Shoe on other foot as mom and I seek mystery man Chen

Mr Chen, the Chinese owner of a newspaper for Washington's Asian American community, invited me to a fundraising dinner for Asian Americans in public schools. I had never met him before but had written some articles for his newspaper.

"Your mother is also a writer, isn't she?" Mr Chen had asked me on the phone. "Bring her." I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to give my mother a taste of China. I also wanted to return a book that Mr Chen had lent me.

"We have to thank Mr Chen," my mother said, tugging at my arm at the China Garden restaurant. "Is Mr Chen here?" We were shown a young Chinese man talking on his cell phone. "That doesn't look like our Mr Chen," I said skeptically. From our phone conversation I pictured him as more mature, a cross between Hu Jintao and George Clooney.