In the exhibition hall of Huangyuan County People's Hospital, in the remote reaches of Northwest China's Qinghai province, an old CT scanner stands as an unlikely symbol of China-US friendship. A plaque identifies its donor, David Plymire, and its original value: $350,000. Delivered in June 2000, the machine served for 15 years. Plymire was no wealthy philanthropist. An ordinary wage earner in Missouri, he raised the money through friends, acquaintances and charitable organizations.
The scanner has retired, but Plymire's attachment to the place has not. Born in New York in 1931, he moved with his family to Huangyuan in 1932, before his first birthday. His father, Victor Plymire, had settled there in 1921 as a missionary. David spent 17 years growing up among local residents, speaking their dialect and sharing their everyday lives. He left at 18, but never quite left Huangyuan behind.
His sister, Mary Plymire, shared the family's attachment to Huangyuan; after her death, her ashes were brought from Canada to rest beside their mother.
When David returned in 1987, residents were astonished that he spoke their dialect fluently. He explained how he used to practice it in front of a mirror. In more than 20 subsequent visits to the county, he helped bring over 30 pieces of medical equipment worth about 6 million yuan ($899,760), besides supporting local education.
Plymire regarded these contributions not as charity but as a duty to his family. That's an expansive definition of family, one that transcends borders and distance. It also points to something increasingly missing in China-US relations: the sense of belonging.
Some US politicians and strategists are adept at describing China as the US' strategic competitor and technological rival. A relationship sustained almost exclusively by such calculations is bound to become brittle. Governments may manage competition through diplomacy, but mutual understanding requires something more enduring: people who have lived in each other's countries, learned each other's languages and acquired personal reasons not to regard the other as an abstraction.
A short visit can introduce a country; living there can change one's understanding of it. Plymire did not develop his attachment through a diplomatic reception or a cultural exchange program. He grew up in Huangyuan. Its dialect became part of his identity, its people part of his family. No government-sponsored program can manufacture such deep connections.
This is why his story deserves to be heard on both sides of the Pacific. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning cited Plymire's experience in October, comparing people-to-people exchanges to small streams that converge into a great river of friendship. The metaphor is apt, but rivers do not sustain themselves. They need tributaries.
Washington should recognize that the foundation of China-US relations lies among the people, the hope is in the people, the future lies in the youth, and the vitality lies in subnational exchanges.
While visiting San Francisco in 2023, President Xi Jinping proposed inviting 50,000 young Americans to China over the next five years for exchanges and studies. The target has been reached this year, ahead of schedule. During his state visit to the US in September, Xi invited 100,000 young Americans to visit China for exchanges and study over the next five years. These measures demonstrate Beijing's commitment to strengthening people-to-people exchanges between China and the US.
At 95, Plymire can no longer travel to Huangyuan, but he remains in touch with old friends through video calls. His attachment is a reminder that national borders do not have the final say over where people find a sense of home.
China and the US need not agree on everything to allow their peoples to know each other. Indeed, when strategic differences become harder to resolve, that human connection becomes more, not less, valuable. The next David Plymire should not be an extraordinary exception. Both countries should make it possible for many more people to discover that another country need not be a rival: it can also be home.
