The past three months were a wonderful experience. I was proud to be Chinese, as I saw highly qualified Chinese goods everywhere in the city. Even a delicate ball-point pen given by the mayor was made in China, not to mention 80 percent of the products in Wal-Mart. An American teacher sighed, "Wal-Mart is a Chinese shop."

I felt respected in the U.S. because people think highly of Chinese culture. The teachers would talk about the long history and abundant cultural heritages in China whenever we bumped into each other.

I was invited to deliver a lecture about classical Chinese literature to professors in the department of language and literature.

Students and teachers always offered helping hands when we needed them. The mother of one teacher even came to help set up the exhibition. I was deeply moved.

The president of William Carey University and the mayor of Hattiesburg visited our Linyi Normal University in March, and the two schools signed an agreement on collaborative postgraduate education. The leaders also said they would look for further cooperation in the future.

Background:

Liu Xilong was born in Yishui County in 1970. He is an associate professor of the academy of fine arts at Linyi Normal University. His calligraphy has been shown at state, provincial and city level exhibitions. He is a representative of young calligraphers in Linyi.

Liu Xilong teaches the student how to write Chinese characters.