Reuniting a forgotten foreign community

A one-kilometer path on a Chinese mountainside holds the key to a unique sense of American nostalgia. In the Kuliang (also known as Guling) mountain area on the outskirts of Fuzhou, Fujian province, this short trail connects a storied past to poignant reunions of the present as it winds through what was once the summer sanctuary of a vanished community of Westerners, serving as a bridge across time.

However, the bustling international community in Kuliang gradually faded by the mid-20th century, following the upheavals of war and shifting eras.

Many villas fell into disrepair or were repurposed. This chapter of history remained largely forgotten until the dying whispers of American physics professor, Milton Gardner, who longed for a place called Kuliang, set in motion a remarkable chain of events.

In 1992, a newspaper article titled Oh, Kuliang! detailed this poignant, half-century-long story. The article caught the attention of President Xi Jinping, who at the time served as Fuzhou's Party chief.

Touched by the story, Xi facilitated an invitation to the professor's widow, Elizabeth Gardner, to visit Kuliang, where her husband had spent 10 years of his childhood in the 1900s.

Her pilgrimage not only fulfilled a lifelong dream but also reopened a door. Since then, dozens of descendants from foreign families who lived in Kuliang have visited the area to reconnect with their roots, marking its modern revival as a bridge for international friendship.

This pathway is dotted with a historical post office, a social club, and a thousand-year-old fir tree — all set between restored villas that once housed Western diplomats, missionaries, doctors, and educators.

"It is intentionally designed as the 'syllabus' for understanding Kuliang, allowing visitors to walk through its history," says Jiang Jingting, a long-term Kuliang history and culture researcher with the Kuliang administrative committee.