Kuo Keung Chapter Summaries

One of the new friends I imagine myself making is Kuo Keung, a potential junior from China. Kuo has visited America in the past due to his parent’s involvement in commercial trading policies between China and the U.S. He is proficient in both English and Chinese and his American accent and pronunciation are relatively fluent. Kuo’s birthday was in December and his parents had promised him the opportunity of attending the 3 week program in the U.S. as a gift for his 16th birthday. I learned many things about his life back home and most of the details had shocked me. At first, he told me that he was home-schooled by his mother and that he had no siblings. In addition, he described China and emphasized how its landscapes were far different than
I would tell Kuo about my obsession with black holes and quantum mechanics and wonder if he would learn the same concepts when he returned to China, being homeschooled. Then, our conversations would normally grow into philosophical discussions and we would have to draw a line at a certain point considering the difference in our cultural beliefs. Meanwhile, we would both be captivated by how the other muses about the mysteries of the world and the universe. At times, we would also discuss our likings for literature and film. Though he had never heard of the novels I mentioned to him such as Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury or Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen he was nevertheless fascinated in learning about them. I told him that he should look for translated versions of fiction novels such as 1984 and The Time Machine. In addition, our conversations concerning film would consist of non-stop questions about the pictures we had seen in the past. He learned that my favorite movie above all others is, The Dark Knight Rises, directed by Christopher Nolan. I learned that his favorite movie is Operation Mekong and that he also enjoyed Internal