A student trip to China leaves a lasting legacy.
Chiu-Mi Lai ’83, pictured here on her 1981 journey to China (Metate, 1983).
When Chiu-Mi Lai ’83 boarded a train in Hong Kong bound for mainland China in 1981, she carried more books than luggage. She also carried a rare opportunity to see a country that had only recently reopened to the world.
More than four decades later, that journey has come full circle in the form of a new gift to Pomona College.
Lai and her husband, David Mohrig ’83, established an endowed fund honoring Emeritus Professor of Politics David Elliott and his wife, Mai Elliott, whose mentorship left a lasting mark on her life.
“This gift is an acknowledgment of the impact a professor can have on students, which is the greatest reward for a teacher,” David Elliott says.
The fund will support Pomona students pursuing experiential learning opportunities in Asia, covering costs including travel, research and service projects.
“About half of Pomona students study away, and we are committed to expanding those opportunities so more students can engage in the transformative learning that has long defined the College,” says Kara Godwin, assistant vice president and chief global officer.
The 1981 trip took place as China was slowly emerging from the devastation of its cultural revolution and was tentatively opening to the outside world. This allowed Nanjing University to accept a group of students from the College as part of an exchange, making Pomona students, as David Elliott says, “pioneers”—part of an unofficial diplomatic opening between the U.S. and China.
Lai recalls lectures unfolding on trains, stacks of books hauled overseas and the close-knit group navigating an unfamiliar world together.
Group photo taken at the gate of Nanjing University. Left to right: front row, third from left, Mai Elliott holding Bryan Elliott; fifth from left Profesor David Elliott. Back row: second from let and continuing, Jeanne Wong, Rudi Jeung, Tillie Fong, Janie Stoddard, Chiu-mi Lai, Teacher Zhang, and Jeannie Lee
“David and Mai had to manage everything—courses, travel, bureaucracy—all with their 5-year-old son in tow,” Lai says. “Looking back, I appreciate even more the sacrifice they made in taking us there.”
For David Elliott, the experience was just as formative.
“Whenever Mai and I reminisce about that trip, we remember the students’ curiosity about a country they had known only through classes,” he says, “and the unfailing warmth and generosity of the Chinese people, who had so little at the time, yet showed such resiliency and hope for the future.”
Lai, who along with Mohrig taught at the University of Texas at Austin before retiring in spring 2026, says she and her husband shared the lessons from their Pomona experience with their students, as well.
“Learning happens in the classroom, but so much of what stays with you for the rest of your life happens outside of it,” she says.
To learn more about supporting study away opportunities for Pomona students, contact Kyle Davis, senior director of development at Kyle.Davis@pomona.edu.