So there I was, in Chengdu, deep in the west of communist China. The artist in front of me showed me a beautiful and massive hand-painted scroll of the most exquisite landscape. He wanted $100 for it.

When Clayton Dube, executive director of the USC US-China Institute, took his first trip to China in 1982, he expected to spend a month backpacking around the country before returning home to ...

Editor's note: Susan Sims first told this story on stage at the Des Moines Storytellers Project's "Travel." The Des Moines Storytellers Project is a series of storytelling events in which community ...