Helpful strangers are easy finds in China. The first two are Chinese men. 

One helps us locate our hostel our first, jet-lagged night and the other found us the correct bus to a nearby town, even talking to the driver. 

A man from Rochester, studying in China, asks where we're going and buys our tickets in near fluent Mandarin. He has only been studying two years, but his fearlessness of conversation and failure allows him to accelerate his progress. He spends the train ride conversing with a Chinese teacher in Mandarin while we speak English with her friendly students.