By Nancy Hodes,Ph.D,Professor of Chinese Language and Culture,Soka University of America I am greatly encouraged by the stories of these nine Beijingers and impressed by what all of these individuals exhibit:a straightforward honesty and the willingness to look tremendous obstacles in the eye and persist in "doing the right thing" no matter what. The women featured in the book,such as Professor He,Wang Zhiqin,and Zhang Zhimin,especially show both their own strength of character and powerful aspects of Chinese culture as a whole.Zhang's narrative struck me as the least outwardly upbeat,in that she describes effort after effort to create the right thing to help revitalize her community.