An American finds love in China

Robert poses with his wife in Star Park, Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

I was born and raised in the USA. My first wife was from a different culture; the Philippines. Everyone has their own tastes but I find East Asian women the most attractive and generally, the easiest to talk to and get along with. Of course there are always exceptions but this has been my experience.

I met her in an online dating site in 2008. She did not know English and I did not know Chinese but the online service we used translated our letters for a fee. We've exchanged a month of letters every day until I decided to fly to China to visit her in person. I had never heard of Guilin before I started writing to my future wife.

Naturally I was both excited and a little anxious when the plane landed in Guilin. Would she be as beautiful in real life as she was in her photos? Would she be as sweet and caring as she was in her letters? Is there something she was hiding from me?

I had spotted her waiting in the arrival area past the large baggage claim area. It was a long distance and I wasn't sure. I knew her hair was long, straight, and jet black but there are a lot of Chinese women with this type of hair and there was a crowd just behind the velvet ropes dividing the arrival hall from the secure part of the airport.

My suitcase finally came and as I walked toward the arrival hall I concentrated on that one girl. It was her. She was just as beautiful as her photos and just as warm, friendly, and gracious as her words in her letters. She smiled as I approached and I greeted her by asking "Zhen?". She nodded her head yes and we both gave each other a hug and I kissed her on her forehead. We were at ease with each other from the instant we met. I was suddenly relaxed and relieved I wasn't disappointed.

Willow, the lady who had been translating our letters for us, was with Zhen. We got in the taxi and headed toward the center of Guilin, about 30 minutes away. What little nervousness we might have had quickly worn off and we laughed as Willow interpreted question after question. I noticed a little bump on Zhen's head. I asked if she had recently bumped her head and she looked at Willow and said a few sentences. Willow then told me that the bump had been there since birth. I told her that I thought she was an angel who lost her wings and that she bumped her head when she fell to earth. They both laughed at that.