Chapter 2 Summary and Analysis

A Piano

From his early childhood, Mark Salzman has been interested in China and Chinese culture. His parents enroll him in a kung fu school where he learns, among other things, discipline and what it means to "die well." He learns both the Mandarin and Cantonese languages as well as some classical Chinese. He attends Yale, majoring in Chinese literature. Although he is not keen about going to China or traveling in general, he needs a job and lands a two-year assignment teaching English at the Hunan Medical College in Changsha.

Mark is assigned to teach several classes. One consists of young medical students and another is comprised of doctors and teachers of medicine. He is greeted with great enthusiasm by all his students who seem overjoyed with his presence. Their English ability ranges from near fluent to hopeless.

Teacher Wu...