by Shen Youqian 沈有乾
10. Coming Ashore
THE PROCEDURE FOR coming ashore was much simpler than expected. Health inspection was no more than a head count. Our passports were issued by the Foreign Ministry and had the stamp of the consulate - they were called "International Exchange Passports". When the immigration official looked at them, he was very polite. Not only did he ask us hardly any questions, he also said that the ship line should not have included us when collecting the head tax. He signed the receipt and advised us to ask for a refund from the company. But after we had arrived at our respective schools, we received another letter from the immigration bureau saying that in accordance with the request of the Washington State Department of Labor, Chinese students entering the country should be taxed. The refund we received was in fact granted in error, and they requested that we send it back. As far as I know most of us complied, but I'm afraid not all of the money could be recovered. Before the letters were received, one of the 29 of us, Ms. Wang Chaomei, had died in a highway accident.
The customs report for our luggage looked at first glance to be rather complicated to fill out, but upon the advice of someone on the inside, we learned that all we needed to do was write "all for personal use". The luggage inspectors were probably quite experienced, and were able to guess which places contraband would be hidden. Most of our luggage merely had the corners brushed in passing, but a few pieces were thoroughly inspected, making an utter mess of things.
We had a representative of the foreign students' supervisory board come to Seattle especially to assist us with the forms. Apart from this there were three students from Qinghua on the pier to welcome us. The hotel had already been reserved, and the procedure for transferring our luggage was extremely simple - the presence of a few "old hands" naturally reassured us. When we left the country, Chinese travel agencies were probably already in existence, but I had never seen such a simple method of shipping luggage. At the time, we all were incredulous - was turning everything over to them really a good idea?
We stayed two nights and three days in Seattle. Our hotel was called the "St. Regis"; rooms held two people and had an attached bath. The bath is the pride of American hotels. Advertisements for hotels often run things like "300 rooms, 300 baths". What is important is that the number of baths is equal to the number of rooms; the total number is of secondary importance.
We settled into the hotel that day, and there was just enough time afterwards to have dinner and take a walk in the city. Our dinner at the Shanghai Restaurant was hosted by Jin Weixie, a Chinese student we had temporarily engaged.
On the second day the primary items on our program were sightseeing and banqueting. Our hosts were the Chinese Student Association, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, the Chinese Youth Association, and the Washington Youth Association. The banquet was held at the Shanghai Restaurant, while sightseeing was at the University of Washington and Lake Washington. The state of Washington is heavily forested, and wood is reportedly both cheap and of good quality. Along the road we traveled that day there was lots of scaffolding for the timber companies. Apart from the timber industry, fishing is also important, so the state university offered fishery courses that other universities did not. My impression that day was of clean roads, simple architecture, many cars, and few people. After comparing many places in America to China, these are the areas that stand out most notably. In addition, Seattle's weather was pleasant. To be able to wear a thick knit all day in August without feeling hot is something I will never forget. When the banquet was over and it was time to express our thanks to the hosts, I said: "Seattle is absolutely the most beautiful place in America that I have seen in my life." At the time that was completely true.
On the third day, the 29 of us split up and went on to our separate destinations. Most were traveling east, heading toward the Midwest or the East Coast, and left with the representative of the supervisory board in the early morning. The four of us going to California took the train in the afternoon, while the two others going to Colorado had to wait for an evening train. Our train tickets, berth tickets, and luggage tickets were all taken care of by the supervisory board representative the previous night. In addition to the ticket, we had a slip of paper with the departure time, transfers information, and arrival time, and a telegram had been sent to Qinghua students, other Chinese students, or the school faculty at the destination, so that they would meet us at the station when we arrived. The plans were meticulous in ensuring that we would not get lost along the way.
(待续)
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