40 years of building relationships Leaders and students reflect on experiences with China in light of Shanghai Temple announcement BY LEIANI BROWN
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ussell M. Nelson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, paused and, voice wavering, finished the list of new temple announcements in the April 2020 General Conference with, “Shanghai, People’s Republic of China.” “I actually wept,” said ‘Uncle’ John Muaina, a retired vice president of the Polynesian Cultural Center, whose professional career and life experiences are closely linked to mainland China. Muaina now helps out at the PCC as a senior Human Resources adviser. "When President Nelson became the president of the Church, I said to myself, ‘If anyone’s going to be the one to usher in work there in China, it would be fitting that President Nelson be the one.’” Muaina further explained not only President Nelson’s relationship, but also the Church’s relationship with mainland China goes back to the early days of BYUH and the PCC. Bobby Akoi, the BYUH chaplain and former director of protocol at the PCC, said his excitement of the announcement of the Shanghai Temple also came in context with the university and PCC’s background with mainland China. 1 2 4 KE AL AK A‘I 2021
“I think I cried for 10 minutes. I really had a hard time trying to calm myself down because we’ve seen what the Church, PCC and BYUH have done for the past years to get the Church into China and to develop our relationship. “Of course, I was grateful. I was so excited for our Chinese saints there right now who have the opportunity now to seal their families together. Some of them already did because they went to Hong Kong, but now they can have their own temple. For me, that’s what this life is all about. It’s getting all of our saints to the temple.” The Asian Executive Management Program Part of Muaina’s job involves running the Asian Executive Management Program (AEM), a program that started with six Chinese interns who came to BYUH and the PCC in September 1981. “What happens is we assign each of them to different departments at the Polynesian Cultural Center,” explained Muaina. “We have them also attend their classes just like any regular student, and most people wouldn’t have ever known that they were from mainland China.” ChiTi Chen, a student of the AEM program from Fall 2019 to Winter 2020, said
she believes the announcement of a temple in Shanghai shows the Church has built a good relationship with China. “The AEM program is already 35 years old, and I think it’s a very important bridge to that [relationship]. Sometimes it’s hard to build an official relationship with the government, but it’s easier by the people.” Chen said she believes it’s less of an official relationship between the Church and the Chinese government that has made the difference, and more so, the individual relationships among the Chinese people and Church members. Chen, who said she is “not a member yet,” but attended Church meetings with her friends while in Hawaii, added she is happy for the Chinese people to have a temple in Shanghai. “I know that it’s a little bit hard for the Chinese people that they cannot go to the temple. Not only the LDS Church but also for many other religions, they don’t have so many chances to reach out… I believe [a temple in Shanghai] is very big progress for both the Church and the Chinese government.” The AEM program today usually consists of about four to five interns from China and one from Taiwan.
