Personal File
Name： David Deems
Chinese Name： Ding DaweiNationality： AmericanOccupation： Education ConsultantTime in China： 14 yearsIn 1994， a 6-foot 3-inch tall American cameto China. In 2000， he plunged into Dongxiang，Gansu Province， at that time the province withthe highest rates of illiteracy and the lowest levelsof basic education in the nation， and he hasnow been living there for 7 years. Seven hundredyuan per month is his salary and all the moneyhe has to support his family. Who is he? Whatkind of a person is he? In his own words， he isa person who “makes no money， pays no taxes，is a lousy consumer， rarely bathes or washes hisclothes， but likes to pick his fingernails”。 He isDavid Deems， a young American man who volunteeredto settle down in China.
292 The first time I met David Deems was at a conference sponsoredby the US Ford Foundation. The conference organizers toldme “that American guy， he’s a rare bird. We offered to pay his flighthere but he refused， and insisted on coming by train， hard seat， fromGuangzhou all the way to Beijing. And he just went to the train stationhimself to buy a hard seat to go back to Gansu”。
From what I learned， he’s got a lot of hobbies and pursuits： sports，music， literature， education and “serving the people”。 He workedseven years teaching English at the Northwest University for Nationalities.
He’s been volunteering as an educational worker in DongxiangAutonomous County， Gansu Province since 2000.
At that conference he passed around a little photo album， explainingardently， “You all have no idea how cute our kids in Dongxiangare. The next time I met David was in Lanzhou. As knowledgeable asany local， he led me across town on two buses to get to the south busstation， the starting point of our bus trip to Dongxiang. A driver standingin front of the station immediately came over to David and asked，“Going back?” After their brief discussion， David sent me off withthe driver to buy a ticket. He wouldn’t be getting on the bus in thestation. Later I learned that Gansu bus regulations require foreigners tobuy 40 yuan of insurance from inside the station. So David made arrangementswith the driver to hold a seat， then got on after the bus wassome ways out of the station. He only had to pay the 10 yuan ticketprice that way.
Lanzhou to Dongxiang is only 60 miles but it takes threehours. Having squeezed all six feet three inches of himself into theback row seats， his long legs somehow folded up， he showed me allthe sights on the way. Like a true local host he explained how that roadhad been put in for the county’s 50th anniversary， how this transmissiontower was just installed， how far it is from this township to thecounty seat， etc， etc.
He always says， “Our Dongxiang. “Treatment” ArgumentWhen he applied at Northwest Universitg for Nationalities in1995 for his English teaching position， the school offered him a 1，20yuan monthly salary. After checking out the school’s situation， anddiscovering that his salary was higher than the Chinese teachers’，David went to the school officials and asked for a 900 yuan salary. Theschool refused， insisting on 1，000 yuan. David thought a four digitnumber was too high， so after more “bargaining”， all agreed on 95yuan.
And that wasn’t David’s first time demanding a lower salary.
294 In 1994， as an English teacher at the Zhuhai Enyi Private PrimarySchool， David had a similar battle with the headmaster over a salarycut and a non-air conditioned room to ensure he received the sametreatment as all the other teachers.
Just outside the Enyi School a local market was underconstruction. David pointed to the peasant workers there， saying howthey were all cramped together， living in makeshift tents that were hotand stuffy inside with nowhere to bathe. He said if they could live likethat， he was quite well off by comparison.
That headmaster still often talks about “that David， who likes tocompare himself with peasant construction workers”。
But now in Dongxiang his conditions are even worse， living withoutheating， a TV， a washing machine or even any plumbing. He claims，“The Dongxiang people live like this. Why in the world can’t I? “Maybe it sounds weird but that’s the way I see it.” This waswhat David said after we arrived at his Dongxiang home. It’s a 4sq.ft. room with a desk， computer， three-person sofa， two filing cabinetsand a board bed. By day this room is the office of the BilingualEducation Experimental Project in Dongxiang， funded by the FordFoundation. It’s David’s home， sweet home at night.
I wondered how such a tall man could manage to sleep well on astandard length Chinese single bed. He says he’s used to it： in 10 years’
time in China he’s never had a bed long enough. Our Chinese quiltsare too short so he puts one on top of him and uses another to coverhis feet. He jokes that this works for the best： he can’t smell his stinkyfeet that way.
While discussing all this David is busy shredding some old newspapersand busting up some kindling with his feet for lighting the coalstove — quite necessary as evening was coming. Early March at 8，00ft. above sea level was pretty cold.
With the fire well on its way we went out for dinner. As weentered a little local restaurant the boss and workers， quite familiarwith the foreigner， all greeted David in the Dongxiang language. Onebrought a plate of mutton and two bowls of noodles. Usually he’ll justhave a simple bowl of beef noodles and some bread， cheap at about3 yuan. But to host me well he treated me to Dongxiang’s famousboiled mutton.
The meal was 30 yuan. I stood to pay the bill， but he just sat andsmiled smugly. “Go ahead and see if you can get them to take yourmoney.” The waiter took a careful look at David and took his moneyto pay the bill.
In our next few days together， under my pressure， David permittedus to take turns buying meals. Our meals， always something simplelike noodles or dumplings， never exceeded 5 or 6 yuan， however.