Kuliang, or “Guling” in Mandarin, was a hillside resort among foreign expatriates in the suburbs of Fuzhou, capital of east China's Fujian Province.

For years, “Kuliang,” a word uttered by Milton Gardner on his deathbed, had remained a puzzle for his wife, Elizabeth Gardner. She knew that it was a place in China where her husband, an American physics professor, had spent his childhood, but she was unsure of its exact location. Despite this hurdle, following his passing in 1986, Elizabeth sought to honor Milton's long-held wish to return to his childhood home.

Her quest to find this elusive place led her on several fruitless journeys to China, until a Chinese student in the U.S. finally decoded the mystery. The student penned the American couple’s story and published it in the People's Daily in April 1992.

The article was noticed by Xi Jinping, then Fuzhou's Party chief. Touched by the story, Xi decided to help. He asked his subordinates to contact Elizabeth and invite her to Fuzhou, particularly Kuliang, where her husband had spent his childhood for 10 years in the 1900s. Impressed by the efforts of the group's members to bolster China-U.S. people-to-people exchanges, Xi said their stories once again highlight that "the Chinese and American peoples can transcend differences in system, culture and language to forge deep friendships."

Photo 1: On September 26, 2012, Milton E. Gardner’s grandnephews, Gary and Lee Gardner, talked with local villagers in the Kuliang Old Street. Milton spent 10 years of his childhood in Kuliang.

Photo 2: In June, 2024, “Kuliang friends” from the United States and China reunited in Kuliang.