Eleanor swaps her sweet homes of Alabama and Beijing

Eleanor Liu originally hails from her sweet home of Alabama in the United States and made her first China connection almost 60 years ago. That was when she met her husband Liu Guo on campus at a college in Nashville, Tennessee.

The couple were married two years later and the 88-year-old woman has forged strong links with China ever since.

"I have been closely involved with China and particularly Beijing for many years. My first visit was in 1978 and I visited China almost every year since," she says.

Liu's husband comes from Pingjiang in Central China's Hunan Province. "We received a very warm welcome from my husband's family and the Chinese people," she recalls.

"We then traveled to 15 cities and several provinces, always enjoying warm friendship and hospitality," she says.

Liu attributes her good health to a ritual she picked up in Beijing's Ritan Park. She now also teaches her exercise routine to seniors from all over the world.

"I enjoy truly good health and am very active in my daily life. I have practiced tai chi for more than 20 years," she says.

"When I am in the United States, I teach tai chi classes. I have been a swimming instructor, and was on a synchronized swimming team and still regularly swim several times a week."

In America, Liu was a teacher and taught elementary and middle school for 23 years.

When she first visited China, Liu was asked to teach English to some of the first Chinese experts selected to study abroad.

In order to take this opportunity, she retired early from the Indiana Public School System in 1979 and taught two English expert classes at the Railway Institute in Changsha, Hunan, in 1980 and 1981.

Many of her students from those days have remained good friends, she says.

After her family moved to Beijing in the early 1980s, she found that her teaching skills were in demand.

She taught English at National Defense University from 1986 to 1997 and later taught at the Beijing 301 Hospital for two years.

As a Beijing expat, Liu has been active in the Beijing international community and has led a group of expatriates exploring the capital.

Based on their adventures, Liu wrote a book called Off the Beaten Path in Beijing, published by the Foreign Language Press in 2001, describing unusual and special places of interest in Beijing.

China Daily

(China Daily 11/16/2007 page19)