Li Xing's last public engagement

Richard Foristel, Director of Webster China, recalls Li Xing's last public engagement.

Li Xing at the China Daily Washington DC Bureau was excited about the fact that more than 40 Chinese graduate students were coming to the conference at the National Press Club to hear about coal and electrical energy. She was herself interested in the topic and meeting the speaker from the US National Mining Association. We had invited her months before to come to the lunch at the National Press Club at the Edward R. Murrow conference room.

Just before the lunch, when we met with her in her China Daily office, the Chinese MBA students were just walking over to the National Press Club talk, coming from discussions with the Electric Power Research Institute. She asked that all of the students might go to her office in the same building as the Press Club. She wanted to personally greet all of them.

We happily agreed to announce her invitation at the lunch. But even before that announcement, we introduced her to all of the students as they sat down in their places. She started working with one group after another to get pictures to record the event.

Finally, lunch was served, and the speaker from the National Mining Association was talking about coal deposits, transportation, and concepts of clean coal. The presenter was nearly at an end, and taking questions, when Li Xing took a short walk from our table, and fell to the floor.

With the help of the Press Club staff, we immediately called for an ambulance and medical team, and scouted the building for a doctor or a nurse. A medical technician arrived almost immediately and the ambulance crew with equipment and a wheeled stretcher followed. Li was taken to a Washington, DC hospital.

We were so saddened to hear that a few days after the event at the National Press Club, Director Li passed away. She had been a great help to us back in Beijing, greeting and talking with our students from the US and Europe, students who were visiting China while studying international relations.

In addition to being a journalist, Li Xing conducted herself as an ambassador for China, and an enthusiastic teacher of communications. We will sadly miss her, but happy to have known and worked with her in both Beijing and Washington, DC.