By William R. Dodson
10 December 2002
The first time I met Elise
Glickman-Rao was on China Star TV. Actually, she was on TV and I was in my
living room sharpening my Chinese language listening skills when an American
woman with short-cropped blonde hair smiled brightly at me from the screen and
proceeded to tell me the day’s events in English. The cognitive dissonance
between my expectation and the actual presentation jolted my senses. I felt as
though I was witnessing some miracle: a slim American woman dressed in a
stylish qi pao reciting the news with perfect diction.
I’m not sure if it was the
diction or the tight-fitting qi pao that won me over, but I became a fan
of Ms. Glickman-Rao’s nightly announcements from then on. In her I felt a sort
of kindred spirit who was as dedicated as I was in bridging Chinese and
American cultures.
I next saw her on stage at
a local Chicago panel discussion on the economic transformations of the Chinese
economy. The panel presented a Western scholar on Taoism, a Chinese professor
with a nervous tick and Ms. Glickman-Rao. The Taoist was impassioned; the
professor was boring (and nervous); and Ms. Glickman-Rao was as charming in
person as she was on local television. She apologized profusely to the audience
at the outset of her ten-minute presentation for not being her husband, a
professor cum successful Chinese entrepreneur. It was Professor Rao who
was supposed to have spoken that evening; she was filling in for him and hoped
she could meet even a fraction of the audience’s expectations.
Actually, I know she
surpassed everyone’s expectations at the forum, since no one certainly wanted
to hear another (potentially) boring professorial type – after all, there were
already two professors; and she knew how to tell a good story. Elise
Glickman-Rao married Dr. Rao in late 1990. She was one of the few Americans in
China at the time. She had no knowledge of Chinese language, and knew little of
Chinese culture. Still, she was in love, and the future was bright.
China was getting its
second wind in its marathon to attain economic development when she made her
new life in Fuzhou, in the southern province of Fujian. Her husband, Dr.
Rao, aimed to build the best
biochemistry lab in China, so he went into business with family members and
with friends from the university. “My first experience as a businessperson was
selling buttons at a Hong Kong trade show,” she said. The next business venture
took the family into the production and distribution of a yogurt drink. In
addition to problems with the way business is handled – or potentially
mishandled – by Chinese family business ventures, there was also a marketing
misstep: “North China likes yogurt drinks while South China thinks it’s little
better than sour milk.”
Eventually, though, the
business became profitable and Dr. Rao was able to develop one of the most
modern laboratories in China. Subsequently, he gained a grant from the Chinese
government to continue his research. She took on the mission to help build
mutual understanding between America and China. She eventually discovered,
though, the Chinese knew more about Americans than vice versa. Her mission
required her to go to America to help sink the foundation for the Western end
of the bridge she wanted to build. So she returned to Chicago.
I was disappointed I could
not find Ms. Glickman-Rao after the forum, at the dinner the intercultural
society had hosted. However, three months later, we both happened to have
attended the same luncheon in honor of the visit to Chicago of the Chinese
Ambassador to the United Nations Wang Yingfan. She had come in capacity as a
reporter for the China Star TV station, where she was still announcing the
news. I made it a point to introduce myself to her after the Ambassador’s
speech. I explained to her my own mission to increase understanding between the
Chinese and American cultures. We clicked immediately. Ms. Glickman-Rao became
Elise to me.
I met Elise a couple
months later for lunch in downtown Chicago. We had a mix up in dates and times
for our appointment, but it was no matter. We quickly adapted and decided to
meet later in the afternoon. She was apologetic and promised to pick up the tab
for lunch. I was becoming a life-time fan.
One of things that struck
me about Elise was how large and expressive her dark brown eyes are. Also, she
seems a lot bigger on TV – one could say, larger than life. She’s also very
stylish: she wore black slacks and a black turtle-neck sweater with black
pointy-tipped short boots, when we met for lunch. Her large-framed eyeglasses
grounded her short haircut, which otherwise would have placed her in some art
gallery in underground Frankfurt.
“I was an art student at
the Art Institute of Chicago,” she explained to me over the large Italian
sandwiches we ate. “I happened to put together a program that brought together
art makers and the art commentators
and art displayers. Surprisingly, the program was a success for years to come.
When I graduated, I went to the School leaders and proposed a new program to
place me as a school representative ‘anywhere in the world.’ They were
concerned about the preparedness of students being sent from a sister
university in Japan and asked me to go to Osaka.”
“Before I knew it, I was
in Japan as a liaison between the Japanese school and my alma mater. I
met my husband Ping-fan while I was in line at a Chinese consulate in Japan. I
didn’t understand what the Chinese person wanted from me, and Ping-fan stepped
in to help. When I later visited China I visited him. And I didn’t leave China
for another ten years after that.”
Elise wrote, directed and
produced a very personal documentary about her life with her Chinese in-laws in
Fujian province. The documentary was titled, “Apple Pie and Chopsticks,” and gained
her exposure on CNN and was broadcast worldwide on CCTV, the China’s national
TV broadcasting service. Later, she became one of the first Westerners in China
to host a talk show on national Chinese television that introduced Chinese
audiences to Western culture.
Now, Elise splits her time
between being a journalist for China Star TV in Chicago, a representative on
the Mayor’s Chicago Sister Cities International Program and a full-time mother.
The most challenging part of returning to America to live and work she says, is
that it’s difficult to find opportunities that appreciate her extensive foreign
experience. “I feel like an immigrant in my own country,” she told me as I
walked her back from lunch to her downtown Chicago office. “I have to start all
over again.”
Chicago, I thought as we
waved goodbye to each other, was lucky to have this “immigrant.”
You can see Elise on
China Star TV Chicago Channel 13, usually around 8pm. It is not a cable
station. China Star TV has English programming in English every weekday from
11am to 3pm, and on the weekends usually from 12pm to 1:30pm.
(You can learn more
about her unique relationship with her Chinese family at http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9711/29/apple.pie.and.chopsticks/.)
Learn more about the
Chicago Sister Cities International Program at
http://www.ci.chi.il.us/CulturalAffairs/SisterCities/shanghai1.html.