Turning the corner on lively discussion

At that time, the host was an American businessman named Edward Ohlin, and when he left six years ago, Selent took over the responsibility of leading the discussion.

"Edward still sends a quiz every week," says Selent. "He is a dedicated man."

The English corner used to have other foreigners, but people have come and gone, and Selent was the one who stuck around.

Sometimes, on his return to Beijing from business trips, Selent comes directly from the airport to the cafeteria without even stopping to drop his luggage off at home.

When asked about what makes him keep doing the volunteer work despite his tight schedule, Selent always answers in Chinese: "For the four modernizations and world peace."

"I add some humor in it," says, Selent winking. "But actually that phrase was popular when I was in China the last time.

"I've never thought about giving it up. Every Sunday afternoon, I just come here and talk with people. It's very interesting.

"Sometimes we would ask people 'What's your dream?' and this is always an interesting topic. People always have their own ideas on it."

"David was shy at first," says Li Jianjun, secretary of the Tuanjiehu Foreign Languages Association, who was among the first to get to know Selent. "He opened up gradually with us, but he is still very humble and doesn't want to be high-profile."

"Whenever we ask David will he come to the English corner next week, he always says, 'As long as I am in Beijing, I will come'," says Zhou Jingji, the English corner monitor.

"I am a big believer that people should do good things," Selent says. "If you do good things, it may inspire others to do good things.

"World peace is a very big thing and maybe it's an impossible dream. But if you can do little things and encourage people to do good things, that's possible to achieve one day."

Xing Yi contributed to this story

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