In the mid-'90s Berris paid tribute to her early inspiration when she took a delegation of Chinese ethnic minority leaders to Hawaii. Robert Daily, the accompanying interpreter, tells of "the most tiring and glorious day" in his China career, when the group visited two islands and had four meetings before ending the day with a visit to a surfer's home by the ocean, at the insistence of Berris.

"She taught everyone that this matters, that not a moment is to be wasted when we have a chance to get together."

An even funnier story is told by June Mei, a Harvard graduate who served as an escort interpreter for many Chinese heads of state as well as visiting delegations from the mid-1970s onward.

"When the Chinese Performing Arts Company was here in the '70s, a dancer came up to Jan after knowing that their performance would be filmed by PBS. She was quite anxious, saying that her front teeth tended to look yellow up-close," Mei says.

So Berris and Mei went to visit a theatrical supply store. There they found not one, but a whole array of tooth paint, in different shades of white, from creamy to ivory to snow. Determined to find the most natural color, Berris tried all of them on her own front teeth, only to discover that they were there to stay.

"'Tooth paint isn't supposed to come off easily,' the salesman told us. For the next few days Jan had to speak in a mumbling fashion and try her best not to smile at anyone. Jan really cares about people as people, not just for which institutions they represent or whether she agrees with their opinions."