International Pioneering – China Segment 6: Ruhi Participants, by Priscilla Hofert
Submitted October 2022
Ning Pi Wu–The first person to really come to love the Bahá’í Faith in Tongoo was Ning Pi Wu. He worked at the big port there keeping track of what things were in what containers that were being shipped out to foreign lands. When he heard that Bahá’ís don’t drink alcohol, he said, “That’s easy… drinking alcohol makes me sick, and so does smoking. Because I don’t go out with my coworkers to drink and smoke, I will probably never get a promotion.” But indeed he did get a raise and a promotion because of his careful work. After getting a job in Beijing she studied Ruhi with the Bahá’ís there.
Clair Zhang, whom we met at Holiday Inn Hotel in Tianjin and told her about the Bahá’í Faith. She instantly grasped the wonder of the teachings. She was the personnel director there and joined Toast Masters Club where she introduced Bahá’í principles into her impromptu speeches. Later she was in charge of hiring personnel for a new hotel in Shanghai, telling us that because there were so many dialects of Chinese her workers had to speak English in order to understand each other. Finally she moved with her son to Canada where she joined the Bahá’ís there.
Peter (Yu Jun) came to study “Building a Better World “ during our first years in Tianjin.
Li Yang Li and Zao Yu, two very sweet young men, came together to study Ruhi. Zhao Yu came from far northeast corner of China once called Manchuria. When SARS came to Tianjin, we met outside to have our classes. In 2008 when it was time to say goodbye, Zhao Yu gave us two traditional folk costumes–one for me and one for John as a farewell gift
Wang Qi and Lin Tao, most jovial and kind, were medical students who studied Ruhi. Both were in the optometry division. Again, we met outside during the SARS epidemic in 2003.
Daniel Diao and Lydia Zhang, a darling couple, studied Building a better World and Ruhi. Our last meetings were outside because of SARS. They were able to meet David Smith, who at that time was a Counselor for North America, and who visited Tianjin every October to give free lessons to eye doctors to correct cross eyes.
Mr Cai is in the middle behind John and me 
Xu, Clair Zhang, and Peter (Yu Jun) 
Li Young Li, me, Zhao Yu 
Wang Qi, me, Lin Tao 
Daniel Diao and his wife Lydia Zhang
