Next: The Peace Corps in China

It was just a decade ago that China, deeply suspicious of U.S. intentions, denounced the Peace Corps as an “imperialistic agency” of CIA operatives. But in yet another example of dramatically changing times, China this summer will welcome 20 Peace Corps volunteers for a two-year stint as English teachers. “Our presence is definitely a sign of transition in the U.S.-China relationship,” Peace Corps spokesman James C. Flanigan said. Announcement of an August arrival for the group, which will be the first to serve in a Communist nation in the agency’s 28-year history, comes as China is in the throes of pro-democracy demonstrations, but it is a development that does not bother the volunteers. “I’m not worried,” said volunteer Lisa Smoker, 24, of Lancaster, Pa. “The demonstrations don’t seem to be directed against Americans.” After a course in language, culture and technical arts, the Peace Corps contingent is to begin working at various locations in China’s southwestern province of Sichuan.

--Terry Waite, the Anglican Church envoy who was kidnaped in Lebanon 2 1/2 years ago while seeking to arrange for the release of Western hostages, has passed his 50th birthday in captivity with the identity of his captors still unknown. Waite’s family marked the date quietly with prayers for his welfare. Waite, who had negotiated the release of a number of Western hostages held by Muslim extremists in Lebanon in the mid-1980s, disappeared Jan. 20, 1987. Over the years, his condition and whereabouts have been subjects of conflicting reports. The known foreign hostages in Lebanon are nine Americans, four Britons, one Irish, two Germans, an Italian and a Belgian.

--A pilot who is the only female instructor at Iran’s aviation school described the difficulties of working in a male-dominated country and said that more than once, she literally has had to strike a blow for women’s liberation. “Until 1981, I used to hit my students. I even had a Revolutionary Guard as a student who went and complained. They called me and asked why I had hit him,” Shahla Dehbozorgi, 31, was quoted as saying in extracts from an interview by the Iranian news agency IRNA. “I explained that this is a teacher-student relationship. A student must only listen and he shouldn’t have unnecessary pride.” Dehbozorgi said that some students at first would not look at her face in class. “I used to get very upset because they had to listen very carefully . . . reading psychology books as part of their course helped them overcome this problem.” Iranian women have been barred from judgeships and other jobs since the Islamic revolution of 1979.