Assisting another country hit by disaster

China is everywhere in the global news these days, receiving an outsized share of attention for its fluctuating stock market, its push against graft and corruption, its preoccupation with cybersecurity and the development of its islands in the South China Sea.

The coverage is a reflection of both the size and power of the world's second-largest economy and the media's natural attraction to a big story.

But there's a little-told story about China, one that's near and dear to my heart. It's happening more than 12,000 kilometers from Beijing in a country few Chinese or US citizens have visited, but that I called home for more than two years.