Mark Howard Levine, Friendship Award Laureate

Mark Howard Levine. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

Yesterday, when we were at the Genghis Khan tomb, there was a group of tour guides and a banner was held up with flags as representatives of the various countries who were here. And there was an American flag, although there was nobody here representing the American government. But I’m sure, the young man who spoke after Victor and I are proud to be here to represent the American people. I think at least the people of the Ministry of Culture know that although much of my time is spent teaching English to Chinese students, I also do everything I can to learn about Chinese culture, especially the diversity of ethnic cultures, and to try to teach that to people of my own country and people from other countries as well. And I’d like to thank all who participated in giving me more information. And one more thing, I teach at Zhongyang MingZu University (Minzu University of China) in Beijing, and I can’t imagine a better place to teach. Many of my students come from Inner Mongolia. And yesterday, as I was taking photographs with my telephone, and putting those photos on WeChat, I got many messages from my students, saying they wished they were home. And I know that my students from Inner Mongolia have great love and respect for their home. And just so you know, the majority of the students from Inner Mongolia, regardless of their ethnicity, are very hard working students and pretty good English speakers. So this is a compliment to your educational system here. Thank you.