Golden West Program : Chinese Nurses Gather Around Their Leader

A luncheon Friday at Golden West College in Huntington Beach showed the powerful people-to-people ties developing between California and Mainland China.

And the mingling of East and West in the dining room at the community college produced a poetry of words, all in English, that seldom flow during dignitary luncheons.

The visitor was Madame Xue-zeng Li, the head of the Chinese Nursing Assn. in the People’s Republic of China. With 600,000 nurses, the organization is the largest such group in the world.

Li was at Golden West because 20 nurses from China are in training at the college’s nursing school--getting updated on advanced skills.

The nursing students surrounded Li as she came into the dining room. Smiles were as abundant as floral centerpieces. There were gracious Eastern welcomes to each other, and a round of California-style, Western hugs as some of the Chinese students robustly embraced the tiny Li. The scene was like a family reunion.

Grayce Roessler, an official at Golden West who was instrumental in bringing the Chinese students to the college for a year of training, was the first speaker.

“About a year ago, I was in China, and Madame Li and I conspired, as nurses will, about this plan,” Roessler said.

Roessler surveyed the room of smiling Chinese student nurses, which was the result of the East-West “conspiracy” she and Li arranged. The result, Roessler said, will lead to better understanding by both nations--and improved health for thousands in the future.

Sherry Baum, a trustee of Coast Community College District, referred to the weather outside as she made an impromptu official welcome: “I think the sunshine reflects our happiness in welcoming Madame Li and the Chinese nurses on our campus.”

Others spoke along similar lines.

Finally, Madame Li herself went to the microphone.

“It is my honor to come here . . . . I feel so sorry I can only be here one day. On behalf of the Ministry of Public Health and the Chinese Nursing Assn., I would like to show our sincere respects to the college and to the faculty of your nurses’ school . . . .

“You have really helped us a lot. It is not only for those 20 nurses who have studied here. Those 20 nurses will be seeds, I think. They will plant in our land of China, and then it will grow up. They will blossom, and they will have many, many fruit . . . .

“This is very valuable for all Chinese nursing. Somebody told me: If you give a fish to a person, you give him just one meal. But if you teach the person how to fish, then he will have a meal all his life.

“So I know this: you teach us how to fish, and do not give a gift of just one fish. So our nursing association appreciates this so much. Thanks to all of you.”

The short speech over, the Eastern and Western friends resumed their meal amid talk of China and Orange County, Peking and Huntington Beach and international nursing.