European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 20, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                10 the stars and stripes world wednesday april 20,1994 in by Daniel Southerlan Washington Post Leshan China the first peace corps volunteers to serve in China Are teaching in the coun try s southwestern hinterland where they must cop with unheated classrooms culture gaps and a Stark Lack of privacy. V but the 18 american volunteers who teach English to future teachers and medical students at five Sites in Sichuan province appear to be adjusting Well getting a largely enthusiastic reception and Keepin Busy dispelling misconceptions about the United states. Despite strains in  government relations this is one Cross cultural Channel that seems to reworking. /.  some of the chinese students at the Lesha teachers College who were raised in Rural areas had never Laid eyes on an american before the peace corps volunteers arrived. A lot of first year students walked into the class room wearing Mao style suits. And looking Petri fied at seeing a foreigner said Jason Rekate 23,one of five americans teaching in Leshan. Some of them were sure that americans All have guns and  everyone seems to know where the american shave be reach Day and what they re doing. Megan Tracy 26rfrom Ashburn va., a teacher at Chengdu teachers College was approached by chinese Stu dents after she returned from shopping for vegetables one Day. We heard you were overcharged in the Market one of the students said. You have to be careful not to let them cheat  established by president Kennedy in 1961, the aps a peace corps has three main goals to provide skilled manpower to nation seeking assist Ance to Tell peo ple in other nations about the United states and to help americans understand the res of the world. William m. Speidel direct Orot the peace corps program in China said he Hopes to see it expand. Peace corps and chinese education ministry officials began preliminary talks in Beijing in february on whether to continue the program Andai decision is expected this summer. In Leshan about 100 Miles South of the provincial capital of Chengdu and 1,100 Miles Southwest of Bei Jing the americans live in one room apartments that Are spacious by chinese standards. They share a Kitchen refrigerator and dining Pooai but often eat spicy inexpensive Sichuan food if the City s Small restaurants. Some of them say they la now eat Al most anything served except such items As pig ear Sand Duck feet. Each teacher is provided free lodging by the col lege and a monthly living allowance of 650 Yuan $75 from the peace corps. The China program is a modest one for the peace corps which deploys nearly 7,000 volunteers world wide. But China s government is often sensitive about programs that bring foreigners into close con tact with chinese at the grass roots level. It took two years to negotiate the details. The program originally was to begin in the fall of 1989 but after the United states protested the chinese army s brutal crackdown of democracy demonstrators in june of that year both sides decided to postpone the Start indefinitely. Beijing wants stronger ties with the United states to promote its foreign Trade and strategic  the same time it is cautious in dealing with for Eigners who could strongly influence chinese youth. After renewed negotiations the first volunteers finally arrived in China last june underwent 11 weeks of language training and began teaching last fall a five Sites in China s most populous province. They Are to stay in China until mid-1995. They Are called  Friendship volunteers rather than peace corps volunteers the Only peace corps contingent in the world that is not identified by its proper name. This apparently is be cause chinese communist party propagandists i earlier years condemned the peace corps As a tool of american  the term Friendship volunteers apparently arouses fewer suspicions. Shuai Weitian head of the English department a Leshan supervises the american teachers and their courses. They re working very hard Shuai said. Hope the United states will Send More teachers. The More the  in contrast with traditional chinese teaching which emphasizes Rote learning and great deference of students toward teachers the americans try to encourage classroom discussion. " our teacher tells us to give a different opinion from his if we want said Cai Ruijuan 22. That makes our thinking  Gorbachev says he feared Early he d be ousted Moscow a former soviet president Mikhai Gorbachev said monday that shortly after launching his reformist policy of perestroika he feared he would eventually of toppled like one of his predecessors Nikita Khrushchev. We remembered the experience of Khrushchev but we underestimated the reactionary forces of the past Gorbachev told a conference commemorating the 100th anniversary of Khrushchev s birth which fell  is Best remembered for his so called thaw a dramatic departure from the years of stalinist terror that began with a secret speech to a communist party Congress in 1956. Khrushchev proceeded to loosen the regime s grip and introduced some Freedom of speech but left the Structure and ideology of the absolutist soviet state in tact. He was ousted in 1964 by More conservative communist party apparatchiks and sent into forced retire ment until his death in 1971.Gorbachev launched his own policy of reforms known As perestroika or restructuring in 1985. Two years later he resurrected Khrushchev s name from official disgrace. At the conference organized by his Pri vate foundation Gorbachev said Khrushchev had a great influence on All soviet reformers the itar Tass news Agency reported. But he said Khrushchev a thaw failed because it was an attempt to introduce reforms by the wrong methods. Problems of immense historic importance cannot resolved by bolshevik methods Gorbachev said. Gorbachev was forced to step Down after the failed communist coup of August 1991, which led to the col lapse of the soviet  Many russians the names of the two leaders Are intertwined forever and the hard liners View them a two links in a tragic Chain of events that brought Down the soviet  decision by Khrushchev widely condemned in modern Day Russia was his 1954 Transfer of the Cri mean Peninsula to Ukraine s administrative control. Both Russia and Ukraine were soviet republics at the time and the step had Little practical meaning. But after the soviet collapse Crimea with its predominantly ethnic russian population became a subject of Dis Putes Between the two newly Independent countries. British world War ii Veteran Tom Packwood stands sunday in front of workers installing a new Pegasus Bridge in bin Orville France. Packwood fought to liberate the old Bridge during the Early june 6,1944. Nev Pegasus Bridge erected Caen France a Pegasus Bridge the first French site liberated by the a Day invasion Force nearly 50 years ago got a second life sunday As builders erected a near replica of the Bridge torn Down last no vember. But sentimentalist mourned the original Pegasus and wondered Why it could not have survived to witness the june 6 ceremonies marking the Normandy Landing that turned the tide of world War ii. The Pegasus Bridge in the Village of Bunp Yuille i Normandy s Calvados Region spans a canal linking the town of Caen to the Atlantic Ocean. It is raised about 4,000 times a year to let canal traffic through. The 420 tons of Metal and Wood were moved int place under the watchful eyes of hundreds of bystanders. The original Pegasus Lay abandoned on a Bank of the canal picked Over by vandals and collectors seeking a piece of history. It does t look very different from the old Bridge said 72-year-old British Veteran Tom Packwood of the 6th airborne div he was among those who freed Pegasus Early june 6,1944. A Bridge is a Bridge he added. Packwood of Salisbury England makes routine visits to the site for his friends and for those in the cemeteries. But for Arlette Gondree Pritchett who runs the cafe Gondree at one end of the Bridge the new Struc Ture will never replace the original. She was a girl when Allied soldiers liberated her family s Home at the cafe they ran the first French House liberated. You can t do anything to Stop Progress. But theb6nouville Bridge will never be Pegasus she told the associated press. The original Bridge built in 1935, was deemed a Hazard and a hindrance to Progress for Caen limiting boat traffic to the port. Authorities made an Effort to retain the resemblance to the original keeping the wooden sidewalks an guardrails. But they made certain the new version is bigger safer and in tune with Caen s ambitions. The new Pegasus will be adopted by the Young generation but those who fought for it. Don t feel right that it the original has been left abandoned like a Vul Gar piece of Metal Gondree Pritchett said