I never expected to go to China. Although its ancient culture and present struggles intrig

ued me, its graceful art and magnificent landscapes drew me, and my mother's frequent travels there in her last years pulled at some part of my consciousness; it was on the other side of the world, far away from my world and my present struggles. But then I received a notice about a trip to China for women judges. It didn't take me long to decide that I had to go.

The trip offered a unique opportunity for me, both personally, to discover some of what so engaged my mother in her travels and to explore how women's issues manifest themselves in the Chinese culture, and professionally, to see first-hand China' s legal system and compare the experiences of women judges there with my own.

Having spent some time during the past several years addressing the issue of judicial independence as it relates to administrative law judges, and knowing that implementation of the rule of law in China as it "opens up" to the West is an evolving and vital issue, I wanted to witness for myself how these concerns are addressed in China.

We left San Francisco last May, and spent two amazing weeks in China, traveling to five cities and towns. Our group consisted of five women judges and a tour leader from the U. S.- China People's Friendship Association. Our very gracious host in China, the All China Women's Federation (which is associated with the government and serves many functions, including being somewhat of a social service agency), provided a Chinese guide and translator, with whom we became good friends as we traveled together. We generally met with groups in somewhat formal settings, in which we were served tea or a meal, gave prepared presentations to each other, and then engaged in free-flowing question and answer discussions.

The members of our group brought varying backgrounds and interests to this trip: two of the judges had an interest in domestic violence issues, another in business and economic law. Yet another, who hears employment security cases, had a special interest in the plight of laid-off women workers, whose numbers have increased as China moves much of its industry to a more market-oriented economy. We were all interested in women's rights under the Chinese legal system. We also shared with, and learned much from, our Chinese friends in the areas of juvenile law, discrimination law, and other subjects.

The narrator of the following piece is a(n)______.

A．writer

B．Englishman

C．woman judge

D．lawyer