(An old woman wishes U.S. citizen Eunice Brock, right, "Happy Birthday" at a party in Liumiao Village of Yanggu County in East China's Shangdong Province on Friday, August 11, 2006. Brock was born to missionary parents on August 11, 1917 in China. She went back to the U.S. in 1930. She returned to live in the small village in Shandong in 1999. Photo: Xinhua)

U.S. citizen Eunice Brock, who has been living in Liumiao Village in East China's Shandong Province for almost seven years, celebrated her 89th birthday together with villagers in a simple ceremony on Friday.

Over the years, Brock has overcome the language barrier and gotten accustomed to local life. She said her biggest wish was to spend the rest of her life in China, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Brock was born on August 11, 1917 in Beidaihe, a noted summer resort in North China's Hebei Province. Both her parents were Christian missionaries. They later moved to a small village of Liaocheng in Shandong Province.

"Coming back to China, my birthplace, had long been my dream," Brock told Chinese media last year.

In 1930, when she was 13, she went back to the U.S. with her family. She became a nurse after graduating from college.

In 1992, Brock and her husband, both retired, had a two month holiday traveling around China. Her husband died on his 81st birthday on August 24, 1998.

"The dream - of going back to China to work - that I had laid aside now possessed me again," China Daily quoted Brock as saying last year.

(U.S. citizen Eunice Brock, center, celebrates her 89th birthday at a party in Liumiao Village of Yanggu County in East China's Shangdong Province on Friday, August 11, 2006. Brock was born to missionary parents on August 11, 1917 in China. She went back to the U.S. in 1930. She returned to live in the small village in Shandong in 1999. Photo: Xinhua)

She wrote to the China Youth Development Foundation (CYDF) declaring she would like to live and work in the poor village like that of her childhood. She told the CYDF she wanted to build a school.

In September 1999, she arrived in Beijing and met a CYDF official surnamed Chen (she forgets his full name), with whom she had been corresponding. Chen returned from Liaocheng Prefecture and told Brock the head of Liumiao Village would be willing to accept her. They met the village head surnamed Liu, who on her arrival showed Brock around the village.

"He said a new school was not needed and asked if I would be willing to spend the money on computers for the primary school. Because of my age and because I was a foreigner, I knew that going to a very poor village was highly unlikely. The dialect in the village was the same as what I used as a child so I decided to live in Liumiao," she told China Daily last year.

She settled down in a house with a big courtyard. The villagers tried to give her a comfortable living condition. Her home today is well-equipped with all necessities including a computer and Internet access.

She donated US$30,000 to the primary school to buy computers and set up a special classroom for computer education. She also bought books for the school library, musical instruments and sports equipment. She also bought books, papers and magazines to encourage the villagers to read about the world outside.

Life is busy but quite relaxed in the village. Brock enjoys gardening. She tore out most of the bricks and planted a multifarious flowerbed. She has made a series of gold-fish ponds with waterfalls. She gives seeds of flowers villagers who have shown a keen interest in gardening. Many come to visit her garden when it comes into full bloom.

Living out the autumn of her life back in the place of her birth is both fun and endearing, Brock told China Daily last year.

"My four children are all very glad that in my 80s I am living my life's dreams. I wish I could get a green card. I am home, after all."

 (Source: CRIENGLISH.com/China Daily)