Back in the early summer of 2003, at the tale of the SARS outbreak, Beijing was gradually going back to business as usual.

I was in a cab to go the U.S. embassy in Beijing for a student visa interview. With the rising sun scorching the earth, I started to sweat, because the cab driver insisted leaving the windows open without air conditioning. His excuse was to keep the air flowing to help prevent SARS. But I knew many cab drivers had the habit of not using air conditioning just to save gas.

About 40 minutes later, I arrived in the embassy and joined a long line outside of the gate. I actually arrived early, 90 minutes before my appointment, to make up for the notorious long wait in line. It was not a pleasant experience to stand outside under the summer sun for an hour and half. I also didn't have the wisdom to bring a sun umbrella or a paper fan or to wear casual, short-sleeve summer clothes.

By the time I finished the line and was allowed into the nicely air-conditioned security check room, I thought the day was finally going to move on. But the high-tech temperature monitor on the wall caught me. With a sharp beep sound, a security guard immediately came up: "Your temperature is too high. Go back outside and try to cool down."

I went outside, desperate. How am I going to lower my temperature standing under the sun? With a dozen other fever-suspected applicants next to me, I asked the guard whether we could move to a tree's shade. The answer, of course, was no.

For the next three hours, I tried to meditate and cool myself down with my mind. I was called back to test my temperature several times and failed every time. With the clock ticking, I was almost certain that I was going to miss the visa officers' working hours. They cut off applicants at noon. The next available interview would be 30 days later, and I would for sure to miss the graduate school orientation.

Finally, 10 minutes before noon, a manager-looking man brought us back to the air-conditioned room. "We'll give you one last chance in three minutes. Try to relax and cool down."

Three minutes of air-conditioning worked wonder. All of us passed the security check. And I got my visa that day.