American girl served as 'mayor' in southwestern Chinese town

Li Bai, right, the head of Danzhai county, confers the appointment of "mayor" to JongMay. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"Being a 'mayor' is good to enrich my life experience, so I ran for the office," JongMay said.

During her one-week tenure, JongMay was busy discovering the local culture. She performed folk dances, experienced batik and papermaking processes, and broadcast bullfighting and tea art presentations via Weibo and short videos.

JongMay feels closer to China. She said, "Many people would affectionately say hello to me, and call me 'mayor' in the street."

"I was born in China, so my parents gave me the name JongMay, which literally means China and America in Chinese," she told a reporter from the China News website.

JongMay returned to the United States in her childhood but kept on learning Chinese before coming back to China to study Chinese folk dance and choreography in her high school year. She now studies at the Communication University of China as a graduate student.

"I used to learn Chinese dance. Now I want to understand the culture behind it," she said.

JongMay said she dreams of becoming a Chinese teacher in an American college to help American students learn Chinese culture.