Ａ Ｎｉｎｅｔｙ－Ｙｅａｒ－Ｏｌｄ Ａｍｅｒｉｃａｎ Ｌａｄｙ Ｅｕｎｉｃｅ Ｍｏｅ Ｂｒｏｃｋ

On the evening of January 18， 2007， the prize-awarding party “True Love 2006—Ten True Touching Stories Chosen Through Public Appraisal in China in 2006” jointly sponsored by the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China， the All-China Women’s Federation and the China Charity Federation was held in Beijing， and at the same time “True Love 2006—Personages in the Ten True Touching Stories in China in 2006” were announced， among whom there was a ninety-year-old American lady named Eunice Moe Brock. Seven days before， this American old lady just won the title of “Ten People Moving Shandong， 2006”.

Why does an old lady from a faraway country want to settle down in China in the evening of her life? Why are millions of the Chinese people moved by her deeds?What an extraordinary legend is there in this old lady?

I

In 1902， an American couple as Christian missionaries came to China. On August 11， 1917， their fourth child Eunice was born in Qinhuangdao， China. They also gave her a Chinese name Mu Lin’ai. Not long after， the whole family moved to Shandong and set up a church in Liaocheng.

Eunice lived in Liaocheng for fully 13 years， growing from a baby into a graceful young girl. In her memory， the deepest impressions left on her by the old China were chaos caused by wars， poverty， pestilence and misery. “How good it would be if I could help these miserable people and let them live a happy life when I grow up!” This became Eunice’s greatest wish in her childhood.

In Liaocheng Eunice had a playmate named Xiao Lin who was two years older than Eunice and very handsome. At that time many Chinese children liked to play with blonde-haired and blue-eyed Eunice， and Xiao Lin was her “pal” particularly. The two often played games together. Xiao Lin’s parents did not allow him to play with this foreign girl for fear of involving in trouble. Xiao Lin then tried to find all kinds of excuses to play together with Eunice without his parents’ knowing and often brought her some delicious local specialties. As she grew up， the seed of love gradually sprouted in her heart.

At the end of 1930， Eunice’s parents finished their mission in China and would go back to the United States. Eunice was unwilling to part from her friends， particularly from Xiao Lin. But what could she do? On the day of her departure， Xiao Lin and her other friends accompanied her league after league before parting. They all cried and Eunice cried too. She comforted Xiao Lin and others， saying: “I will never forget everything here. I will come back. I mean what I say.”

After returning to the United States， Eunice’s family lived in the City of San Luis Obispo， California. After she got a master’s degree in nursing in 1941， Eunice applied to the government for going to China to support its War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression as well as to look for Xiao Lin and her other friends. It was a pity that her application was turned down by the government and her parents strongly opposed it. She had to give up her plan. In the following year she got acquainted with her alumnus Edwin and they fell in love. When Edwin proposed to her， Eunice told him that she wanted to settle down in China after their marriage. Edwin felt surprised at her idea and flatly rejected it. Some time later after they parted， Eunice could not control her longing for Edwin and took the initiative to reconcile with him. The two got married on the condition that she did not insist on living in China after marriage.

Though she lived a quiet and happy life in the United States， in her heart she was still sentimentally attached to China where she had spent her childhood and her longing and affection for China never died out. In the 1960s she told her husband again that she wanted to work in China. Considering that at that time the United States and China had not yet established diplomatic relations and bilateral relations were tense， Edwin did not agree.

After President Nixon visited China in the early 1970s， US-China relations were improving. Eunice thought that the time to go to China was ripe， so she discussed it with Edwin again. Edwin said “China is too poor ”， and still did not agree.

Since then， almost every day Eunice paid attention to the appearance of news about China on TV， earnestly hoping that China would become strong and prosperous soon. At the end of the 1970s China began its reform and opening up. Its changes with each passing day often made her very excited.

In March 1992， Eunice， who was already 75 years old， wrote a letter to the Liaocheng Municipal Government， asking the local government to help her to look for Xiao Lin and her other childhood playmates. The Liaocheng Municipal Government attached great importance to it， and not long after they found five of her childhood playmates. Most of them were already more than seventy years old. Unfortunately， Xiao Lin passed away accidentally during the “cultural revolution”. But his children still live in Liaocheng and have a happy life.

She felt very sad when learning that her best childhood playmate died young， and regretted that she had not been able to come to China earlier， thinking that though she could not settle down in China， it would have been a great comfort to her playmates if she had met them personally.

In November 1992， Eunice decided to travel to China with her husband. Edwin knew that China retained his wife’s lifetime affection; he happily accompanied her to China， and said humorously that he accompanied his wife to go back to her “parents’ home”. In Liaocheng Eunice visited the places where she had lived in her childhood and met some of her childhood friends whom she had missed day and night. She and her friends recalled the happy time in their childhood and talked about how they longed to see each other in these years. When they chatted about something exciting， they would laugh， and sometimes sob.Eunice and her husband paid a visit to Xiao Lin’s four children. The Lin family was very warm to their father’s American childhood pal， and entertained the couple with the most delicious dishes they could prepare at home. During the 60 days in China， Eunice experienced this country’s earthshaking changes， which deepened her understanding about China and strengthened her determination to settle down in China if a chance comes in the future.

After her loving husband passed away on August 24， 1998， Eunice moved to stay in an apartment for the old people in New York， feeling very lonely. Though she had spent most of her life in the United States， she missed those simple and kind-hearted people she had met in faraway China. This yearning was growing day by day， finally spurring her to make up her mind: to go to China and live there.

Regardless of her children’s opposition to her decision of going to live in China， Eunice sold all her properties including 40 acres of forest， her villa， garden and car and traveled alone across the ocean and arrived in China on November 15， 1999. She settled down in Liumiao Village， Yanggu County， Liaocheng City， Shandong Province where she had spent her childhood， and became a new villager of Liumiao Village， deciding to live out a beautiful autumn of her life there.

(To be continued in the next issue)