American turns his Chinese dream into reality
Print Edition
In the town of Xizhou, workers at the Linden Center use chopsticks in the process of making rushan, a kind of cheese, while visitors look on.
The center, located in the small town in Yunnan Province, is run by Brian Linden, an American. At the center, local and foreign visitors can learn about the Bai people, who make up the majority of the local populace.
The center helps to preserve local traditions such as the Torch Festival and the Rice Transplanting Festival.
Linden’s journey in China began in 1984 when a friend invited him to visit the country, where he played several roles in films, worked as a photographer, and traveled widely.
He later returned to the United States and sold his house in 2004. The American, who had been a carpet cleaner, brought his wife and two sons with him to China for a two-year odyssey across the country.
“My sons needed to study, so hotels and trains became classrooms,” Linden said.
When train tickets were hard to come by, they bought standing-room tickets. “We just wanted to show the kids how important it is to chase dreams and how their parents can make their dreams come true,” Linden said.
Having considered whether to stay permanently in one place between the northwest and the far south of China, or to remain nomadic, the family elected to make their home in Xizhou.
The town is near to Erhai Lake and Cang Mountain, making it a “land of idyllic beauty,” as Chinese writer Lao She said in his book about Yunnan.
In 2008, after almost nine months of work, the Linden Center opened.
Since then, it has been more of a place for cultural exchange than merely a hotel. Today, the center boasts five big courtyards and 16 guest rooms.
Besides offering visitors accommodation and meals, the center encourages visitors to take part in cultural activities such as textile dyeing and cooking lessons.
One of the courtyards has become a place of education, receiving groups of students from universities around the world such as Yale and Stanford.
“Even though I am a foreigner, I have always dreamed of finding a way to learn, share and discover Chinese culture,” said Linden.
“The Linden Center allows me to do just that.”
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