A Letter to the Chinese Community at Duke

Zihui and I arrived in US on the same flight three years ago and she has been a great friend to me since then.
She has been suffering from the relationship with her advisor but did not bring this up to public until now. Being her friend, I wish I had done more than I did. No one wants to see this happen, but I believe this is her last choice. She wouldn't have made this choice if she could find a better way out. The university's responsibility is to educate people, not destroy people. Failure to help students in trouble simply signals failure in the education system. Zihui does not deserve what she has gone through and what she is facing.
I have been at Duke Graduate School for three years and I have seen many cases where graduate students suffer from bad relationships with their advisors. Many of them choose to be silent, and thereby made the problems invisible to the school. Being international, it is not easy to survive. Zihui unfortunately became an extreme case, where she has to fight for her rights. Her courage deserves support.
Let's unite and defend our college and friend. Please help support her and get her voice heard!

We are with you, Zihui. Be strong.
Tong Ren

My Summary for the Rainier Climb

(To my dear teammates) I enjoyed the trip and I am grateful to be in this team. Thanks to you all, who took good care of me, who waited for me while I was slow, who carried heavy weight for me, who led the way and let me follow their footsteps... I couldn't have made it without you. I wish I were faster and could share more load on the way up. ... Here are some thoughts from my side.

What went well:
good weather
clear and good route conditions
great team !
no slip and fall
relatively warm temperature (around 0C)
ice training before the day of summit
the shelter provided a good sleep of four hours
mountain house and Gatorade powder were good
plenty of water/food all the way (Thanks to HN and YY who boiled water for hours and hours!!!)

What went wrong (or could have been improved)
leaving approx. one hour later than planned on both days
loosing the tents
I didn't like the energy bars, too sweet, no salt
no one had rope-up experience before this climb

Best memories
being in the same group with GF all the way
when we unlocked LC's car with an ice axe and a tent pole
eating beef (mountain house) together
when YY flashed his head light at the end of glacier and GF found him
sliding down the last part of the glacier
beautiful (and scary) crevasses along the way
sun rise on the way to summit
cherries at pebble creek (thanks to ZS couple and I owe you a dinner for carrying my bag!)
ate dumplings (thanks to TY!) and later found McDonald's open while freezing on the street at 5AM

Worst memories
one of my contact lenses fell out and got lost in the wind half way to the summit
felt scared and concerned when we were crossing the volcano flat area near the summit in white-out conditions
lost my temper at the metal box near the summit
about half way down, my stomach wasn't felling well and I wanted to go to rest room, but had to keep descending with the bad feeling for hours
walking in the dark with a very poor vision
mistakenly left my food bag to LC, who carried it all the way up to Muir (//bow)
couldn't believe our tents were stolen, lost my favorite gears and pics taken along the way

THE TEAM

YY: You kept up the team spirit from the very beginning. The pics and links/video/books you sent to the mailing list helped me keep up with my training. You took care of everything, from technical gears to food, from boiling water to finding paths. You provided us with a base in Seattle and drove everyone home until 5:30AM on the last day. You were not at rest for a single second!

LC: You took part in the planning and made sure everything was in order. You also carried huge packs all the way?You have been a great team player and always kept everyone in mind. You are so Shan4 Liang2, that I sometimes (in comparison) feel selfish :P I admire the fact that you decided to wear the single layer non-waterproof pants on the summit day and did fine. I couldn't have survived in those pants. But please please please take good care of yourself in future climbs!

HN: You have been a great teammate and we were on the same rope. You shared carrying the load whenever you can. You kept calm while I lost my temper (//bow). You boiled water while everyone else was already asleep. You are the one who did all the work and caused no trouble!

GF: This is our third climb and second summit together. I can't feel any safer or more encouraged than having you by my side. Your presence gives me strength, always!

Z: I'm glad you shared the climbing experience with us and you did great! Please take good care of your knees.