"I hope people all over the world can understand the spirit of Wenzhou people"! An American professor wrote a book about Wenzhou people

Temperature News
Reporter Zhuo Yang
Correspondents Jin Qixuan and Zhou Chuyao
November 05, 11:23

Wenzhou people should be familiar with Zhang Huamei. In the early days of reform and opening up in the last century, the "Wenzhou Model" based on family economy was quietly born. In 1980, 20-year-old Zhang Huamei received a business license numbered "Industrial and Commercial Certificate No. 10101" from the Wenzhou Municipal Administration for Industry and Commerce, becoming the first individual business operator in China. This story was recorded by Professor Bo Daiwei of the Department of History, College of Humanities, Wenzhou-Kean University, on page 38 of his new book "The Queen of Buttons: Zhang Huamei". Recently, the book was presented at the Children's Library of Wenzhou Library. A reporter from Wenzhou Daily interviewed Professor Bo Daiwei(Darryl Brock) on this matter.

One is a professor from the United States, and the other is a native Wenzhou individual business owner. How did they get in touch? In 2021, Professor Brock joined WenzhouKean University. Before that, he had traveled around the world to Beijing, Hangzhou, Hong Kong and other places. Compared with these big cities, Dr. Brock found that Wenzhou and Wenzhou people have their own unique charm. "Reform and opening up is a great attempt and an innovative Chinese story. I hope to find some vivid characters from it, and such characters appear in Wenzhou, the hot land of reform and opening up."

"Wenzhou people have devoted themselves to reform and opening up, taking the lead in exploring the path of socialist market economy and creating one miracle after another." During the creative process, Bu Daiwei (Dr. Brock) gained a deep understanding of the culture and society of China, especially Wenzhou, through extensive research and field investigations. After consulting a lot of Chinese and English materials, Bu Daiwei focused his attention on Zhang Huamei, the first individual business owner in China.

"The Button Queen: Zhang Huamei" is presented in the form of a bilingual picture book in Chinese and English. It records Zhang Huamei's entrepreneurial story of starting from scratch and daring to be the first in the world through a unique international perspective. This book not only records the entrepreneurial spirit of an outstanding woman, but also reflects the changes and development of Chinese society in the context of the times. During the interview, Professor Brock showed reporters a photo of him and Zhang Huamei in Huamei's accessories store. "Zhang Huamei, who is over 60 years old, is still radiant and very capable. I believe that Zhang Huamei's story is not just a success story of an individual, but also a microcosm of countless ordinary people in China's reform and opening up process. These stories show the perseverance and innovative spirit of the Chinese people in the face of difficulties."

"The bilingual format of Chinese and English can promote cultural exchanges between China and the United States." Dr. Brock hopes that through this book, more overseas readers will understand China's development process. "Not only children in Wenzhou and Chinese children, I hope that children all over the world can read this book." He believes that such books can help eliminate some misunderstandings of Chinese society in the West and enhance mutual understanding and respect between different cultures. Professor Brock is also a "detail control". He always maintains an attitude of excellence in this picture book. In order to make the picture book closer to the perspective of children, on the one hand, he started writing the story of the protagonist Zhang Huamei from the age of 8. On the other hand, he tried to use simple words and short sentences, and emphasized the emotions and actions of the characters to increase the appeal of the story. He also carefully read the slogans in the illustrations sentence by sentence: "I really found some mistakes, such as seeing that the illustrator drew slogans from the 1990s into the pictures of the 1970s."

As a historian, Darryl Brock not only does some seemingly "high-end" research, such as studying French naturalists active in China during the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, and comparing the origin, structure and scope of Nathaniel Brittain's "Scientific Investigations of Puerto Rico" with Joseph Needham's "Science and Civilization in China", but also wants to devote himself to "down-to-earth" research. He said that in the future, he would like to continue to do more things that are close to this land and people. "As an important birthplace of China's reform and opening up, Wenzhou has many Wenzhou stories and Chinese stories worth exploring. I hope to become a bridge for cultural communication between China and the United States and promote the output of more cultural exchange works." He also looks forward to the opportunity to continue telling Chinese stories in the future and promote international understanding and cooperation.

Photography: Huang Boqi
Editor: Zhuo Yang
Editor: Lin Shen
Producer: Wu Dongliang