Photo by Ed Waters, Jr. Jason Buhi, a local lawyer, spent two years in Hong Kong as a Rotary Club Ambassador Scholar.

Buhi, a Brunswick resident, spent two years in Hong Kong. He spent one year as a Rotary Club International Ambassador Scholar, the second year working in the University of Hong Kong's Comparative Law Center.

The Rotary program is designed to help bring the world together, learning not only about culture and traditions and international relations, but also to reach out with the Rotary's mission of being fair and just with others and giving back to the community and the world.

Buhi, who now works for Frederick County Circuit Judge G. Edward Dwyer Jr., said his initial international interest came from an exchange student from Portugal.

"I know I wanted to study abroad. I thought it would be in a Portuguese-speaking country such as Brazil, or maybe Portugal itself."

He said that while he studied Portuguese, "I've forgotten that."

Buhi was band leader at Brunswick High School, where he graduated in 1999. At Shepherd University, he became intrigued at the summit between President Bill Clinton and Middle East leaders.

He switched his studies from music to political science and went on to Dickinson Law School at Pennsylvania State University. He spent his first year in Hong Kong earning a master's degree in law at the University of Hong Kong and learning about the Chinese culture.

Buhi found Hong Kong a thriving, crowded city. Another student, from Japan, studied Chinese-Japanese relations.

"That is still a bad memory for many. We think only of the Holocaust in Europe, but the Chinese remember the one they suffered under the Japanese in World War II."

In his second year in Hong Kong, Buhi published articles on Chinese-American relations. He also frequently visited nearby Macau.

Buhi spoke to many of the 50 Rotaract Clubs in Hong Kong, some of which are all men. The clubs have only 30 members each, while the Rotary Club of Carroll Creek, where he spoke recently, has 150 members. He presented the local club with 30 banners from clubs he had visited. The Rotaract clubs are those with predominantly younger members than the Rotary Clubs, he said.

"They (Rotaract Clubs in China) have multiple meetings a week. The members are close friends and meet all the time. The really give of themselves to the club and members," he said.

"My family name is Hungarian and that country was under communist rule for so long," he said. "But I found that there is a laissez-faire attitude in many cases. There is authoritarian, central decision on many issues."

When disasters struck, such as a blizzard during the winter he was there, and an earthquake, "the government acted quickly."

There was political unrest, Buhi said, but the Chinese people were excited about the Olympics being in their country. "Eight is a lucky number in China, and that is why 8-8-8 was so important to them."

When he traveled, he was often pulled out of line and given a temperature check.

"They feared I could be carrying H1N1 from the West."

As part of the Rotary program, Buhi traveled to the Philippines, where he helped distribute toys at an orphanage, and Sichwan, another part of China, to meet with representatives. While traveling, he had a chance to play a clarinet for some of the people he visited.

Buhi said education is a major goal for many in China as they see it as a way to give back to their community. "They are hard working, take pride in their work and respect others."

He studied Mandarin while in law school. "Each province in China is like a European country. There are different dialects, but Mandarin is the common language. And the people in each province have distinctive characteristics. They may all have black hair, but there are differences."

When asked his ideas on Chinese-American relations, Buhi said, "I will leave that up to President Obama."

Buhi had been at Sughrue Mion law firm in Washington when he left for China. He joined Judge Dwyer's office in August.

Buhi lives with his parents, Gerald, a former federal government employee, and Linda, an English teacher. He has set up a website, www.anewcitizen.com.