Coloured Cloud City Plaza, Yantai
1992
January 1
Family holiday at Grandma's house at People's Daily.
EVE
Hong Yu and I met with Dr. Hossain Danesh at his hotel.
January 2
Drive to Great Wall in our new Peugeot.
January 3
Work on Qingdao Hai Guan Twin towers; one for Customs and one for the Bank of China.
January 4
AM
Qingdao Hai Guan.
PM
Attend lecture by Canadian psychiatrist Hossein Danesh. He spoke about our capacities to know, to love and to choose. I invited Wang Quan and Jiang Ping. His translator was Professor Chen Yi Yun of the China Academy of Social Science She had founded a Marriage and Family Institute.
ChenYi Yun
January 5
Hong Yu and I had lunch with Li Ping.
January 6-7
Work on Qingdao Customs Tower.
January 8
At Building in China magazine. Help write a draft contract with the University of Singapore as a way to keep the magazine alive.
January 9
Work on Qingdao Customs Tower. Met with owner of Bank, and with the owner of the other half of the site.
January 10
Help Xiao He’s sister-in-law go to the US Embassy.
Take Dongxi (Leo) to Grandma's house at People's Daily.
January 11
English class at Zhong Jing.
PM
Work on Qingdao Customs Tower and Bank of China.
Saturday night. I went by myself (in the car) to the theater in the Great Wall Hotel. Some foreigners organized showings of western movies. They even sold popcorn! No such thing available in China. Watched two movies: Terminator 2 and King Ralph (where all the royal family was electrocuted). I was back in my old world, with all these foreigners. It felt like home but it also felt foreign, far away, and a bit decadent.
January 12
Write outline of paper on urbanization.
January 12-18
Work on Qingdao Customs building.
January 12
Hong Yu came back from Qingdao.
January 18
Visit with Albert Cheung, and David and Lois Lambert.
January 19
Work on "China Urbanization in the 1990s, Community Participation".
January 20
Finish Qingdao Design twin tower concept
design, including a rough 1:500 model.
Qindgdao Twin Tower Proposal for Customs and for the Bank of China
January 21
Work on Qingdao Ren Min Lu Market and Office.
January 22
At Building in China, collate my CIDA paper by hand. Collation 50% complete. Use large meeting room at China Building Technology Development Center (CBTDC). Xiao Guo and Wang Tian Hui helped all day.
January 23
Work on Qingdao Market and Office 40,000 m2.
January 24-30
Work on Qingdao Market and Office.
January 25
Teach English at Zhong Jing.
January 27
Accompany Marc Choko shopping at Liu Li Chang Arts and Crafts Street.
Mark Choko
[Note from 2021: Professor, author, lecturer and curator in the field of posters and graphic design Marc H. Choko is professor emeritus at the School of Design of the University of Quebec in Montreal, where he has taught since 1977. He was director of research at the National Institute for Scientific Research (INRS) Urbanization, Culture and Company from 1985 to 2005. From 1999 to 2008, he directed the Design Center of the University of Quebec in Montreal. A graduate in architecture from the University of Montreal (1973), he also holds a master's degree in planning from the same university (1976) and a doctorate in urban planning from the University of Paris VIII (1981). Marc H. Choko is the author of numerous reports, articles and books on urban development and housing issues, nationally and internationally - notably in China, where he was a consultant and associate professor from 1991 to 2000. Passionate through posters, he collects them since the mid-1960s, then undertakes research, particularly on their production in Quebec and Canada. He began to organize exhibitions, including several as a curator, and to publish numerous works from the beginning of the 1980s. - Member of the Visual Arts jury, Conseil des arts de Montréal (2016-2018) - Knight of the Order of Academic Palms (France, 2016) - Honorary member of the Society of Graphic Designers of Quebec (2013) ]
January 29
Finish collating CIDA Report.
January. 30
Long lunch with Dr. James Mangan and Margaret S. Mangan (Baha’is).
[Note from 2021: They were authors of a study called "Inter-country Program for Integrated Pest Control in South-East Asia: A comparison of two IPM training strategies in China: The importance of concepts of the rice ecosystem for sustainable insect pest management, 1998.
Our study in China of two Integrated Pest Management (IPM) training programs for farmers shows that one is more effective than the other in reducing pesticide applications as well as in imparting to farmers an understanding of the rice ecosystem. ]
January. 31
Work at Building in China magazine.
Take He Aiyi to Renmin Ribao (People's Daily).
February 2
Take He Aiyi to Railway Station. She's going back to Chongqing for the Spring Festival.
PM
English class at Zhong Jing. Watch video by Robert Stern called Proud Towers.
February 2
AM
Zhong Jing Spring Festival dance party.
PM
Clean up Zhong Jing office. Go home for Spring Festival.
February 3
Work on Urbanization paper. Hong Yu works on paper for Montreal conference.
Eve: Go to Grandma's house at People's Daily.
February 4
Spring Festival. Dongxi very excited by the fireworks. The whole city erupts.
February 5
We leave Dongxi at Grandma's house at People's Daily. Hong Yu and I go home to work.
February 6
Set off for Great Wall in our new car, with Bater, Shan Ying, Dongxi, Liang Liang and Hongyu. Near Xi Zhi Men, Dongxi was very car sick, threw up; Shan Ying then also threw up, in sympathy. We drove home.
February 7
Leave Dongxi with Mao Mao; Hongyu and I work at home.
February 8
Dongxi at home; we work on our papers.
February 9
Sunday, bck to work at Zhong Jing.
Start work on Ji Shi Kou Project, just outside Chao Yang Men, 80,000m2.
Letter to Newfoundland Association of Architects thanking them for granting me ‘Member on Leave’ status. I'm still a member of the NAA; a toehold in Canada.
February 10
Ji Shi Kou. Take Dongxi to Liang Liang’s place.
February 11-12
Work on Qingdao Ren Min Road design.
February 13
Qing Dao, Si Fang District, vice-mayor came to look at my design. He said it covered the site too much, and the entrance should not face south-west; this violates feng shui. Commerce open to the SW will loose money. He doesn’t really believe that, but just in case….
Qing Dao, Si Fang District, Office and Comercail Center
PM Take my CIDA paper from China Building Technology Development Center (CBTDC) to the printer for binding (in our car). We are among the very few people in China to own a private car.
February 14-15
Work on Ji Shi Kou.
Saturday evening: Take Dongxi to Grandma's house at People's Daily in our Peugeot.
February 16
At home. Guests: Sun Hua Sheng and Wang Li Fang.
February 17-19
Work on Ji Shi Kou.
February 18
Supper with Ione Johnston, Head of British Council, China. Friend of Gladys Frame. Gladys was an independent Traffic Consultant from Edinburgh who was passionate about China, historic preservation, bicycles and public transportation. She often worked with the World Bank in China. She kept her bicycle at Ione Johnston's place. [Note from 2021: Years later when Ione moved back to England, Gladys stored her bicycle at my place.]
Below is the title and abstract of a paper she wrote:
Title: Socioeconomic Characteristics, Land Use and Travel Patterns of the Municipality of Beijing,
Abstract: The Beijing authorities have tackled the inherited problems of access and mobility, and have aimed to cater for increased transport demands and higher expectations of level of service by residents, by an extensive road building program focusing on Ring Roads and widening of existing roads. However, there was a need to develop an integrated and coordinated package of policies with traffic management and public transport at its heart and focusing on how a balance can be achieved between conserving the old and catering for the new. This paper discusses the key historical factors affecting the development of the public transport network.
Eve. Guests Eric Frost from New Zealand and his wife Hu Ming (Baha’is).
February 20
Meeting about Guan Yuan planning.
February 21
Work at Building in China.
In the late 1980’s, Janie Sykes-Kennedy was invited by the U.S. Housing & Urban Development and the Department of Commerce as one of 14 delegates to go to the People’s Republic of China on the first trade mission of American women. After that trip, she secured a contract from the China Building Technology Center and started a new company, China Today, Inc., which for five years, distributed our magazine Building in China.
February 22
Work on Ji Shi Kou, and English class for staff.
February 23
Sunday. Bring Dongxi to Grandma's house at People's Daily.
At home write Urban China: Community Participation paper.
February 24
Work on Qingdao Ren Min Lu: Start new design.
February 26
Work at Building in China.
Lunch time help Liang Liang’s friends, a couple with a daughter, design a sleeping loft for their daughter in their one-room home.
February 27-29
Work on Qingdao Qingdao Ren Min Lu
February 27
Evening talk 7:30 pm with slides by Hong Yu and I at Wen Cai Ge, the Writer's Foundation building I designed. The evening was sponsored by the Beijing International Society (BIS).
Below is part of the notice sent out to introduce the evening:
He Hongyu is a Chinese architect whose doctoral thesis concerned the regeneration of old Beijing housing districts. She will talk about this and her work at the Beijing Municipal Housing Reform Office. Her husband, Joe Carter, is a Canadian architect who has lived in China since 1986. He will talk and show us slides on his work and experience here, as a teacher of architectural design at Tianjin University School of Architecture; as a housing researcher in Beijing; and as an architect with a Chinese design office, Zhong Jing Architects and Engineers.
The talk will be held at the Wen Cai Ge which is the headquarters of the Chinese Literature Foundation, a new building designed by Joe Carter. The hall is not very big so members are asked NOT to bring guests.
For this activity we were contacted through Michael Crook, a member of BIS and the son of friends of Hongyu’s parents. Hongyu's father knew Michael's father and mother. Michael’s parents met in China in the 1930s during the war between the Nationalists and the Communists.
Michael telling stories at Western Academy of Beijing (2012)
The Parents of Michael Crook
His father had come to China after participating in the Spanish Civil War. His mother was born in China from a missionary family. They met Hongyu's father in 1948 when her father was a young journalist from People's Daily covering the Land Reform movement in villages in Hebei. Michael parents stayed in China for the rest of their lives and had three children. Michael grew up in China. [Note from the present: In the 1990s he and a few other foreigners founded an international school called the Western Academy of Beijing (WAB).]
February 28
Lunch with Eric Frost and Hu Ming. Eve, at Min Jia Yin’s home (Baha’is).
March 1
Sunday. Home with Dongxi.
Hong Yu says she feels lack of self-respect in presence of power of World Bank.
He Aiyi has come back from Chong Qing.
March 2
Ji Shi Kou.
Eve supper at El Hadi’s with Dr. Arbab, Bijan Farid, Laurie McLaughlin. Wang Quan also came. Dr. Arbab said there were many kinds of authority. He said he wished he could share with China the concept of maturation expressed in the Writings. I thought perhaps I could.
March 3
Qingdao Ren Min Road. Build rough 1:500 styro-foam model.
Eve. Supper with Dr. Arbab, Bijan Farid, and Laurie at Friendship Hotel.
March 4-30
Work on Ji Shi Kou Design.
March 7
Class today instead of tomorrow because all women have day off on "3-8", March 8, International Women's Day.
Hongyu in Tong Xian.
March 8
International Women’s Day
March 14
Used fashion magazine as today’s ‘text book’ for English class at Zhong Jing. Fun.
March 15
Sunday, Dongxi at Grandma's house at People's Daily.
Work on Urban China Paper at home.
Supper at El Hadi’s.
March 20
EVE
At Min Jia Yin’s and his wife Tian Xiao Qi.
Beautiful letter from Hossein Danesh.
March 22
We buy furniture for our new home at Chrysanthemum Lane (Ju Er Hutong).
March 23
Ji Shi Kou drawings almost finished. Working overtime at Zhong Jing. Guard would not open gate to the yard of our office after ten at night; we had to fight to get out! Ding Ning, Wang Xiao Bing, and Yu Jun have been working 3 days with little sleep to build the model.
March 25
PM
Meeting about Guan Yuan.
EVE
Supper, Shuang Yang Rou (Hot pot) at Qinghua with Hongyu, Xu Li Ye, Mr. Lam (her boss at Leigh and Orange), and Lv Zhou.
March 26
Letters from Beth McKenty, Hossein Danesh and Ann Wilson.
Ji Shi Kou finished.
Location of Ji Shi Kou Site, near Chao Yang Men
Ji Shi Kou Concept: One of the few places in Beijing where the street is not part of the orthogonal grid. Let the facade of the building respond to the oblique view from the big intersection to the west.
Roof Plan
Street Elevation
March 27
Work at Building in China magazine.
March 28
English class at Zhong Jing.
March 29
Write first five pages of Urban China paper
March 30
CIDA paper (70 books) arrived.
Start design of Da Xing Xian Department Store (Bai Huo Da Lou) 12,000m2.
Early ideas for Da Xing Xian Department Store
March 31
Prepare for PM presentation of Ji Shui Kou Design. Rehearse presentation with Wang Quan.
PM present scheme in Chinese. Ye Zong (assistant manager from our office) was a judge (each design institute could have one rep.) Huan Dao got 11 points; our scheme 8 points, BIAD 1 point. Ye Zong voted against my scheme (don’t know why). We were one of two second places; no first prize.
April 1
Work at Building in China. Draw map of Pudong for article about this new development area of Shanghai. I doubted a new city could be built on the east side of the Pu River opposite the Bund.
Zhang Yuan Ji
There will be a memorial meeting for Zhang Long’s grandfather, Zhang Yuan Ji, 1867-1959 near Shanghai on April 23. He was a Qing reformer, and founder of the Commercial Press. This press now has “children” companies in HK, Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan. Many, including Zhang Long, will gather for this meeting. I’m reading his biography. He was a member of the National People's Congress (Shujishi) during the Qing dynasty and later a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
April 2-13
Work on Qingdao Government Center.
April 3
Visit home (big apartment) of Bei Yu Ming’s younger brother and his wife at Mu Xu Di. Mrs. Bei said the Getty Foundation might need help with their Dunhuang Cave restoration project. She will call me the next time the team comes to town.
My design for Qingdao looks like the Seat of the House of Justice.
April 4
Saturday, teach English at Zhong Jing. In the beginner class I used a picture book called, "A Day in the Life of California”. For the more advanced class we read and acted out the Winnie the Pooh story about bees and balloons. I stood on a chair pretending to float in the sky.
Someone said the Ji Shi Kou client wants to re-open the competition, have more institutes participate, including Zhong Jing.
April 5
Leave Dongxi at Grandma's house at People's Daily while Hong Yu and I rest and write our Urbanization Papers.
April 6 - 13
Work on Qingdao Government Center.
April 8
Lunch with Vikram Bhatt, McGill Professor
PM Take him on a tour of housing including Ju Er Hu Tong. We went inside our new home.
We haven’t moved in yet.
April 12
PM Accompany a McGill group to Bei Hai Park. The Vice President and his wife and the Head of McGill International and his wife.
April 13
Yan Xinghua chose a design for the Qingdao Government Center; not mine. Work on Da Xing Shopping Center.
April 14-29
Da Xing Shopping Center
Zhang Gong, our room leader arranged to get a beautiful watercolour perspective done of my final design. I never met the person who did it; it was full of light.
April 17
Meet Rosalie Tran and Husayn Anwar’s sister, Sammi Smith, at ESCAP meeting at International Trade Center. [the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in Bangkok.]
April 19
Sunday, Urban Planning paper.
April 20
Book ticket to Canada
April 23
Work at Building in China magazine.
April 26
Picnic at Yuan Ming Yuan. Informal picnic gathering of Baha’is from Beijing and Tianjin.
April 28
Work on Guan Yuan office and housing design
April 29
Meeting in Da Xing (I didn’t go) to show Zhong Jing’s ideas to client. The client liked my idea the least.
April 30
Work at Building in China magazine.
Evening go to a restaurant near Xi Si where I was the host of the McGill group; we were cheated, over-charged double. After dinner, I thought it was high so I asked for a receipt. Try to deal with it later.
May 1-3
Labour Day Holiday Work on Urban China paper.
May 4
Work on Guan Yuan design.
May 5
Pick up application for a visa and Dongxi Resident's Permit. Is he Canadian or Chinese?
May 6
At Bai Wan Zhuang (Building in China Magazine Office).
Proof-reading Wang Yu Kun article.
May 7
Guan Yuan design
Beautiful, cool, sunny day. Hong Yu had successful day yesterday. She attended a municipal meeting re the formation of a real estate consulting firm of which she would be the head. The Beijing Government needed an interface with the flow of investors that were coming to China looking for opportunities.
May 8
Spent morning on Dongxi Visa/passport.
Lunch with El Hadi’s, Roxanne, and Ruby.
May 9
Work on Railway Bureau Hospital Extension/ Elevations
Send Dongxi to Grandma's house at People's Daily.
Working every day on Urban China paper. Get up at 5:00 am and work until 7:00 am.
Evenings at home with Dongxi.
Trying to arrange Dongxi and my visas. Zhong Jing must red stamp a letter which goes to the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design and Research (BIADR) so they can red stamp the application form. BIADR is the 'parent' company of my work unit, 'Zhong Jing'.
Teach English at Zhong Jing. Everyone happy.
May 10
Sunday. All day on Urban China paper.
May 11
Go to Canadian Embassy to bring passport application for Dongxi. Should be ready in a few days. Brought fax message for Mom and Dad. Ask their help to get Dongxi citizenship sent to Beijing as soon as possible. My back is a tight knot of muscles....anxious about these troubles. Our picnic at Yuan Ming Yuan was photographed and videoed for an hour.
May 12
Work on Railway Hospital (near Gong Zhu Fen) Elevations 1:500.
May 13
Work at Building in China.
Lunch with Roxanne Terrill. News of Tianjin. Lois and David were investigated by the police and sent out of the country. They moved to Mongolia.
PM
I went to the restaurant that cheated me. I talked to a waitress and pretended I was going to come later with a group of people. “Could you please write down the menu I want and the price?” She wrote it on a piece of paper. The menu I asked her to write down and the number of people was exactly the same as my previous visit when I was cheated. Fortunately, her boss, the man who cheated me, wasn’t there. I took the piece of paper the waitress gave me, and the receipt from the time I was over-charged, to the Gong Shang Ju office around the corner. I told them my story and showed them the evidence. One of them came with me to the restaurant. This time the boss was there. He admitted cheating me and gave me 130 yuan.
May 14
Pick up Dongxi's passport, his first, from Canadian Embassy.
Work on Railway Hospital Elevations.
May 15
Friday
Get up at 3:30 am to work on Urban China paper.
At BIADR, finally get stamped forms for my visa and for Dongxi's Resident application. Had to go home in the middle of the process because the man reviewing these papers, and who would stamp them, Wei Jia, wanted to see Dongxi's birth certificate even though I’m not applying for him.
Go to Security Bureau Foreigner's Division (Gong An Ju Wai Guo Chu) near the Forbidden City. They say Dongxi is Chinese, because his mother is Chinese; therefore, he does not need a resident permit, he’s a citizen of China.
I got a flat tire on my bicycle on the way home.
The fax at the business center in the hotel could not get through to Canada. Go home, tell Hong all that happened. She was very angry and started to throw things around.
Dongxi started to cry. We talk about leaving China.
Work on hospital elevations.
May 16
PM Lecture by Yu Zong (very old structural engineer who still comes to work).
When he showed slides of the Sydney Opera House, Mr. Yan Xinghua referred to the Lotus Temple.
May 17
Sunday, work on my paper. Help Hong Yu with a proposal to the World Bank.
May 18
June 6
Work on Yantai Coloured Cloud Plaza, 200,000m2.
May 18
Hong Yu and I go together to the Security Bureau to confirm that Dongxi needs a Chinese passport, Chinese Hukou and a Visa from the Canadian Embassy before he can leave China. Hong Yu very angry.
May 19
The Sub-district Police Station (Pai Chu Suo), where Hong Yu has her Beijing citizen registration (Hu Kou), will not give Dongxi a Hukou. Why? Hong Yu and Xiao Liu go to the municipal birth control office. She had not been given permission to get pregnant while she was a student so she had to pay a fine. Because Hong Yu is a returned student, with a good attitude, they agree to give her a piece of paper that will allow her to apply for a Hukou for Dongxi. Hong Yu and I talk more about leaving China.
May 19
Work at Building in China. Wonderful lunch with Zhang Long and Li Rui Hua. I get up everyday at 5:00 am to put in two hours work on my paper.
May 19-28
Xiao Wei Elevations
May 20
Hongyu came to Zhong Jing to get my danwei red stamp on her application to have a baby (retroactively). This morning I wrote a letter to Dongxi inviting him to go to Canada to visit relatives. This is one of the prerequisites for Dongxi to get a Chinese passport.
May 22
Hong Yu waited all day at Security Bureau (Gong An Ju) Visa office; still didn’t get the application form. Individual traders (Ge Ti Hu) are starting to go to Russia to do business.
May 23
We move the fake antique furniture we bought at Fu Xing Men to Xuan Wu Men.
Hong Yu will try to use relationships 'guanxi' to help get a Chinese passport for Dongxi.
EVE
Take Dongxi to Grandma's house at People's Daily.
Phone call from Nabil the lawyer.
May 24
Sunday, UC Paper
May 25
At 6:00 am join the line-up at Chinese Passport Office on Dong Jiao Min Xiang to hand in the application for Dongxi's passport. The line up was long, people were chatting, looking a little anxious. I was the only foreigner there; these were Chinese people lining up for Chinese passports. I was foreigner lining up to apply for a passport for my Chinese son.
I went inside a one-story building. One room, concrete floor, one desk. Seated there was a severe-looking woman in a military uniform. One bare light bulb overhead. I was missing two items; try again another time. I have to go to the (?) Office to interrupt Dongxi’s ration tickets because we were going to be away for more than three weeks. I must include in the application verification that his ration ticket supply has been stopped while we are away.
May 26
Hong Yu translated for Prof. Tao at a BIS gathering at the Australian Embassy.
Back again early in morning at Chinese Passport Office to hand in Dongxi's passport application. This time they accept it. It will be available between June 23 and June 25.
May 27
Work at Building in China. Proof-read articles. Zhang Long sick today; not at work.
PM
Go to Canadian Embassy to get Dongxi citizenship (1.5 year wait) and original government marriage certificate. Yesterday gave the Security Bureau (Gong An Ju) our Baha’i Marriage Certificate. Change our flight to July 5 departure. The Beijing Foreign Affairs Office will only give Hong Yu permission to apply for a visa for the time she will be at the conference in Montreal, July 7-10; not for the extra time we want to visit family in Ottawa. Canadian Embassy will only give her a visa to match the time allocated by the Beijing Foreign Affairs Office.
May 28
Urban China Paper.
Xiao Wei Elevations.
May 29
Yan Tai Coloured Cloud Plaza (Cai Yun Cheng). 1:1000
Go with Wei Jia of BIADR to apply for my visa at the Foreigners Section of the Security Bureau (Gong An Ju Wai Guo Chu).
May 30
Yan Tai Coloured Cloud Plaza (Cai Yun Cheng).
Work every morning on UC Paper.
May 31
Sunday. Lv Zhou, his wife and their daughter; Xiao Hui, her son Tony, and her parents; Hong Yu, Dongxi and I; Zhang Xu and her son spent day together.
Lv Zhou’s wife went to Canada with their daughter. I asked her what she thought about education of children there. She said “Wu Fa Wu Tian”. (No Law no Heaven) (no discipline)
EVE: Huang Xiao Zhi came to interview Hong Yu.
June 1
Work on Yan Tai Coloured Cloud Plaza (Cai Yun Cheng).
Birth Control Office 'Statement of Fine' for getting pregnant without permission
June 2
Get up at 4:00 am paper is 90% complete.
Now must start polishing Wang Yu Kun’s paper.
Visited Baha’i booth at Guo Mao International Book Fair.
June 3
Work at Building in China.
PM went to Book Fair. Met with Kong.
June 4
AM
At Qinghua with Hong Yu to look at Guan Yuan Design.
PM
Work on paper. Evening, so deeply tired. Every day, one hour with Dongxi.
June 5
Yan Tai Coloured Cloud Plaza (Cai Yun Cheng).
June 6
Yan Tai; starting to find the way. Enlarge from 1:1000 to 1:500. Working with parallel rule and set squares; pencil on tracing paper. When the tracing paper was manufactured, small insects got into the batch; well preserved little flies, brown colour, are embedded in the paper.
There's no air-conditioning. Almost no-one has it in offices or in homes. We use electric fans to stay cool. The head of the fan swings back and forth 90 degrees, left, right. I must hold my drawing down every time the fan blows directly at me. At least we are on the north side of the school, not so hot in the summer. Colder in winter, though; no solar heart gain. On the north side of the building we have to wear our coats, and gloves with half-fingers.
Most evenings work on polishing the English in Wang Yu Kun’s paper.
June 7
Take Dongxi to clinic at Liu Li Chang. He loved some birds we saw. He Aiyi bought him a duck.
Working every day on Wang Yu Kun’s paper; have polished the English in 30 of 50 pages.
June 8
Yantai client hasn’t called for a long time.
Work on Beijing Capital Library (Shou Du Tu Shu Guan).
June 9
Now finished 46 pages of Wang Yukun's paper.
Dongxi, more and more, a little boy.
Visit site of future Municipal Library on East Third Ring Road.
PM
Work on Yan Tai.
June 10
AM
Finish Wang Yu Kun’s paper.
PM
At Building in China.
EVE
Almost finish my paper.
Dongxi wet our bed.
Get up at 4:30 am to work on my paper.
June 11
Hong Yu got my paper printed. In the evening at her office we collate and staple a few copies. She’s getting ready to go to India.
Work on Yantai.
June 12
First time in months I don’t have to get up early to write. I read my paper; it’s OK.
June 13-14
Sat./Sun. China State Council Development Research Council and the Ford Foundation are co-sponsors of Urban China Conference.
Hong Yu presented on the 13th; I presented on the 14th. Hong Yu left for India on the 14th. The translator who helped me share some highlights of my paper said, “Excellent”. Prof. Ye from …….Geography, expressed interest. No other comments.
June 15
Yan Tai Design. Du Zong (assistant to big boss) likes it, wants design to continue. Making a 1:1000 model.
A view of my design for Yantai: One of the first computer generated images in China
June 16
Finish 1:1000 rough model of Yan Tai (Ge Ti Hu City), Du Zong photographs it, takes photos to Yantai.
June 17
At Building in China go to Jian Guo Hotel Air Canada Office to confirm flights for me, Hongyu, Dongxi, and Liu Qi.
EVE
Look for repair shop near Xuan Wu Men for our washing machine. It was made by a company that went out of business two years ago.
The car needs spare parts from Hong Kong, from France?
Go to the lane near the Chinese Passport Office on Dong Jiao Min Xiao. When a passport is ready they write the name with chalk on a small blackboard. They hang the blackboard in a tree near the office. Nothing for Dongxi (Leo) yet. His formal Chinese name is “He Li”.
June 18-19
Yan Tai
June 20
Saturday. We have a cockroach outbreak. Hongyu is in India. I send He Aiyi and Dongxi to Grandma's house at People's Daily for the weekend. I took the kitchen apart; spray with a big can of Raid.
June 21
Take apart all our living room furniture to spray for cockroaches. Hand-draw a perspective of Yan Tai on a board in the middle of the room.
Catch a bad cold (gan mao).
June 22
Yantai, finish model and drawings
June 23-4
Sick at home.
June 25
Still sick.
AM
Check tree at Dong Jiao Min Xiang. He Li’s name is there! Pick up Dongxi passport.
PM
Go to Canadian Embassy to apply for a visa.
EVE
Revise UC Paper
June 26
AM
Pick up Dongxi passport with visa from Canadian Embassy.
PM
Take Dongxi and He Ayi to Building in China.
June 27
Work on Beijing Library.
Still feel sick.
Hong Yu returns from India.
June 28
Clean up home. Hongyu and Dongxi go to Grandma's house at People's Daily. Finish letter to Canadian Embassy Visa Section re visas for Hong Yu and Liu Qi. Need visas before July 3, 5:00pm.
Give copy of my CIDA Report, part three and UC paper to Gao____ ____.
June 30- July 1
Beijing Library Design.
July 1
Canadian Embassy Canada Day celebration at Embassy on San Li Tun, at Dongzhimen Wai. Ambassador Bild cut a cake on a special table covered in a white table cloth. Half way through cake-cutting and singing of our anthem, Dongxi emerged from under the table.
Eva and Fred said they would do what they could to help us get visas on time.
July 2
Work at Zhong Jing on Yantai 1:500 drawings.
July 3
Finish drawings Yantai for 1:500 model-maker.
Pack up office for our move to new quarters at the Hou Qin Xue Yuan, a military college near Wan Shou Lu. Say goodbye to Bei Feng Wo.
July 4
Get ready to go to Canada tomorrow.
When I return, contact Andre Desjardins at CIDA and Li Kang at Min Zheng Ju.
July 5
Go to Canada, via Hong Kong, with Hong Yu, Dongxi, and Liu Qi. For Liu Qi and Dongxi it’s their first time outside of China. No direct flights from Beijing.
Summer in Canada
September 1
Return to Beijing.
September 4
Work at Building in China
September 5 Zhong Jing has moved to a new location, the third floor of a school on the campus of the Military Logistics Academy.
September 7
Start work again at Zhong Jing.
Yan Tai Colour Cloud Plaza axonometric. Nothing happened on this project while I was gone.
September 8 to November 3
Work on Yantai.
September 16
Buy new refrigerator, a hot water heater for the bathroom, and a range hood for our new home at Ju Er Hu Tong (Chysanthemum Lane).
September 19-20
Go to weekend meeting at Huai Rou hotel. Meeting paid for by the An Le Bus Company to talk about the formation of Zong Heng, a real estate development company.
Our last day in our home at Xuan Wu Men.
September 21
Move to Ju Er Hu Tong. Yu Ning helped us get a truck. The driver was friend of He Ayi. He said 70% of Chinese husbands are afraid of their wives.
Ju Er Hu Tong (Chysanthemum Lane) Hsouing District
September 22
Do some more clean up at Xuan Wu Men. We accidentally left the washing machine tap dripping. Tap not quite over the mop sink; the floor flooded and leaked into the apartment below. They crawled in through the transom window over the entrance door of our flat to get in and turn off the tap. The flood drove the cockroaches up the wall to the top of the cabinet in our hall.
September 23
AM at Building in China. Brought Dongxi and left him with Wang Tian Hui. Building in China Magazine is winding down. Feels like time for a change; change to what?
PM Move last things from Xuan Wu Men.
September 25
A few cockroaches came with us to Ju Er Hu Tong.
September 27
Sunday. Setting up our new home
September 28
PM From 2 until 9 at Xuan Wu Men doing more clean-up. Hong Yu and I took a supper break at the Cowboy Noodle place at Xi Dan.
September 30
AM Yantai Design
PM Left work early for National Day Holiday tomorrow.
October 1
Zhong Jing gave everyone a 200 yuan certificate that could be used at the Urban-Rural Commercial cenbter (Cheng Xiang Zhong Xin) at Gong Zu Fen. Hong Yu and I, Dongxi and He Aiyi got on the subway at Andingmen. It felt like eveyone was on the subway because of the National Day Holiday. Two stops later we got off because it was so crowded. It felt dangerous.
Went home and kept setting up our new place.
Lao Lao, Lao Ye, Xiao Shan, Liang Liang, and Shan Ying all came for supper and to see our new home. Dongxi not happy when Shan Ying (10) leaves.
October 3
Set up our new home. Pot luck supper with Hong Yu’s friends and Husayn Anwar.
Oct 4-9
Yantai Design
Evening meal with Hu Saho Xue, Head of Qinghua Design Institute, Li Dao Zeng, Hong Yu, and Xu Li Ye. Xu Li Ye said L&O are interested in having me represent them in Beijing.
October 10
Qingdao, Fu Shan Planning
Mona and Shahrooz Tejrati came to our home. Hong Yu and Shahrooz share common work interests.
October 11
Sunday, go to Bei Hai Park with Hong Yu, He Aiyi and Dongxi.
October 12
Finishing Fu Shan Planning
Client wants us to go ahead with Yan Tai.
PM Lao Ban olds a big meeting (kai da hui).
October 13
English class at Zhong Jing.
October 14
Work on Yantai.
October 15
Friday, work at home on Yan Tai
Dongxi wont eat his food.
Help Hong Yu get ready for meeting tomorrow with World Bank.
Reading biography of Martha Root.
October 17
Yantai. Finish updated set of drawings for the model-maker. The boss, Yan Xinghua, says the model-maker's price is too high. Don’t give drawings to Xiao Wei’s friend. Up-down, on-off, frustrating.
Peter Goodspeed called. He was a classmate of Tom’s at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School in Ottawa.
Peter Goodspeed
Note from 2021: Peter Goodspeed is an award-winning reporter with the National Post. He specializes in foreign affairs writing and has worked as a foreign correspondent and foreign editor for 25 years. He has reported from 64 countries and covered 23 conflicts ranging from the Falklands War to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
November 21
Meet Jeff and Bill Nankivell
First Secretary, Counselor and Head of the Development Section (1991-95 and 2000-2004;
now Minister and Deputy Head of Mission, Canadian Embassy, Beijing.
Architect with Eb Zeidler; now CEO at B+H Architects, Toronto
October 18
Help Hong Yu’s parents design their new 120m2 unit
PM and Eve: With Zhang Long and Eric Carlson.
October 19
Give Yan Tai drawings to model-maker.
Breakfast this morning at Palace Hotel with Peter Goodspeed. I brought He Ayi and Dongxi with me.
Contact Alan Fryback, arrange for him to meet Chen Xi Wen at the DRC Rural Development Institute and Jiao Ran, Xin Hua Reporter.
Start work on Fu Xing Men Office Center.
Hong Yu has supper meeting with World Bank, and Beijing’s Vice-Mayor
October 20
Birth of the Bab.
Husayn Anwar, Sharooz, Mona, Alan Fryback all came to our home.
Fu Xing Men Office Center
Client from Yan Tai came to Zhong Jing. One of the client group was my former student at Tianjin University.
October 21
AM at Building in China
Lunch with Alan Fryback, Gao Xiao Hui, Wang Yu Kun, Hong Yu, and Eric Carlson at the Xin Da Du Hotel.
PM Spent afternoon with Alan, Chen Xi Wen, and Song Hong Gang (Hong Yu’s sister, a reporter for the Agriculture Daily) at the Jian Guo Hotel lobby.
EVE Alan came to our place for supper.
Lately feel burning pain around my waist. Go to hospital. I have Shingles (Herpes). Stress and fatigue are among the suspected causes. Also got a tooth filled.
Lunch with Xia Bai Bei, her husband, Tao Tao, and Alan.
PM at Hong Yu’s parents place with Alan and Mao Mao. I was the translator.
EVE: KK from Taiwan came for supper.
October 23
Fu Xing Men Office Center and Yan Tai Cai Yun Cheng
October 24
Zhong Jing Health Check at Navy Hospital (north of CCTV and Military Museum). Health fine except shingles still very painful.
October 25
Sunday Hong yu, He Aiyi, Dongxi and I all went to El Hadi’s for a long visit. Good consultation with Hong Yu that evening.
October 26-November 15
Work on Yan Tai Coloured Cloud Plaza.
Oct 29
Take Dongxi and He Aiyi to Yong He Gong, Buddhist Temple, dedicated to the Future Buddha, Amitabha or Maitreye, the fifth Buddha.
November 1
Lunch with Sandra Hutchison, Husayn Anwar and Hongyu.
November 3
Go to Qingdao. Zhong Jing business trip with Wu Zong, Wang Gong, and Lin Yue.
A Baha’i from Singapore, Quek Swee Kee, was out of town until November 10th.
At the train station, a beautiful old German building, a woman among the group that met us said my eyebrows were a bit joined together. She said Chinese people don’t trust people like that. From then on, when I’m shaving, I scrape away a few hairs at the top of my nose, beteeen my eyes.
November 4
I worked at the Qian Hai Zong Dian Gong Cheng Zhi Hui Bu yesterday and on finishing a presentation for Yantai. Site Area, 7.9 hectares. Building Area 208,000 m2. Plot Ratio 2.6
In the evening, Lin Yue translates my introduction into Chinese.
Lunch banquet with the deveiopment company (Kai Fa Gong Si) and Dian Ye Ju, 8 people.
November 5
Lunch banquet with the deveiopment company (Kai Fa Gong Si) and Naval Architecture office. They asked me why I didn’t drink. I mentioned the Baha’i Faith and they asked about it. I wish I could say in good Chinese, the wonderful things Abdu’l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi said about China. I said, “Shi Jie shi yi ge danwei”. "The world is one unit"
Hong Yu phoned. Hefei trip postponed one week. Work on Yantai.
Eve: Go and look at Hai Tian Hotel with Lin Yue.
November 6
AM with Dong Bu Qing Dao Eastern Area Development Headquarters, Planning and Design Department. Wang Bao Ning and Zhuang Yong Sheng ask Zhong Jing to have me develop my ideas for the 7km of coastline between two points Tai Ping Jia and Yan Er Yuan. The points define a bay called Fu Shan Wan.
Location of Fu Shan Wan at 4th bay east of downtown
Reading the life of Thomas Jefferson. I should read the US constitution. Was Jefferson one of the creators of the federal model?
PM Work on Yantai
Eve. Supper and a walk around old part of Yantai with Lin Yue. Later work on introduction for Yantai design.
November 7
Went by myself to meet Zhuang Yong Sheng at Dong Bu to talk about the 7 km of planning at Fu Shan Wan. They want 1:2000 Xiang Xi Kong Zhi She Ji. He said make the design 'something by which I will be remembered'.
Also went alone to the Hai Tian hotel and ate a club sandwich with Thomas Jefferson in English. Then went to Zhao Shan Se to say some prayers.
I went to look at the Zhong Shan Lu Market area. Two buildings are already under construction. Bought thank you gift for Zhong Yuan Yuan at Zong Jing. She copied drawings for Yantai the day we left and didn’t have time for lunch.
Return to Qian Hai Hotel, work on Yan Tai.
On the local mini-bus I met a couple, a beautiful young woman and a handsome young man, Han Xiang Bo. They offered to help me anytime I needed it. He said Qingdao people are quite honest and reliable in business.
November 8
Go shopping on Zhong Shan Lu with Lin Yue.
Later she added the Table of Contents to our Yantai presentation.
November 9
AM Walk the planning site to get a feeling. Cold and windy. Another club sandwich with Jefferson. Met Canadian, Mr. Brand, teaching restaurant management at the hotel.
PM Coffee at Ruby’s restaurant on Zhong Shan Lu.
Eve Meet Queek Swee Kee. Eat California Noodles, her driver won’t join us, insists on staying in the car. We talked at my hotel for a while. When we went downstairs the lobby was all black and the doors were locked. We found a back door open, went through a construction site at the back, and came around to the driver waiting in front.
November 10
We take the bus to Yantai.
Some people start fighting on the bus, many men are smoking, and I am reading Jefferson; big headache and sore eyes.
Have a great pot luck supper with Li Jian Ping, manager of the Real Estate Co. of the Yantai Economic and Technology Development Zone. Stay at Chefoo Hotel by the sea.
November 11
AM Meeting with Yantai development company head, Mr. Ding Zhi Jin, Wang Ting Xian, and Du You Tai (a great singer), representatives of the Yantai Planning Dept, Fire Dept, and Gong An Ju. They all seemed pleased with my design. I designed the main building to face the park at the east. At the north of the park is the main government building, in the “patriarch” position. I placed my tower in the eldest son position.
Map of the Yantai Special Economic Zone a new district to the west of central Yantai
The Colured Cloud Plaza site is on the main east-west road and to the west of the central green space. The Government Center is in the primary location at the north of the green space.
The twin tower (eldest son) at the right looks onto the central green space
I also made the 'eldext son' building overlooking the park a “pai lou”, a gate-shape. One half is hotel and one half is office. The roofs of the tower slope toward the middle making a “Y” shape. Mr. Li said this was very good, it stands for “Yantai”. I hadn’t thought of that. In Chinese a Special Economic Zone is called a Kai Fa Qu, an "Open District". He said the opening between the towers meant his project is “open” to the world. They also liked that the whole project could be built in phases.
Photographs of model: Top is north elevation, bottom is south
Photograph of model from west looking east
Banquet lunch, male drinking.
PM rest and take tour of the Kai Fa Qu. Beautiful beach, piano factory.
Banquet dinner at opening of a new restaurant, one of the guests was the Mayor of Yantai. Lot’s of drinking; proud showing of empty glasses.
November 12
Birth of Bah’u’llah, stayed at nearby Tax Deparment Training Center No. 2 Building Guest House (Shui Wu Ju Pei Xun Zhong Xin). The fuwuyuan are all sweet, warm, shy, young women.
Land price in the Special Economic Zone is 45 USD/m2/50 years. Last night when I said I wouldn’t drink becasue of my religion (You xinyang guanxi), they said, they understood, they wouldn't push me (Hu xiang lijie. Women bu mian cheng ni).
AM Brief meeting with Lin Pei, Vice Director of Administration Committee of the Yantai Economic and Technical Development Zone. Lunch with him and Du Zong (architect) and two people from Bin Hai Architecture Institute of Tianjin.
Du Zong told them I don’t drink because of my religion. They asked what it was. I told them. Xing Zhen Bang from Tianjin had seen the program about the Baha’i Temple on TV.
PM nothing to do.
I asked Wu Zong to get me a ticket back to Beijing. They will go on to Qufu. I have a throat infection. Wu Zong tells Lin Zong and soon a Cadillac appears to take us to drug store. We invite them for supper tonight. I asked for Jia Jiang Zhang Mian (noodles with a sauce); I can't handle so much rich food. I got it! And, just for me, a cup of coffee!
Du Zong asked about the Baha'i Faith.
November 13
Coffee came with breakfast! Normally not available. Everyone was served coffee. That was to protect me from the embarrassment of selfishly asking for something just for me; I was probably the only one who really wanted it.
Wu Zong and Wang Gong (both from Zhong Jing) go to Qufu. I was afraid I was going to spend a boring day alone. Suddenly, Li Jian Ping, Du Zong, Zhang Guo Bao, and two others all came to my room with the model and all the drawings. We talked all day in detail. Almost no changes to the basic design. They said it had already been approved by the Planning Bureau. They want to build it! Manager of the local theater came later to discuss theater portion. People come and go in the Cadillac.
Site 7.9 h.
Construction area: 208,000m2
FAR 2.64
Car Parking 108 above ground; 426 below.
70 meter high tower at Plaza.
Take evening train back to Beijing.
I was in the middle level of the hard sleeper section of the train (triple bunk beds). At 4:00 AM, the couple below me got up and started a loud and animated talk. I tossed and turned angrily to show my discontent. They continued. Finally, I said to them, in Chinese, emphatically, “It’s 4:00 o’clock in the morning!” My sub-text was “Why are you making so much noise in the middle of the night?” They looked at me and said, “Yes.” Their sub-text was, “We always get up at this time”. I looked out the window. The lights in the farmer's houses were all on. It was true; their day was beginning. Different strokes.
November 16
Monday, stayed home to rest. Hong Yu at work. Played with Dongxi.
Supper with Hongyu, He Aiyi, Dongxi, He Gang (driver at Fang Gai Ban), Xiao Liu, and Prof. Kilmartin and Mr. Lucken from Australia.
November 18
Meeting near Dong Dan to look at entries for competition Zong Mao office development near Fuxingmen.
PM Go with Dongxi and He Aiyi to Bei Hai Park. It was raining a little, Dongxi seems to stop to absorb everything deeply.
November 19
AM at Building in China
Lunch with Liang Liang (near Gan Jia Kou).
PM Give John Luckney and Les Kilmartin a housing tour of Beijing.
EVE Supper with them, and Hong Yu, Liu Qi, Wang Quan, and Gao Xiao Hui.
November 20
Work on Qingdao Fu Shan Wan Planning 1:5000
Zhong Jing gave everyone some payment in kind, frozen belt fish.
Later in the day Hong Yu and I go to the UNDP office to meet Manta Johansen and Jerry Mendes to discuss our roll in the UNDP Disaster Relief Program. The program was set up to address the widesread damage cased by extreme flooding In northern Jiangsu Province and in Anhui Province. My focus will be on the reconstruction of 47 schools, 10 hospitals, and 18 clinics whose foundations were damaged by flooding. I asked her if I could put my frozen belt fish on her balcony during the meeting. She said, "Go ahead".
November 21
Fu Shan Wan Planning
Meet Jeff and Bill Nankivell. Arrange for them to visit Zhong Jing next week.
Note from 2021: Jeff was the First Secretary, Counselor and Head of the Development Section at the Beijing Canadian Embassy, 1991-95 and Minister and Deputy Head of Mission, 2000-2004. Bill was an architect with Eb Zeidler; now CEO at B+H Architects, Toronto.
November 22-28
Go to Hefei as a UN consultant.
November 30
Monday. Back at Zhong Jing. Yantai client was here last Monday looking for me.
PM Discuss my contract.
December 1-3
Fu Shan Wan Planning for Qingdao Dongbu.
December 2-7
Evenings work on UN (Anhui) report.
December 4
Meet with UNDP
PM at Building in China
December 5
Lunch with Sun Li Bo.
December 6
He Aiyi is sleeping in the closet under the stairs.
PM Husayn Anwar visit.
Evening with Hossein Danesh
December 8-11
Yantai, finalize Schematic Design
December 12
At Building in China proof-read articles by Hong Yu and Lin Zhi Qun
December13-February4
Yantai, on-going
December 16-17
Prepare for trip to Anhui.
December 18
Fly to Hefei.
December 19
First day of Workshop on Housing Finance and Construction
December 20
URDC (Hongyu) presented people-to-people credit idea from Taiwan. I spoke about Village Planning, consultation and participation. The audience was composed of village heads. One of them said the main way to get participation is to find a tough person who has had some military training and use him to kick the farmers into action.
Mr. Chen (Jian She Ting, Vice Head) organized all our activities.
December 21
AM Visit Hu Guang Xin Cun, Huan Cheng Xiang, and Chao Hu Shi (received 300,000 yuan donation for Ma Wen Qi).
December 22
Last day of conference. Return to Beijing
December 23
Gave Min Jia Yin info about Elizabeth Rochester.
December 24
At Building in China.
Dinner with David Covo.
December 25
Lunch with BIADR, David Covo, Xu Song Hua
December 27
Lunch at Grandma's house at People's Daily.
Eve at Qinghua. Dongxi is good but often gets angry.
December 31
Sent set of work done so far on Yantai to client.
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