crossroads where many different ethnic groups and cultures blended together. You can say it has always been a place for dialogue. A dialogue with nature and a dialogue with one another," Tansey continued, "The Chinese believe that we can respect each other even though we are different. In the West we think of this as collaborating. So we are really on the same path. Chinese can think 'harmony' and Americans can think 'collaboration.' By agreeing to be different, and respecting the innate differences, we should be able to work together and achieve something spectacular."
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