Steve Harnsberger
PPX Co-Founder, Chairman and President
Based in San Anselmo, California, USA
Since 2007, Steve Harnsberger served as the President of the Kuling American School Association (KASA) and is also a descendant of the Lushan residents and of the KASA student body. The Harnsbergers and Woods families spent more than 400 years over generations in China humanitarian services in Northern Jiangsu Province alongside Pearl Buck’s family in the Presbyterian Church initiatives.
The families’ two stone houses in Lushan are on Oxford Street next door to the Pearl S. Buck villa.
1931 Flood Museum - People to People Exchange: Steve was the founder/creator of the 1931 Flood Museum in Gaoyou, Jiangsu, where he initiated a people-to-people exchange project directly with Gaoyou City Mayor Mr. Ni Wencai and the Harnsberger family to create a city museum and a CCTV Channel 9 documentary “The Harnsbergers in Gaoyou: The Rebuilding of the Grand Canal Levees".
He was awarded honorary Chinese citizenship and a key to Gaoyou city, which included gifts to the Gaoyou people from the Charles and Anne Lindbergh family. This was a partnership with Gaoyou and the Chinese people that honored a personal friendship between American Thomas Harnsberger and Chinese General Wang in 1932 to rebuild the Grand Canal Levees at Gaoyou.
Steve has a deeply vested interest in rebuilding the connections with these stories and family history in China, and has been involved in initiating cultural exchange programs and exhibits promoting goodwill in five different Chinese cities.
In the last 20 years, Steve has led storytelling of American friendships in China and more than a (10) Cultural Exchange Programs in China:
- The Lushan Institute - Founded a Chinese Summer Program. Partnered with Nanjing University (2012-2014) in a 3-way exchange Program with them and the Lushan CCP Party Secretary.
- Under Mr. Harnsberger’s professionalism and leadership, KASA/PPX worked as a partner with the Lushan City Party Secretary (Zheng) and Jiangxi DDG Foreign Affairs, and represented the many American families with a deep and lifelong connection to Lushan and their stories.
-KASA signed an agreement with the Lushan City Museum to share 1896-1940 historical photographs for display in the City Museum and worked with Lushan National Geopark. Botanical Garden Exchange Program 2013.
- KASA Created Hoyt Arboretum, OR and Lushan Botanical GardenWorld Famous Mountains Association: KASA is a member of the WFMA part of the team that created the Pearl S. Buck statue in the Lushan City Park with Mt Hood, Oregon.Taizhou People’s Hospital 100th Year Celebration 2017.
- Researched the American “Sarah Walkup Hospital” and received the highest award from Taizhou City alongside the former hospital director - Taizhou Documentary with Taizhou TV.
- Pitched the idea and created a historical film with Taizhou TV about American Friends finding their family home in Taizhou, and donated original photos to the City Museum where the Americans who came to Taizhou.
- Love and Mercy Hospital Museum Exhibition (Ren Ci Yi Yuan) Americans in Hua’ain, Jiangsu.
- Lead the US team on the 110th Museum Exhibit at the largest Presbyterian Hospital in the World, and provided historical research and photos for the Museum Exhibit.
- Brought Ruth Graham’s two sisters and family back home setting for “A Foreign Devil in China”.Nanjing University Pearl Buck First University Conference.
- Presented a paper Pearl Buck and the 1931 Flood. Lushan and the Shanghai American School (SAS) Environment Program: 2013-2014.
- Created a partnership with SAS to send Shanghai SAS students to visit Lushan for a one-week environmental workshop each spring. American Stories in Lushan Jiangxi.
- Developed and shared American families stories in Lushan with Chen Hui, Works included the Lushan Memories. She translated them into Chinese and published them in China - which demonstrated the cooperation and guanxi between the two countries’ peoples.
- Collaborated with translator Ms. Chen Hui, a former employee of the UNESCO World Heritage Park, to write and translate six articles of these stories in the Jiujiang Chinese newspaper and other media. Their publication is greatly facilitating these exchanges and raising awareness of American family friendship in Jiangxi with the Chinese people.
Site: Kuling American School
Steve Harnsberger
PPX Co-Founder, Chairman and President
Based in San Anselmo, California, USA
Since 2007, Steve Harnsberger served as the President of the Kuling American School Association (KASA) and is also a descendant of the Lushan residents and of the KASA student body. The Harnsbergers and Woods families spent more than 400 years over generations in China humanitarian services in Northern Jiangsu Province alongside Pearl Buck’s family in the Presbyterian Church initiatives.
The families’ two stone houses in Lushan are on Oxford Street next door to the Pearl S. Buck villa.
1931 Flood Museum - People to People Exchange:Steve was the founder/creator of the 1931 Flood Museum in Gaoyou, Jiangsu, where he initiated a people-to-people exchange project directly with Gaoyou City Mayor Mr. Ni Wencai and the Harnsberger family to create a city museum and a CCTV Channel 9 documentary “The Harnsbergers in Gaoyou: The Rebuilding of the Grand Canal Levees".
He was awarded honorary Chinese citizenship and a key to Gaoyou city, which included gifts to the Gaoyou people from the Charles and Anne Lindbergh family. This was a partnership with Gaoyou and the Chinese people that honored a personal friendship between American Thomas Harnsberger and Chinese General Wang in 1932 to rebuild the Grand Canal Levees at Gaoyou.
Steve has a deeply vested interest in rebuilding the connections with these stories and family history in China, and has been involved in initiating cultural exchange programs and exhibits promoting goodwill in five different Chinese cities.
In the last 20 years, Steve has led storytelling of American friendships in China and more than a (10) Cultural Exchange Programs in China:
- The Lushan Institute - Founded a Chinese Summer Program. Partnered with Nanjing University (2012-2014) in a 3-way exchange Program with them and the Lushan CCP Party Secretary.
- Under Mr. Harnsberger’s professionalism and leadership, KASA/PPX worked as a partner with the Lushan City Party Secretary (Zheng) and Jiangxi DDG Foreign Affairs, and represented the many American families with a deep and lifelong connection to Lushan and their stories.
-KASA signed an agreement with the Lushan City Museum to share 1896-1940 historical photographs for display in the City Museum and worked with Lushan National Geopark. Botanical Garden Exchange Program 2013.
- KASA Created Hoyt Arboretum, OR and Lushan Botanical GardenWorld Famous Mountains Association: KASA is a member of the WFMA part of the team that created the Pearl S. Buck statue in the Lushan City Park with Mt Hood, Oregon.Taizhou People’s Hospital 100th Year Celebration 2017.
- Researched the American “Sarah Walkup Hospital” and received the highest award from Taizhou City alongside the former hospital director - Taizhou Documentary with Taizhou TV.
- Pitched the idea and created a historical film with Taizhou TV about American Friends finding their family home in Taizhou, and donated original photos to the City Museum where the Americans who came to Taizhou.
- Love and Mercy Hospital Museum Exhibition (Ren Ci Yi Yuan) Americans in Hua’ain, Jiangsu.
- Lead the US team on the 110th Museum Exhibit at the largest Presbyterian Hospital in the World, and provided historical research and photos for the Museum Exhibit.
- Brought Ruth Graham’s two sisters and family back home setting for “A Foreign Devil in China”.Nanjing University Pearl Buck First University Conference.
- Presented a paper Pearl Buck and the 1931 Flood. Lushan and the Shanghai American School (SAS) Environment Program: 2013-2014.
- Created a partnership with SAS to send Shanghai SAS students to visit Lushan for a one-week environmental workshop each spring. American Stories in Lushan Jiangxi.
- Developed and shared American families stories in Lushan with Chen Hui, Works included the Lushan Memories. She translated them into Chinese and published them in China - which demonstrated the cooperation and guanxi between the two countries’ peoples.
- Collaborated with translator Ms. Chen Hui, a former employee of the UNESCO World Heritage Park, to write and translate six articles of these stories in the Jiujiang Chinese newspaper and other media. Their publication is greatly facilitating these exchanges and raising awareness of American family friendship in Jiangxi with the Chinese people.
Site: Kuling American School
Chen Hui
PPX Translation Director & Lushan School Program Manager
Based in Jiujiang City by Yangtze River, China
Hui spent the last 15 years as the Kuling American School Partner, Liaison, Author, Translator, The Lushan Suite StoryTeller, Jiangxi Onsite Program Manager, Ex-UNESCO World Heritage Park Manager.
In the recent past, Hui worked as a Project Manager in the Lushan UNESCO Global Geopark. She is now an English teacher in the Mt. Lushan School and has been the program coordinator for the Kuling American School Association on Lushan for 12 years.
Hui has worked with members of the PPX team for over 15 years. Hui’s heart has been captured by the stories she published of Western families that loved Lushan, China, as their home and motherland, who came home to Lushan to rediscover the land of their father’s and mother’s youth at the Kuling American School and summer time spent annually in the Lushan swimming holes called Emerald Pools, Black Dragon Falls, and Three Step Waterfalls.
Chen Hui has been a critical Chinese partner in rediscovering the history, writing articles, and raising the attention of the Chinese people and government of the importance of the Lushan Suite and in preserving and publishing the stories of friendship in Jiangxi of five different international families and friends in Lushan. Ms. Chen is the chief-editor of the books: Stories of Lushan I, and the Stories of Lushan Ⅱ.
She has engaged in the work related to Lushan World Heritage and Global Geopark, and also Lushan international exchange projects for more than 10 years. She has participated in many foreign affairs receptions and conducted translation work, such as for heads of state, ambassadors to China, and the Consul-General to China.
In 2024, as a translator of the Jiangxi delegation to the United States, she was involved in the people-to-people exchange between China and America and facilitated the Agreement that was signed. At present and with American friends’ assistance, she continues to research, translate and publish foreign materials related to Lushan Mountain. Hui has published a number of related articles in newspaper and books, some focusing on the "Lushan Suite" story; one front-page article in the Jiujiang newspaper on The Lushan Suite won the second prize of 2022 National level Newspaper News Award and several other awards.
Chen Hui
PPX Translation Director & Lushan School Program Manager
Based in Jiujiang City by Yangtze River, China
Hui spent the last 15 years as the Kuling American School Partner, Liaison, Author, Translator, The Lushan Suite StoryTeller, Jiangxi Onsite Program Manager, Ex-UNESCO World Heritage Park Manager.
In the recent past, Hui worked as a Project Manager in the Lushan UNESCO Global Geopark. She is now an English teacher in the Mt. Lushan School and has been the program coordinator for the Kuling American School Association on Lushan for 12 years.
Hui has worked with members of the PPX team for over 15 years. Hui’s heart has been captured by the stories she published of Western families that loved Lushan, China, as their home and motherland, who came home to Lushan to rediscover the land of their father’s and mother’s youth at the Kuling American School and summer time spent annually in the Lushan swimming holes called Emerald Pools, Black Dragon Falls, and Three Step Waterfalls.
Chen Hui has been a critical Chinese partner in rediscovering the history, writing articles, and raising the attention of the Chinese people and government of the importance of the Lushan Suite and in preserving and publishing the stories of friendship in Jiangxi of five different international families and friends in Lushan. Ms. Chen is the chief-editor of the books: Stories of Lushan I, and the Stories of Lushan Ⅱ.
She has engaged in the work related to Lushan World Heritage and Global Geopark, and also Lushan international exchange projects for more than 10 years. She has participated in many foreign affairs receptions and conducted translation work, such as for heads of state, ambassadors to China, and the Consul-General to China.
In 2024, as a translator of the Jiangxi delegation to the United States, she was involved in the people-to-people exchange between China and America and facilitated the Agreement that was signed. At present and with American friends’ assistance, she continues to research, translate and publish foreign materials related to Lushan Mountain. Hui has published a number of related articles in newspaper and books, some focusing on the "Lushan Suite" story; one front-page article in the Jiujiang newspaper on The Lushan Suite won the second prize of 2022 National level Newspaper News Award and several other awards.
Jindong Cai
PPX Advisory Board Member and Chief Lushan Site Music Program Consultant
Based in Palo Alto, California USA
Born in Beijing, Cai received his early musical training in China, where he learned to play violin and piano. He came to the United States for his graduate studies at the New England Conservatory and the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati.
[蔡金冬 (Cai) is the Director US/China Music Institute 美中音乐研习院院长 in Palo Alto, California, and chief organizer of the US/China hybrid Event “China Now Music Festival.”
He is a professor of music and arts at Bard College, and associate conductor of The Orchestra Now.
Over his 30-year career in the United States, Cai has established himself as an active and dynamic conductor, scholar of Western
classical music in China, and leading advocate of music from across Asia.
In 1989, he was selected to study with famed conductor Leonard Bernstein at the Tanglewood Music Center, and won the US Conducting Fellowship Award at the Aspen Music Festival in 1990 and 1992.
Cai started his professional conducting career with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and has worked with numerous orchestras throughout North America and Asia. He maintains strong ties to his homeland and has conducted most of the top orchestras in China.
Cai has served as the principal guest conductor of the China Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra since 2012. He is a three-time recipient of the ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) Award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music.
Cai serves as the principal guest conductor of the Mongolia State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Ulaanbaatar.
In 2004 he joined Stanford University faculty as director of orchestral studies and conducted the Stanford Symphony Orchestra for 11 years.
He is also the founder of the Stanford Pan-Asian Music Festival. Cai founded the US/China Music Institute at the Bard Conservatory in 2017 and created the Institute’s annual China Now Music Festival in the following year.
Since then, China Now has presented new works by some of the most important Chinese composers of PPX time, with concerts performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Bard’s Fisher Center, and Stanford University. "Politics often divides people, but in art and music, you always find connections.
With the US China Music as PPX looking glass, we hope to continue bringing people and traditions together through music.” ~Jindong Cai
Bio: Jindong Cai, Director 蔡金冬，院长
Site: China Now Music Festival
Jindong Cai
PPX Advisory Board Member and Chief Lushan Site Music Program Consultant
Based in Palo Alto, California USA
Born in Beijing, Cai received his early musical training in China, where he learned to play violin and piano. He came to the United States for his graduate studies at the New England Conservatory and the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati.
[蔡金冬 (Cai) is the Director US/China Music Institute 美中音乐研习院院长 in Palo Alto, California, and chief organizer of the US/China hybrid Event “China Now Music Festival.”
He is a professor of music and arts at Bard College, and associate conductor of The Orchestra Now.
Over his 30-year career in the United States, Cai has established himself as an active and dynamic conductor, scholar of Western classical music in China, and leading advocate of music from across Asia.
In 1989, he was selected to study with famed conductor Leonard Bernstein at the Tanglewood Music Center, and won the US Conducting Fellowship Award at the Aspen Music Festival in 1990 and 1992.
Cai started his professional conducting career with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and has worked with numerous orchestras throughout North America and Asia. He maintains strong ties to his homeland and has conducted most of the top orchestras in China.
Cai has served as the principal guest conductor of the China Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra since 2012. He is a three-time recipient of the ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) Award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music.
Cai serves as the principal guest conductor of the Mongolia State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Ulaanbaatar.
In 2004 he joined Stanford University faculty as director of orchestral studies and conducted the Stanford Symphony Orchestra for 11 years.
He is also the founder of the Stanford Pan-Asian Music Festival. Cai founded the US/China Music Institute at the Bard Conservatory in 2017 and created the Institute’s annual China Now Music Festival in the following year.
Since then, China Now has presented new works by some of the most important Chinese composers of PPX time, with concerts performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Bard’s Fisher Center, and Stanford University. "Politics often divides people, but in art and music, you always find connections.
With the US China Music as PPX looking glass, we hope to continue bringing people and traditions together through music.” ~Jindong Cai
Bio: Jindong Cai, Director 蔡金冬，院长
Site:
China Now Music Festival
Kim Whitener
PPX Advisory Board Member
Based in Fort Worth, Texas, USA
Kim Whitener is an independent creative producer, working in the contemporary opera-theater, music-theater, and other multi-genre landscapes through her company, KiWi Productions.
Previously, she was the Producing/Executive Director at HERE, a contemporary performing arts center in New York City, and was a founding co-director of the PROTOTYPE opera-theater festival.
She has served on many grant panels and taught seminars nationally and internationally on production,
management, and development of projects for touring.
Kim is the daughter of Sterling & Barbara Whitener, who served as missionaries in Hunan Province in China from 1946-1951, summering in their cottage in Kuling, and then moved to Hong Kong, where Kim was born and grew up. Sterling Whitener was himself born in Kuling in Xiangshi Province to missionary parents, and attended the Kuling American School for his entire early education until the Japanese invaded, finishing high school at Shanghai American School. China was in his blood, and the DNA has been shared with all of his family!
Site: Kiwi Productions
Kim Whitener
PPX Advisory Board Member
Based in Fort Worth, Texas, USA
Kim Whitener is an independent creative producer, working in the contemporary opera-theater, music-theater, and other multi-genre landscapes through her company, KiWi Productions.
Previously, she was the Producing/Executive Director at HERE, a contemporary performing arts center in New York City, and was a founding co-director of the PROTOTYPE opera-theater festival.
She has served on many grant panels and taught seminars nationally and internationally on production,
management, and development of projects for touring.
Kim is the daughter of Sterling & Barbara Whitener, who served as missionaries in Hunan Province in China from 1946-1951, summering in their cottage in Kuling, and then moved to Hong Kong, where Kim was born and grew up. Sterling Whitener was himself born in Kuling in Xiangshi Province to missionary parents, and attended the Kuling American School for his entire early education until the Japanese invaded, finishing high school at Shanghai American School. China was in his blood, and the DNA has been shared with all of his family!
Site: Kiwi Productions
A PPX PARTNER
A PPX PARTNER
Samantha Freise
Head Curator, Pearl S. Buck International (PSBI) in Philadelphia
Samantha Freise is the curator and historic house director at Pearl S. Buck National Historic Landmark in Perkasie, PA. Mrs. Freise graduated Magna Cum Laude from Southeast Missouri State University. She received a B.S. in Historic Preservation and B.A. in History.
Mrs. Freise also graduated with distinction from the University of the Arts with a M.A. in Museum Education. She has a wide variety of experience working in museums and historic sites in Missouri, Pennsylvania, and the UK.
Mrs. Freise is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution in which she participates on the local, state, and national levels bringing awareness to historic preservation, American history, and service to veterans.
She has deep roots in Pennsylvania. Her ancestors immigrated from Germany in 1701 to the Allentown area. During the American Revolution four of her ancestors participated in the war for independence in the Pennsylvania Militia and through civil service.
Samantha Freise
Head Curator, Pearl S. Buck International (PSBI) in Philadelphia
Samantha Freise is the curator and historic house director at Pearl S. Buck National Historic Landmark in Perkasie, PA. Mrs. Freise graduated Magna Cum Laude from Southeast Missouri State University. She received a B.S. in Historic Preservation and B.A. in History.
Mrs. Freise also graduated with distinction from the University of the Arts with a M.A. in Museum Education. She has a wide variety of experience working in museums and historic sites in Missouri, Pennsylvania, and the UK.
Mrs. Freise is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution in which she participates on the local, state, and national levels bringing awareness to historic preservation, American history, and service to veterans.
She has deep roots in Pennsylvania. Her ancestors immigrated from Germany in 1701 to the Allentown area. During the American Revolution four of her ancestors participated in the war for independence in the Pennsylvania Militia and through civil service.
Stephanie Saveriano
International Programs Director, PSBI
Stephanie is an accomplished professional with a rich background in history and humanitarian work. She graduated from Virginia Tech in 1995 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History.
After graduation, Stephanie dedicated herself to raising her family, taking 12 years off to be a full-time mother to her three children.
In the past seven years, Stephanie has significantly contributed to Pearl S. Buck International, where she oversees the organization's International Programs.
Her role involves managing and expanding the humanitarian work that Pearl S. Buck International conducts in Asia and Africa. Under her leadership, the programs have seen remarkable growth and impact, providing essential support and resources to needy communities.
Stephanie's commitment to humanitarian causes is deeply rooted in her academic background and personal values. Her work at Pearl S. Buck International reflects her dedication to improving lives and fostering global understanding. She continues to inspire others with her passion for history, education, and humanitarian service.
Site: Pearl S. Buck International
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-saveriano-5baa781a3/
Stephanie Saveriano
International Programs Director, PSBI
Stephanie is an accomplished professional with a rich background in history and humanitarian work. She graduated from Virginia Tech in 1995 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History.
After graduation, Stephanie dedicated herself to raising her family, taking 12 years off to be a full-time mother to her three children.
In the past seven years, Stephanie has significantly contributed to Pearl S. Buck International, where she oversees the organization's International Programs.
Her role involves managing and expanding the humanitarian work that Pearl S. Buck International conducts in Asia and Africa. Under her leadership, the programs have seen remarkable growth and impact, providing essential support and resources to needy communities.
Stephanie's commitment to humanitarian causes is deeply rooted in her academic background and personal values. Her work at Pearl S. Buck International reflects her dedication to improving lives and fostering global understanding. She continues to inspire others with her passion for history, education, and humanitarian service.
Site: Pearl S. Buck International
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-saveriano-5baa781a3/
US/China People-to-People Exchange.org
a California educational nonprofit
Mailing address:
54 Woodland Ave
San Anselmo CA 94960
PPX Fiscal Sponsor
Players Philanthropy Fund.org
a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation
1122 Kenilworth Drive, Suite 201
Towson, MD 21204-2146
EIN# 27-6601178
UEI#: M5REPDES9AN7
US/China People-to-People Exchange.org
a California educational nonprofit
Mailing address:
54 Woodland Ave
San Anselmo CA 94960
PPX Fiscal Sponsor
Players Philanthropy Fund.org
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation
1122 Kenilworth Drive, Suite 201
Towson, MD 21204-2146
Federal Tax ID: 27-6601178
UEI: M5REPDES9AN7