May 1,2,3,4,5
UNDP Report
Early AM Rural Youth Education Project Proposal for Jiang Wen Ming (Jiangsu COFERT)
Monday supper with Li Hong and Ted Margrette. Ted and I were old friends in Canada. He has come to China and is to teaching in Dalian.
May 5
Long lunch with Ted.
Dongxi described a naughty Autamen. He drew a picture.
Dongxi’s drawing of Autamen
Dongxi is a good actor.
Hongyu throwing up.
May 6, 7, 8
Night and day, UNDP Report.
May 9
I gave a copy of the UNDP Report to Fainula Rodriguez. She was pleased. Discuss UNDP space requirements with Mr. King.
Prepare more copies of report.
Hongyu throwing up blood.
May 10
AM Visit Mr. King at UNDP.
PM Visit Mr. Jacques Castonguay, a new employee at the Canadian Embassy. Feels like this may be a fruitful connection.
Lunch with Bijan.
Drop off copy of LetDXP for Mr. Gao’s sister. He was my Chinese teacher in St. John’s.
May11
Type addresses for “0” magazine.
Pick up Rural University video tape from Tanya. Dubbers said language was too stiff and formal for “rural development”.
May 12
Make two more copies of UNDP Report; Fainula needs one each for Jiangsu and Anhui.
AM at Nan Mo Fang to look at Elementary School site. Colours are not right. So disappointed, feel like giving up architectural design.
Call Hu Shao Xue (Head of Qinghua Design Insitute). Will meet Tuesday PM.
Hongyu very sick.
May 13
Take Dongxi to an art exhibit at Guan Yaun, then go to Planetarium, then the zoo (peacock opened his feathers), and a play in the evening (The Emperor’s New Clothes) at a theater on Chrysanthemum Lane (Juer Hutong). Baba in overdrive.
May 14
At Grandma's House (Lao Lao Jia).
May 15
Pick up check at UNDP.
Go to dentist at Ju Er Hu Tong.
Visit Mrs. El Hadi. She will copy Rural University tape for me.
May 16
Lunch with Jian Ning.
Wrote a proposal to Zeidler/Roberts, Toronto architects, re establishing a rep office in Beijing. Sent draft to Adam by email.
EVE Take six McGill architecture students out to dinner.
Finish proposal for Rural University experiment in Xu Yi County.
May 18
UNDP Beijing Office, simple study of space expansion.
Anhui/Jiangsu Report. Two more copies; stick in photos.
Lunch with Korea Didi.
I’m getting a pot belly.
Letter to KK in Taiwan.
Sent last two copies of UNDP report to UNDP. Cashed check at bank.
Letter from Dr. Abdu’l-Missagh Ghadirian.
Letter to Dr. Danesh.
No response from Reager’s or my letter to Mr. Mottahedeh in Laos.
May. 19
AM Visit Qinghua. Prof. Hu Shao Xue, Head of School of Architecture, welcoming.
He asked me if I looking for work. Liang Se Cheng and Cao Yun Xiang were here. I think I will do it, I need a home.
Went for a lunch at Canadian Embassy - Lasagna. Lots of business men in suits introducing who they were according to their professions: ”Hi, I’m Alberta gas.”, “I’m from Toronto…pulp chemicals”. I found it difficult to fit in.
Article from the China Daily by Cheryl Thomas
PM fax from Adam Robarts with suggested revisions to letter to Eb Zeidler re formation of a Rep. Office in Beijing.
Letter from Mom. She had a dream she was going by sea to China but couldn’t swim. She held on to me. Is she is getting ready to leave this world?
Leo drawing for a child’s guessing game
Mrs. El Hadi watched wrong part of tape on Rural University; copying held up.
Zhang Long not finished translating Let DXP yet, one additional page…also held up.
I made a ‘happy page’ in my diary to celebrate 10 years in China. Wrote letter of thanks to Liu De Fu at Tian Da Foreign Affairs Department.
Page from my diary
May 21
Fax to Adam re letter to Eb Zeidler.
Take Leo to Grandma's House (Lao Lao Jia) and Mao Mao Jia. He walked by himself all the way Mao Mao’s to Lao Lao’s home. Yu Ning secretly watched from behind.
May 22
Leo took “The Train that Could “ book to school today.
Long fax from Delta Consultants in Ottawa re Housing Market Survey in China. We are still in the running. Begin response to CMHC proposal.
Fax from Gare re clinic at People’s Hospital.
May 23
Nice talk with Michael Crook.
Work on Women and Development article.
Visit old man (he can’t walk) with Dongxi. He is on the second floor, opposite staircase.
May 24
Security Bureau (Gong An Ju) says Hongyu can have a baby in Beijing and it can become a Canadian because she has a Canadian Resident Permit.
Letter to Michael Crook re WAB.
Write a response to Delta Consultants in Ottawa.
URDC starting to look busy.
May 25
Delta proposal.
Call from David Covo.
Dongxi well-behaved these days, but sometimes he gives orders.
May 26
Clean up house. Visit Sawsan El Hadi, pick up Rural University tapes. Mail letter to Jiang Wen Ming, but Post Office doesn’t allow mailing of video tapes.
Supper with David Covo and Andre Casault, agree to meet on Wednesday.
May 27
Saturday
At Grandma's House (Lao Lao Jia). Hongyu’s father, He Yan Ling, finished proof-reading Let DXP and Rural University introduction. He said he will type it himself.
May 28
At home, organize clothing.
Fax from Delta. They agreed with our suggestions for additions to the proposal to CMHC. Asked a few more question.
May 29
Ascension of Baha’u’llah.
My work situation is sill vague. Ask angels for help.
Watch Rural University tape in Chinese. It’s OK.
Called Jiang Wen Ming. He’s coming to Beijing June 16. I will give him the tape then.
Friendship growing.
Decide to try to promote He Ping Men hotel site, find an investor, and I am the architect. Long Shot?
Supper with Gare LeCompte and his partner Ron___. Gare and Pauline gave Dongxi Batman pajamas. Clinic job may start in July.
May 30
Map of Beijing Legation Quarter around 1900
I love to go with Dongxi to the History Museum on Tiananmen Square, especially the way we get there. First we parked our car (at “A” on the map above) on Dong Jiao Min Xiang between Zheng Yi Lu and Tiananmen Square. We walk slowly and enjoy all the old buildings of the former Legation Quarter. A number of foreign legations were located here between 1861 and 1959. In June, 1900, diplomats, foreign civilians, and soldiers as well as Chinese Christians in the Legation Quarter were besieged for 55 days by the Imperial Army of China and the Boxers. As a focal point for foreigners in Beijing, I imagine Martha Root walked this street. She made three trips to China; in 1923-1924, 1930, and 1937.
What if I was register with the Zeidler Roberts Rep. Office and work part-time at Qinghua?...two days a week?
Yesterday Michael Crook called. He said my letter about the WAB gymnasium job was OK. He made it into a contract.
May 31
AM
Children’s Party at Dongxi kindergarten to celebrate International Children’s Day (June 1). Teachers gave lessons and the parents stood around and watched. Watch the kids play outside for a while and then go indoors for some classroom activities.
Parents watch their children play outside at the Kindergarten.
Parents watch their children in a class at Kindergarten.
Dongxi is in the center with a blue T-shirt.
Each child made a flower (individual creation) and then pinned it to a larger panel with a basket drawn at the bottom. The result was a bouquet of flowers (collective creation).
Hand-cut five-petal red flower
These little red flowers are given to children when they participate in activity. This is one that Dongxi received and he showed it to me. The irregularity of it shows it was hand-made, probably the same way paper-cuts are made using several layers of paper at the same time. The practice of giving these small acknowledgments is so widespread in early childhood education that adults say “Gei ni xiao hong hua(r)” [Give you a little red flower] when anyone does something good.
There was also a half hour of activity for the teachers and the parents. It included a few games. In one of them we sat around a row of empty tin cans in a line about a half meter apart on the floor. Wearing a blindfold we took turns walking over the row of tin cans. The winner was the one who knocked over the fewest cans. When the last person, a woman, was ready to start, the teacher quietly and quickly took away all the tins cans. The blindfolded person did not hear the cans being removed. She then started high-stepping gingerly over the non-existent cans, increasingly pleased she had not knocked one over. Everyone else was roaring with laughter. When the ‘victim’ reached the end of the line the teacher asked her to take off the blind-fold. She stared at the empty floor and we all laughed together.
PM
Go with David Covo, Andre Casault, McGill students and Dongxi to Gu Lou, Guo Zi Jian, and Hongyu’s Office to look at He Ping Men project. Dong Xi very good.
Professor Andre Casault, University of Laval (Quebec City)
Professor David Covo, McGill University (Montreal)
Western Academy of Beijing wants us, Koreans want us, Mr. Castonguay at the Canadian Embassy keeps asking us questions, the Du brothers are chasing us….it looks like Joe and Hongyu should work together.
Dong Xi had a temper tantrum last night because we wouldn’t play with him longer.
June 1
Work on a Changchun apartment feasibility study/ conceptual design for Hongyu.
Had lunch at a noodle restaurant. Spent evening and part of night throwing up combined with diarrhea (la duzi).
June 2
Finish Changchun conceptual design.
WAB Gym: write letter to Michael Crook.
June 3
Picnic with McGill group.
June 4
At Grandma's House (Lao Lao Jia). Hongyu’s father finished proof-reading and re-typing Let DXP.
June 5
Fax to Adam: can’t find housing for him.
Re-write WAB Gym Contract.
Evening supper, long talk with David Covo.
June 6
Adjust WAB contract.
PM
I agree with Michael Crook to be WAB Project Manager for gym project.
June 7
With Dongxi, prayers, clean up his space, go to kindergarten on the back of my bicycle.
At breakfast Hongyu very depressed by the Liu Qi situation. Shadows. I feel down. Our direction unclear.
June 8
Let DXP needs a bibliography.
June 9
Work on Changchun Feasibility Study with Hongyu. Proposal A and Proposal B. Revise the English in the report.
June 10
Changchun Feasibility Study
Dongxi at Mao Mao Jia. Hongyu’s father agrees translate bibliography and look for publisher of Let DXP.
June 11
Changchun Feasibility Study
PM
Play with Dongxi.
In early morning hours, quiet, work on compilation “Women and Development”.
June 12
Email to Michael Rochester.
Changchun report finished.
Periodically working on an axonometric of the He Ping Men Hotel site.
June 13
Last night Hongyu said I would be nice to her if I didn’t go to Newfoundland.
Darkness descends. Heavy feeling.
Phoned FESCO. They say Rep. Office must be for a company that has been in existence for at least a year. I can’t create a company in the West and then immediately set up a Rep Office in China.
June 14
He Ping Men axonometric.
Lunch with Tanya Nelson and Tod. Tod is from Alaska, very funny person. Dry and wry.
Nan Mo Fang Elementary School. Looked at interior colour scheme.
Xiao Xu at Xing Xing Development Company asked whether I could help him get a famous architect to do another proposal for the He Ping Men site.
June 15
He Ping Men axonometric.
Supper with Jiang Wen Ming from Nanjing and two Education Dept. Officials from Xu Yi County (about 100 km north of Nanjing). They all agree with proposal and suggested some small changes. Pain from Hongyu’s remark cooling off. I haven’t talked with her yet.
Dongxi joined us at supper last night; was so well behaved. I was very proud of him. Gave him praise. He asked, “Do I get a reward?” We told him the praise was the reward.
Xiao Xu asked Hongyu to find a famous architect to do Wang Bang’s He Ping Men site. We think Li Dao Zeng and I should do it.
June 16
He Ping Men axonometric.
June 17
PM
He Ping Men. Hongyu and I visit Li Dao Zeng. He refuses to produce a conceptual design for an unapproved floor area. The site can hold 30,000m2. Client wants 50,000m2. “Can’t be done!”, he said.
EVE:
Hongyu and I have a good talk.
June 18
At Grandma's House (Lao Lao Jia). Hongyu and I have another good talk.
June 19
Take Xiao Jiang and Da Li to meet Mrs. El Hadi. Good meeting.
June 20
Hongyu and I go to Jie Tai Si for a ‘spiritual conference’. I made some sketches. Feels good to draw.
Dongxi very good these days.
Michael Rochester says we are welcome in St. John‘s.
June 21
Drop off visa application for Dongxi at the Canadian Embassy. Lady said, “Come tomorrow and pick up your visa.”
Work on He Ping Men He Ping Men Zhong Tian Plaza (southeast corner)
Article from China Daily, 21 June 1994
June 22
Embassy refuses to give Dongxi a visa. Suggest he rescind his Chinese citizenship first.
Meeting at WAB.
June 23
Meeting of women architects; I was invited by Huang Hui.
PM
Work on He Ping Men.
June 24
He Ping Men.
Go with family to Red Scarf Park (Hong Ling Jing Gong Yuan). Beautiful day!
[Note from the 2021: This was before the Fourth Ring Road was completed in 2001 and split the park in two. The Third Ring Road was finally finished in 1994 with the completion of the western segment. The Fifth Ring Road was completed in its entirety in late 2003.
The Sixth Ring Road was completed in its entirety in 2010.]
June 25
Wrote short article. “Women, Family, Housing” for Huang Hui. Hongyu said it was OK! Letter to Ambassador re Leo’s visa.
June 26
Letter to Western Academy of Beijing re construction procedure.
June 27
Long email to David Rendell and Michael Rochester.
June 28
AM
Go with Xiao Jiang to see two kindergartens.
PM
Work on He Ping Men.
June 29
He Ping Men
June 30
He Ping Men
Correcting article by Fu Xi Nian for Zhao Long.
Beijing is slowing down: feels like a fall is coming.
Raining, thunder, metallic drumming on our satellite disk.
Hongyu has piles, very painful.
Dongxi said to me, “I’m smarter than you, but I still like you”,
July 10
Embassy says they will consider my request to give Dongxi a visa.
July 11
Spend day with Corky Bond and wife Beth, and their children Rick and Diane.
Corky was a teenage friend (1963-65) from my Ottawa neighbourhood called Fairhaven.
We had supper at the courtyard restaurant in Ri Tan park. Dongxi and their children played very well together.
Ri Tan Park with courtyard restaurant in southwest corner.
The corner of the courtyard overlooked the park. A quiet beautiful place to eat.
July 12
The Canadian Embassy always says phone tomorrow. My hope that Dongxi can get a visa is fading.
Lunch with Jian Ning and his son Chuizi. Chuizi is about one year older than Dongxi. His nickname ‘Chuizi’ means ‘hammer’.
[Note from 2021: They now live together in Toronto from mid-2020 to August 2021. They both studied film. Chuizi has already directed a full length feature film.]
Revise Rural University proposal.
Got the He Ping Men axonometric copied and reduced.
Canadian Embassy says NO VISA! Dongxi is a Canadian citizen. They said they can not issue a refugee visa again. I didn’t realize that was how got out of China two years ago. The Canadian Embassy gave him a refugee visa to get him out. He has the right enter Canada; he does not need a visa issued by Canada. However, he also has a Chinese passport. He needs a visa issued by Canada in order to leave the country. Catch 22. He can’t leave China showing a Canadian Passport because there is no visa from China saying he can be in China.
We go to the Public Security Bureau (Gong An Ju) to get Dongxi’s Chinese citizenship rescinded. A policeman tells us we should not have been in a rush to get Dongxi’s Canadian citizenship when he was so young. The two passport and visa laws are incompatible. Leo should have waited until he was 18 to became a Canadian; now we must undo one citizenship. We decide to retain his Canadian citizenship.
We decided our new baby should be born in Newfoundland. We will leave China Nov. 1, 1995, and return to China for Spring Festival in 1996. We will have time to have a baby and work on the CHMHC project with Delta. These day we haven’t been telling Dongxi about going to Canada this summer because he might not be able to go.
July 14
I’m 48 years old. I look like I’m in my thirties.
Print out Rural University at office.
Breakfast:
Nearly all stores and restaurants are on the wider perimeter streets that define the large block of city we live in. Inside this zone there are only the smallest of shops to serve very local needs. The hutongs (narrow streets) are defined by blank one-storey walls punctured with occasional doors and less frequently a window. From these openings Grandma and Grandpa sell soy sauce and cigarettes to adults and after-school candy to kids. Added to this micro commerce is an evanescent sprinkling of make-shift food stalls. My favorite is a family business on Nan Lou Gu Xiang (South Gong and Drum Lane) that sells tasty ‘You Bing’ (literally, Oil Pancakes) next to the restaurant we called the “Hole in the Wall”. The family is Islamic (Hui Zu) and the men wear small white hats.
'You Bing' are a Sunday morning treat. I often ordered ‘liang ge tiande, liange xiande’, two sweet and two salty, of these doughy deep-fried pancakes. Today it was raining, so business was not so good; the line-up not long. Many customers wore pajamas and we all held pots to receive our purchase.
The daughter-in-law of the family asked what you wanted and gave your order to her husband who dropped dough into the large pot of boiling fat. His brother rolled out dough pieces and kept husband supplied. Wooden tongs plucked the hot results out of the fat and into the pot I brought from home. Lulled by the tapping rain on my black umbrella and the wave of friendly smells, the heavens opened up as I gazed into Grandpa’s radiant smiling eyes. He collected my money and invited to come again.
[Note from 2021:
Wikipedia: The Hui people are an East Asian ethno-religious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam distributed throughout China, mainly in the northwestern provinces of the country and the Zhongyuan region. According to the 2011 census, China is home to approximately 10.5 million Hui people. The Hui people are one of 56 ethnic groups recognized by China. The government defines the Hui people to include all historically Muslim communities not included in China's other ethnic groups; they are therefore distinct from other Muslim groups such as the Uyghurs. The Hui predominantly speak Chinese,while maintaining some Arabic and Persian phrases.]
I want to buy a book called “The Power of Their ideas” by Deborah Myers. She said we should not “cover” subjects in school, we should “uncover” them.
Mail Rural University idea to Jiang Wen Ming.
Deliver copy of “Spiritual Civilization” to Min Jia Yin. He will try to get it published.
Found out we can use airline tickets anytime within one year.
Chu Shi Fu, our driver-helper will leave URDC.
Supper at McDonald’s (Wangfu Jing). I made Dongxi a sword with three straws and a plastic lid. He carried it and his small stuffed animal dog, “Toto”, up Wang Fu Jing Street.
July 15
Wrote a JV proposal to Alex and Adam with help from Hongyu.
July 16
Send proposal out.
Email to David and Joan about having baby in Newfoundland.
Supper at Grandma's House (Lao Lao Jia).
Spitting blood these days; strange cold I have.
Finished a little book of prayers and writings for Hongyu.
Have to find a moment to show it to her. [Note from 2021: I’ve never shown it to her.]
Fax came from Mr. Castonguay promoting us among anyone wanting to build housing in China. He's trying to help us.
July 16
Visit Grandma's House (Lao Lao Jia).
July 17
Hongyu and I go to the Public Security Bureau (Gong An Ju) to apply for cancellation of Dongxi’s citizenship. 1.5 hours to get here through heavy traffic. Got there when they had just closed for lunch. Eat at McDonald’s. Go back after lunch; several things need translating.
Letter to Michael Crook at WAB.
July 18
Make 5 copies of my article, “Spiritual Civilization”.
Prepare “Ling” (O magazine) tickets.
Eve, take Dongxi to Farid family.
July 19
Sent “Rural University” and “Women and Housing” to David Rendell via email.
Fax to Ann Wilson.
July 20
Make tickets for “0” (Ling) magazine; give 170 to Jian Ning for stamping.
We want ‘number 2’ child to be born in Ottawa; due date is late December. We don’t know the sex of the child, but I’m imagining one boy and one girl. I want to name our new baby ‘Sylvia’, after my mother.
July 21
Send more email messages: Maury Miloff, Stuart Kinmond, Peter Pope, Joan Rendell…
Jian Ning says tickets are ready.
Phoned John Greutzner at Intercedent. He said he had been looking for me.
John Greutzner
[Note from 2021: John Gruetzner is co-managing director of Intercedent Limited, an Asia-focused business advisory firm. He serves on a number of for-profit and non-profit boards, contributes articles globally to newspapers on doing business in China, and also lectures at a number of business schools on economic and political risk in Asia. He was educated at the University of Toronto and the University of Nankai.]
EVE:
Take Dongxi to Grandma's House (Lao Lao Jia)
July 22
Write article about experience in China.
Slowly making a compilation on Women and Development.
Feel too shy to show Hongyu the book I made for her.
Qiu Jiang came for supper. Showed him my hand-made models, hand-drawn axonometric for He Ping Men project. He showed me his computer-drawn housing for Shanghai. I felt I was from the Dark Ages. After supper, I took him to see Nan Xin Yuan (Nan Mo Fang).
July 23
Article about life in China.
Take Dongxi to a dinosaur exhibition at the History Museum. Could see the mountains from the front steps, a beautiful after-rain sky.
I am impressed by Qiu Jiang’s energy. He phoned and said he got a job from the Beijing Planning Institute (Gui Hua Yuan). He also offered to help them go to Canada. He has connections and ‘knows the ropes’.
I feel desperate…no work.
Note left on the windshield of our car
Translation:
Comrade He,
Why didn’t you close your car window? So, please, on July 23 at 11:00pm, come to the police station to fetch your car registration.
Jia Dao Kou Police Station
1995.7.23, Early morning 3:00pm
I visit Dongxi in the Kindergarten. The children were playing at desks lined up facing the corridor wall. The north-facing corridors were cooler than the south-facing classroom. No air-conditioning. I asked the teacher, “How do the children play with each other?” “We don’t let them; they might fight”. I also asked the teacher whether the children could play with scissors, etc, do paper-cuts. She said this was not her class; everything was locked up. I spoke to Principal Gao. I know in the summertime there is no formal program, but the children need to move and have materials to work with.
[Note from 2021: Why were we leaving Dongxi in kindergarten during the summer? We don’t have an Aiyi living with us.]
A late night fax came from Alex. His approach was to start at larger scales; I am too close to the ground…his China and mine are not on the same page.
July 24
Woke up thinking it’s time to talk to Masseh in Tianjn. Very compatible, his needs and Hongyu’s capacities. And I have overlap with both.
July 26
Help Sherman with his kindergarten design.
July 27
Continue Women and Development compilation, early in the morning (6 to 7 am).
Jian Ning’s wife was the first Chinese entrepreneur that I met. We bought some PVC thermopane windows from her factory to replace a few old single-pane metal-frame windows at our home in Chrysanthemum Lane. I assume it was with money from that venture that she opened her restaurant. It was located on a treed lot at the northwest corner of the old Yuan Dynasty Wall between the Third and Fourth Ring Roads. It had Bohemian decor, and a mixed Chinese-Western menu. Jian Ning belonged to a large circle of contemporary authors, screenwriters, actors and producers. Many of them became restaurant clientele. At dinner today with Jian Ning, there was a Beijing TV producer, Li Pei, a young Qinghua graduate who is going to McGill in Montreal, and Dan Abramson. Dan gave Dongxi a bicycle.
Hongyu and I decided we have to pursue design jobs by ourselves.
July 28
Do housing design.
Print out Women and Development.
Hongyu today doing a big housing deal….giving a talk to Korean Business club.
Dongxi proud of his new bike; so happy he can ride it.
Fax from John Reager. Write response.
July 29
Go to Grandma's House (Lao Lao Jia). Dongxi found some old Tianjin University stickers from 1987, the time I met Hongyu. We leave him there while we go to Tianjin.
I’ve read half of Shipping News, a novel about Newfoundland. It arrived for my birthday.
Draft response to John Reager.
Consult with Hongyu about two options: URDC investment consulting, help other realize projects in China, or Design.
July 30
Go to Tianjin. Spend time with Masseh and Cathy. Hongyu comfortable with them. Discuss business cooperation. Project-based. They were very hospitable. Nice to see Tianjin again.
July 31
Visit Tianjin Foreign Trade Corporation.
Return to Beijing.
Dongxi had a good time at Grandma's House (Lao Lao Jia).
When we got home there was a fax from Delta Consultants in Ottawa. They, in combination with us, have been awarded the CMHC China Housing Market Research project.
Very good news; answer to prayers.
Thank you!
August 1
My brother Mark sent an email saying we could stay with him when we come to Ottawa. More good news.
A birthday gift for Dongxi arrived. Dad had made three labels.
Start work on CMHC China Housing Project. Discuss main direction with Hongyu.
[Note from 2021: Although my CIDA project was too ‘social’ and not related enough to the more practical needs of China, it allowed me to learn much about its housing. This informed my work on the project for CMHC.]
Gave ‘Project Hope’ 3000 yuan for Hua Shi Town in Jin Zhai County; a place I had visited on the UNDP project.
Letter to my brother Mark.
Letter to John Rager re Kindergarten.
Supper with Dongxi at McDonalds.
[Note from 2021: I note meals at McDonalds in my diary. It looks like that is all I eat. In fact, it’s once or twice per month. I knew it was not healthy, but it was a kind of ‘comfort’ food, a small break from the constant effort to eat, drink, speak, and live in Chinese. I still had to speak in Chinese to get my ‘comfort food’; yi ge ju wu ba, yi ge qiao ke li nai xi, hai you yi fen shu tiao (one Big Mac, one chocolate sundae, and one french fries). ]
August 3
Check working drawings for kindergarten at Nan Mo Fang. Still some bugs.
Letter to Delta Consultants in Ottawa re CMHC China Housing Research.
Faxed my article about Life in China to a friend of Li Yinhe who edits a Chinese magazine.
Li Yinhe’s parent’s were colleagues at People’s Daily, and close friends, with Hongyu’s parents.
Li Yinhe 2016
Li Yinhe during the Cultural Revolution when men and women mostly wore the same clothes.
[Note for 2012: Below are excerpts from a BBC article in 2016:
China's high-speed sexual revolution, by Sarah Buckley BBC News, 27 February 2016
"Over the last 20 years [1996-2016], Chinese attitudes to sex have undergone a revolution - a process carefully observed, and sometimes encouraged, by the country's first female sexologist, Li Yinhe.
"In the survey I made in 1989, 15.5% of people had sex before marriage," says Li Yinhe. "But in the survey I did two years ago (2014), the figure went up to 71%."
It's one of many rapid changes she has recorded in her career. She uses the word "revolution" herself and it's easy to see why. Until 1997, sex before marriage was actually illegal and could be prosecuted as "hooliganism". It's a similar story with pornography, prostitution and swingers' parties.
As a young sociologist, Li spent much of the 1980s studying in Pittsburgh, in the US. When she returned to China, she found a country still living in the puritanical climate set by Mao.” ]
August 4
Work on Nan Mo Fang Kindergarten.
Slowly continue a compilation on women and development.
Half day on CMHC China Housing Market Research
Help Hongyu with market info package for Yang Ying in Berkeley, California.
Letters to Maury Milof and Chris Carter.
August 5 and 6
Family trip to Shi Du in Fang Shan County in the West of Beijing. (Lao Lao, Lao Ye, Hongyu, me, Dongxi, Shanying). Very beautiful. Shidu (十渡) is known for the surrounding karst landscape, the largest in northern China.
Hongyu had a dream about the sunrise. Mountains grew up through passing mists and clouds. Mountains like black fingers held streams of lava cloud.
August 7
Dongxi at home, sick. Hongyu and I are tired after the weekend.
August 8
Phone call from Adam. Talk about joint ventures and the future.
August 9
Women and Development compilation made a big jump forward. Min Zhayin said he wrote an introduction for my Letter to DXP and passed it on to an editor of a magazine. Met with Hongyu all afternoon about CMHC Housing Research Project.
August 10
AM
Meet with Liu Wen Jie of the Tian Zhong Design Office at Nan Mo Fang to talk about the kindergarten.
PM
Look at Chang Ping housing brochures with Hongyu. Evening supper with Deng Dong, Hongyu’s classmate, at new Pizza Hut near Australian Embassy.
August 11
All day meet with Hongyu about the CMHC project. A call came from Delta Consultants in Ottawa. Things sound positive.
August 12
Visit Chang Ping housing estates as example for our study.
August 13
Print out our CMHC project notes for a meeting with Housing Reform Office colleagues, Li Chi Yin and Liu Zhi Yu.
August 14
CMHC Project. Draft outline of our report.
Take Dongxi to see the new Lion King movie.
Theater ticket to see Lion King dubbed into Chinese
August 15
Chen Yiyun Laoshi phoned, she’s back from a long trip.
Work on CMHC all day.
Birthday supper for Dongxi at Grandma's house (Lao Lao Jia). Today, the only difference with other suppers is we have a cake with candles. No gifts. The gift is being together.
August 16
CMHC Project all day. Prepare sixteen page fax of our content, so far, for Delta. They called to say they will meet with CMHC tomorrow.
Evening make last revisions and print out five copies of ‘Women and Development’.
[Note from 2021: This later became a chapter in my 2009 book, :"Some Thoughts on China and the New World Order.}
August 17
Take Deng Dong on tour of Beijing. His son, Tony, and Dongxi are excited to play with each other. Go shopping later with Hongyu. The car broke down.
August 18
Letter to Alan Fryback. Letter to Don Johnston about CMHC report.
Make five copies of ‘Spiritual Civilization’. Evening meeting with Chen Yiyun Laoshi.
August 19
Work around the house. Write one letter and revise another for Chen Laoshi.
Evening at grandma's house.
August 20
Clean up our home.
August 21
Start writing our CMHC report. Dongxi said the gasoline droppings on the wet pavement are pieces of rainbow that fell from the sky.
Evening supper with Mr Zhang Xiang, an 84-year old architect from Hawaii
Fax from Adam. He is coming on August 25.
August 22
Birthday gift arrived from Ottawa for Hongyu, plus some Time magazines and an architectural magazine.
Received a long fax from Delta including a contract between URDC and Delta.
August 23
Phone call with Delta. Update our report.
August 24
CMHC project. Visit the Lu Shi Gang, a Beijing kindergarten, with Xiao Jiang. After lunch, she said she wants moral education to be part of the curriculum. They agreed to have Joan Rendell come and work there for one week.
August 25
Joan confirmed they will come from Shanghai to Beijing.
PM
Pick up Adam and Karen at the airport.
Beautiful evening walk with Hongyu and Dongxi.
August 26
Wang Hui from the magazine said the revised article will be returned to us for final corrections.
Go to Qinghua with Dongxi and Hongyu to meet Adam and Karen. We sit in a quadrangle to talk. They gave us a beautiful hand-made program from their wedding. Dongxi is running in the grass; there’s no such possibility in our neighbourhood downtown. We have supper at the courtyard restaurant at Ri Tan (Temple of the Sun) Park.
August 27
Dongxi and I take Adam and Karen to the Fragrant Hills. We visit Cherry Valley just west of Reclining Buddha Temple.
Club sandwich at the Fragrant Hills Hotel (Designed by Bei Yumin. I.M. Pei)
August 28
AM
Adam and I meet with Zhang Xiang at (Olympic Village) Ya Yun Cun. He suggest we consider ourselves, part of the development process. We can never make money, just as architects. He said I could be part of his Rep. Office for my visa. Adam and I presented examples of our work. Mr. Zhang wants me to work for him as soon as he has a confirmed project. He wants to see Hongyu’s feasibility studies. After the morning meetings, Adam and I had lunch together. Adam suggested we have a joint venture with Zhang Xiang. Adam said my presentation was too self-deprecating. That frank comment hurt a bit, but he was right. Offering people your bright side is not dishonest. Adam referred to us as ‘we’.
PM
Meet Joan Rendell at a hotel near our home. Hongyu, Dongxi and I have supper with her. Catch up on Newfoundland news.
August 29
Take Joan to Sherman's kindergarten in Fang Zhuang. We met with Zhou Laoshi. She talked about her 40 years of education experience in China. The old way was love, indiscriminate. A better way now is discriminating, reasonable love. Old way not enough. The clash with the West is necessary for progress; no clash, no progress. The present must stand on the shoulders of the past to see better the future. The present must take from the past, but must be better than the past. China was now indiscriminately rejecting old Chinese ways and adopting the Western way.
I left Joan to talk with Hillary. Make ten copies of what I now call “The Crucial Contribution of Women".
Update CMHC project.
Evening supper with Adam and Karen. Decide to hire Adam to produce presentation materials for URDC. Take Adam and Karen to see Prof. Chen Yiyun at Si Chuan Mei Shi Cheng. Perhaps Karen can help Prof. Chen.
August 30
Wok on CMHC report and mail it to Canada.
Meet with Mr Zhang Xiang. He wants to use Hongyu’s whole feasibility study capacity.
August 31
On-going review of my Building in China magazine collection for information for our CMHC Report.
Yang San Cheng has a friend, Lin Jing. Her boss's son is looking for work. I connect him with the BADI Foundation for an interview as a secretary. Lin Jing’s school will interview Karen about work there.
Dongxi cried this morning on the way to school. He thought he was only allowed to use chopsticks to eat. He is left-handed and for some reason use chopsticks with difficulty. I leaned my bicycle against the wall opposite the entrance to the kindergarten. Dongxi, in the back set, was still crying. I didn’t notice, but in the midst of tears he picked a snail off the wall. Walking into the kindergarten, he stopped sniffling for a moment, and with a mischievous smile, put the snail in my pocket. I asked the teacher about the chopsticks. She said, “Don’t worry, it's gradual. He can still use a spoon”.
September 1
Mr Zhang phoned and wants to meet me in some scenic place to have a talk. Dongxi is at home. Continue work on CMHC Report. A fax came from Mr. Gallagher in South Africa about a Beijing project. He wants us to be part of his team. Opportunities popping up.
Take Dongxi to Grandma’s House (Lao Lao Jia).
September 2
Email to Robert Mellin about our CMHC project; some questions about form and affordability. Email a poem to John Dixon. Work on CMHC Project.
Mr Zhang’s secretary phoned to postpone our meeting. Mr. Zhang is not well.
I finished an article about my life for “China Friends” magazine.
Lunch at McDonald's at Long Fu Sa Sha. Hongyu really dislikes McDonald’s food. She usually left us with our hamburgers and went out to eat street food. The 500 meter long lane in front of Longfu Da Sha was lined with food carts that arrived in time for supper and left late at night.
Wonderful conversation with Hongyu.
September 3
Meet with Hongyu about CMHC.
Adam and Karen visit. Take Adam to see Nancy Nguyen. Karen and Hongyu go shopping. We move Adam’s boxes. Discuss future. We agree to strengthen URDC as a base for an architecture design office.
September 4
Mr Zhang’s secretary called. Mr Zhang died.
Gave draft letter to Dr Burns for Chen Laoshi.
Work on CMHC.
For the duration of the UN Fourth World Conference on Women, the Beijing government introduced a traffic management regulation. Except for taxis and emergency vehicles, from Monday through Saturday, cars with even-numbered licence plates can drive on even-numbered days; cars with odd-numbered licence plates can drive on odd-numbered days.
[Notes from 2021:
In 1995 Beijing had about 1.5 million cars on its roads. In 2020 the number rose to 6.3 million.
The Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace was the name given for a conference convened by the United Nations during 4–15 September 1995 in Beijing, China.
A Groundbreaking Gathering By: Rachel Wimpee (2020)
Some fifty thousand diplomats and activists gathered in and around Beijing in August and September 1995 for an historic event. Their aim was to advocate for women’s rights and challenge gender inequality worldwide. This event, the United Nations’ Fourth World Conference on Women, was, up to that time, the largest international gathering ever dedicated to these issues. Although three similar meetings have taken place since 1975, what made the 1995 event extraordinary was an independent parallel gathering, the NGO (non-governmental organization) Forum.
Opening a New Era for Women
To be sure, the NGO Forum was imperfect. But the side-by-side convening of the official conference and the NGO Forum produced a watershed moment in the global women’s movement. The Beijing Platform for Action brought to the forefront of global awareness the gendered effects of poverty, unequal access to education, violence, political and media representation, and more.
Beyond that, the Beijing convenings also were a turning point in the emergence of a non-profit sector in several places that lacked that tradition — including China itself. These meetings remain a galvanizing memory for many people working on the ground for grassroots women’s causes today. One assessment concluded that the NGO Forum reflected “the spirit, diversity, and commitment of its multitude of participants.”
In Beijing in 1995, women and gender finally entered the international agenda.]
September 5
Take Joan Rendell to buy paper supplies as gift for kindergarten.
Work on CMHC project.
Letter to GAPP Architects in South Africa.
September 6
Dinner with Prof. Chen Yiyun, Adam and Karen, a Baha’i Counselor from Russia, the creator of the Russian “Happy Hippo Show”, a woman from Libya, the El Hadis, and a Baha’i Councillor Subhani and his daughter. I gave Mrs Chen a Rural University booklet by Dr, Arbab for her leader at CASS. Hongyu helped Karen at the kindergarten. The leader of the school will meet Mrs El Hadi about her leader's son being a secretary at BADI.
September 7
For the CMHC Project, many articles from Building in China are very helpful references.
Help Joan book a hotel for tomorrow.
September 8
CMHC Project.
Print letters for Chen Laoshi and take them to her center near Wangfu Jing. Min Jia Yin said the magazine he contacted won't publish my article until next year. He advised me to go ahead with Professor Chen's offer to find a magazine.
Evening visit with Joan and Fatima.
I was invited to attend Mr Zhang’s funeral.
September 9
Lunch at Grandma’s house (Lao Lao Jia).
Go to Summer Palace with Dongxi and Hongyu, Adams and Karen Robarts, Dan Abramson and Hao Xin, Ted Geissler and his wife and son. A luminous sunset.
September 10
Attend memorial ceremony for Zhang Xiang. Very dignified. In a reception line I briefly met his children; others who may have been his grandchildren. An energetic kind man faded before my eyes.
PM
Go to Bei Hai Park with Joan, Dongxi and Hongyu. Joan is pleased with her kindergarten experience.
Ticket for a ride in a small children’s amusement park inside Bei Hai Park.
September 11
Work on CMHC Project.
Evening with Kolbrun Oldsdottir from Iceland.
September 12
Work on CMHC Project.
EVE:
With Susan, the reporter from US News and World Report and her old classmate who is now our downstairs neighbor.
September 13
Work on CMHC Project.
Evening with Karen and Adam. On Adam’s advice we change URDC name to UIDC (Urban Investment Development Consultants).
September 14
Work on CMHC Project. I asked Alcide DeGagne whether Delta Consultants would be interested in establishing a Rep Office in China.
Two people from Russian came to visit; one, a woman, is now in the United Arab Emirates. They were both involved in the Happy Hippo show in Russia. This was their first visit to China. Except for the language they felt very much at home; much of the Chinese socialist architecture, the ways of thinking and organizing was the same as Russia.
EVE:
Walk in rain with Dongxi around the neighborhood. Count the seconds between the flash and the bang.
September 15
Send letter to the John and Robin Doak in Montreal.
Lunch with Chen Yiyun, Li Laoshi, and Lee Lee Loh Ludher.
[Lee Lee Loh Ludher is a senior administrative and diplomatic officer in the Malaysian Government and editor of the newsletter South-East Asian Focus. She holds a Bachelors degree in Social Science and a Masters in Business Administration and is writing her doctoral thesis on women homeworkers in industrial subcontracting. As a member of the Continental Board of Counsellors of the Baha'is in Asia, Ms. Loh-Ludher is involved in grassroots socio-economic development and human resource development, especially women's development programs in such countries as Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, Korea, China and Mongolia.]
We consult about a conference for 1996. Dongxi and I send Lee Lee to the airport.
Work on CMHC Project with Hongyu.
September 16
Revise 1996 conference proposal. Professor Chen said she will take my Letter to DXP to Hulu Dao. She will revise it to blunt the Baha’i Faith edges make it more acceptable to a Chinese magazine.
Dongxi, Hongyu and I go to Bei Hai.
Talk with Dr Danesh.
September 17
Spend day with Karen and Adam and Peng Peng. Visit housing exhibition at Guo Mao.
Later, together at our place we watch a movie called ‘Fried Green Tomatoes’.
September 18
Work on CMHC Project.
September 19
Visit Mr Gu at Foundation.
September 20
Help Janet Eldridge change hotels. People are still in Beijing after the Women’s Conference. Meet with Mr Castonguay at the Canadian embassy.
September 21
Work on CMHC Project.
PM
Go to a meeting with Adam. People with real estate projects, from all over China, gather to find investors.
September 22
PM:
Lunch and visit with Adam and Karen.
EVE:
Take Dongxi to Grandma’s House (Lao Lao Jia).
September 23
Letter to Delta about CMHC project objectives.
Pick up Dongxi from Lao Lao Jia.
Evening with Karen, Adam, Sophie, Jian Ning and Jiang Ping at Jiang Ping’s restaurant on the site of the old Yuan Dynasty city wall. Her restaurant is called “No. 50”. I came home and Hongyu was very anxious.
September 24
Take Janet Eldridge and Dongxi to the zoo. Discuss the situation of the elderly in China.
September 25
Letter to Delta Consultants.
Have meeting with Xiao Jiang and Dr. Danesh about kindergartens.
September 26
Follow-up phone calls to sources introduced by Mr Castonguay. Fax from Delta Consultants very positive.
September 27
Meet with Sun Li Bo and Jian Ning at No. 50.
Meet with Ira Cohen and his wife Mei.
Send fax to Hussein Danesh about kindergartens.
September 28
Work on CMHC Project.
PM
With Adam. He has been offered a job by Ken. Interior designer.
September 29
Get up at 3:00am. Feel anxious. Work until luncheon at Canadian embassy.
Pick up UIDC name cards and stationery at Empire Print Shop.
September 30
Getting up early every morning to work on CMHC Project.
October 1
Go to Grandma's house (Lao Lao Jia). The extended family all go for a walk in Hong Ling Jin Park.
October 2
Early morning work on CMHC Project.
Take Dongxi to Jing Xin Zhai, the garden architecture inside Bei Hai Park. It is located at the northern edge of Bei Hai Park across the street from Wen Cai Ge, the building I designed for the Writers Foundation of China.
Ticket for Jing Xin Tai inside Bei Hai Park
Help Hongyu with Hyundai invoice and with an abstract of her paper for a Hong Kong housing conference.
Letter to Michael Crook about WAB Gymnasium.
October 3
Early morning Work on CMHC Project.
Lost three hours work through some computer problem.
Visit Jie Tai Si with Karen and Adam.
Ticket to Jie Tai Temple
October 4,5,6
Work on CMHC Project.
Hongyu is 6 and half months pregnant. We found out the latest you can get on a plane while pregnant was 8 months. We planned to go to Canada in early November.
October 6
Lunch with Brian Crowley and his Chinese wife. They live in Bao Tou, Inner Mongolia. They met Gail Ross in Beijing. She was an old friend I knew in Montreal. Sorry I missed her. She went around in a wheelchair. I think she has MS.
Hongyu still trying to tie down a deal with her clients.
October 7
Revised Rural University proposal. Work on CMHC Project.
October 8
Prepare draft of contents for UIDC brochure.
Professor Chan will return to Beijing, October 18.
Take Dongxi for lunch at McDonald’s.
Dongxi likes the A Fan Ti (Effendi) tape, we bought for him.
CMHC project, ask Bo Zhao Wei to help us get some information about housing from the Ministry of Construction (MOC).
October 9
AM:
Meet with Horace Ho at Canada China Business Council (CCBC). Our basic thoughts about the China market seem OK.
Kindergartens: Xiao Jiang sent a copy of a proposal for collaboration with School of the Nations. Translate it with Hongyu into English.
CMHC Project: Zhang Long found a friend to translate the Ministry of Construction (MOC) priority list for housing design. Received a copy of a questionnaire sent by National Housing Research Office (NHRO) to seventeen Chinese cities; very good.
October 10
CMHC Project: Translate NHRO questionnaire. PM: Meet Xiao ___ ___ SABMI (State Administration Building Materials Institute.
Mike McGaughy came for supper. Talk about Joint Ventures.
Karen Wu at SOM offered me the Motorola office renovation job. We are leaving soon for Canada; I will offer the work to Ken and Adam.
Chen Yiyun asked me to write and send fax to Dr Danesh about next year's conference.
October 11
AM: Meet with Ken Liu; give him the Motorola job. Talk about collaboration in future.
Pick up my check from UNDP for my flood relief work.
Evening supper with Sun Hua Sheng.
Fax to Hussein Danesh about the family conference next year. After supper Dongxi played with Ma Tin Tin. Hongyu and I went to Ma Tin Tin’s place to bring him home. On the way he said “The moon is orange tonight because it got too near the sun and got a little bit burnt. And it was so hot an edge burnt off”. The moon was not quite full.
The path from our home to Ma Tin Tin's home
October 12
Exhausted.
PM
Meeting with Xin Xing and Xiao Jiang about kindergarten. They are interested in going to Macau to see the School of the Nations kindergarten. They want me to be the English vice-principal of a chain of kindergartens in Beijing.
October 12
AM
Long call with Pierre Deschamps in Shanghai.
Laundry.
Sleep.
October 13
AM
Meet with SABMI research institute. Sign contract for more information.
PM
Telephone call with Mary Boyd in Guangzhou about our CMHC project.
Fax from Dr Danesh about the Family and Spiritual Civilization conference.
October 14
CMHC Project: Letter to Mary Boyd.
Take Dongxi to Grandma's House (Lao Lao Jia).
October 15
Sunday. We go to Yuan Ming Yuan (Old Summer Palace), with Tim Geissler and his wife Xiao Yu; and with Dan Abramson and his wife Hao Xin. Evening supper with El Hadi's.
Ticket for the Maze at Yuan Ming Yuan (Old Summer Palace)
[Note from the present. Wikipedia: Entry of Lord Elgin into Peking, 1860
“On October 18 (1860), Lord Elgin, the British High Commissioner to China, retaliated against the Chinese resistance by ordering the destruction of the Old Summer Palace. Destroying the Old Summer Palace was also a warning to the Qing Empire not to use using kidnapping as a political tactic against Britain. It took 3,500 British troops to set the entire place ablaze, and the massive fire lasted for three days. Unknown to the troops, some 300 remaining eunuchs and palace maids, who concealed themselves from the intruders in locked rooms, perished with the burnt palace buildings. Only 13 buildings survived intact, most of them in the remote areas or by the lakeside. (The palace would be sacked once again and completely destroyed in 1900 when the forces of the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing. Charles George Gordon, who was then a 27-year-old captain in the Royal Engineers and part of the 1860 Anglo-French expeditionary force, wrote about his experience:
We went out, and, after pillaging it, burned the whole place, destroying in a vandal-like manner most valuable property which [could] not be replaced for four millions. We got upward of £48 apiece prize money ... I have done well. The [local] people are very civil, but I think the grandees hate us, as they must after what we did the Palace. You can scarcely imagine the beauty and magnificence of the places we burnt. It made one's heart sore to burn them; in fact, these places were so large, and we were so pressed for time, that we could not plunder them carefully. Quantities of gold ornaments were burnt, considered as brass. It was wretchedly demoralising work for an army.”
“The Second Opium War, pitting the British Empire and the French Empire against the Qing dynasty of China lasted from 1856 to 1860. Elgin led the bombardment of Canton (Guangzhou) and oversaw the end of the war by signing the Treaty of Tientsin (Tianjin) on 26 June 1858. Lord Elgin was ambivalent about the British policy on forcing opium on the people in the Far East. It was not without internal struggle that he carried out the duty laid on him by Britain. In a letter to his wife, in regard to the bombing of Canton, he wrote, "I never felt so ashamed of myself in my life."
“On 24 October 1860, Lord Elgin signed the Convention of Peking, which stipulated that China was to cede part of Kowloon Peninsula and Hong Kong in perpetuity to Britain.”
I was surprised to realize the Lord Elgin (1811-1863) who was the High Commissioner and Plenipotentiary in China and the Far East (1857-1861) and who pillaged the Old Summer Palace was the same Lord Elgin who, shortly before going to China, had been governor general of Canada (1847-1854). I had regarded the “China” Elgin as a pompous, insensitive imperialist and the “Canada” Elgin as a moderate, enlightened leader who helped Canada achieve responsible government at a critical time in its history. They are the same man.
During Elgin’s tenure as Governor General, the realization of responsible government in Canada was much advanced.
“He became the first Governor General to distance himself from the affairs of the legislature. Since then, the Governor-General has had a largely symbolic role with regards to the political affairs of the country. Before that these governor generals, appointed in England, overruled the local elected representatives.”
“In 1849 the Baldwin-Lafontaine government passed the Rebellion Losses Bill, compensating French Canadians for losses suffered during the Rebellions of 1837. Lord Elgin granted royal assent to the bill despite heated Tory opposition and his own misgivings over how his action would be received in England. The decision sparked the Burning of the Parliament Buildings in Montreal by an English-speaking mob. Elgin was assaulted. Instead of calling in the military, he withdrew his family to their country residence and allowed civil authorities to restore order.”
“In 1854, Lord Elgin negotiated the Reciprocity Treaty with the United States in an attempt to stimulate the Canadian economy. Later that year, he granted royal assent to the law that abolished the seigneurial system in Quebec, and then resigned as Governor-General.”
Today as Canada discovers hundreds of unmarked graves at its residential schools it is sad to learn this same man “supported the Bagot Report, which was published in 1847 by Charles Bagot, Governor General of Canada 1841 to 1843. This report is seen as the foundational document for the Canadian Indian residential school system. Elgin had been impressed by industrial schools he had seen while in the West Indies.”
“James Bruce (Lord Elgin) was also the Governor of Jamaica 1842-46. During an administration of four years he succeeded in winning the respect of all. He improved the condition of the native workers, and conciliated the planters by working through them.
He was the Viceroy of India, 1862-3.”
“Thomas Bruce, (1766 – 1841) Elgin’s father, was the 7th Earl of Elgin, a Scottish nobleman, soldier, politician and diplomat, known primarily for the removal of marble sculptures (known as the Elgin Marbles) from the Parthenon in Athens.
October 16
Meet Mr. Gu at Foundation.
Hongyu talked about the need for new ideas in planning cities. This was a concern of the Minister and Vice-minister of Construction.
Fax to Dr Danesh.
Take Dongxi to Grandma's house.
October 17
Drive to Tianjin to attend a large building materials exhibition. Collected valuable information. Some back to Beijing in the evening.
Dongxi was happy at grandma's house. There was a family outing to Tuan Jie Hu Park (Unity Lake Park).
October 18
We visit the Public Security Bureau. They agree to give Dongxi a one-time exit permit. He can not come back as a Chinese citizen.
October 18
Pick up religion compilation from Li Gui Lin.
Photograph housing in Beijing for CMHC Project.
Revise ‘Baha’i Education’.
Sherman's kindergarten: Do a design for the outdoor yard.
October 19
CMHC Project: Arrange visit with a trade expert.
PM
My design for Sherman’s kindergarten not working out. Best to discuss and draw concept, with client, at the site.
Visit Xiao Xu and Zhu Gong (They still work for Tian Zheng). I had a sense of belonging. They helped me prepare a set of four drawings to show typical Chinese construction for our CMHC report. Liu Wen Jie lost the drawings I worked on so hard for revisions to the Nan Mo Fang kindergarten.
Xiao Zhang came to our Chrysanthemum Lane office to translate material about the Macau School of the Nations.
October 20
Start to make a China building materials library. Pick up English version of the Ministry of Construction list of priorities for housing design at Zhang Long’s office.
Lunch at Canadian embassy.
Letters to Jiang Wen Ming and Alan Fryback about Rural University.
October 21
Often wake up these days at three or four in the morning to start work.
I read Ira Cohen’s architectural report.
Start writing the MOC priorities list in better English.
October 22
Boat ride at summer palace arranged by Adam and Karen and Adam. Beautiful! Dan, Hao Xin and Rachel came too. Hongyu, Dongxi and I stayed with them after. We feel close. Hao Xin has a good chance of work in Beijing. She doesn't want to move back to the US. Dan and I talked about city planning, Sun Hua Sheng and China's huge needs and capacity. How could we be involved? How to make a living? Hongyu interested in this conversation.
October 23
Work on MOC list.
Letter to Zhang Wen Ming about Rural University.
PM
Meeting with IRA Cohen.
Xiao Jiang is anxious to go to Macau before I go to Canada. She wants the School of the Nations to be a partner in the kindergarten at Nan Mo Fang.
We went shopping at an outdoor street market near our home. Hongyu was just out of sight shopping. I was watching Dongxi from our car. Dongxi wondered where Mama was and asked a fruit vendor whether he had seen a fat “Aiyi” (Auntie) wearing clothes like him. Hongyu was wearing big corduroy overalls with shoulder straps custom made for her big stomach. Dongxi also had pants held up by shoulder straps.
October 24
Good conversation with Bank of Nova Scotia in Beijing for our CMHC Project.
PM
Very good meeting with Canada China Business Council (CCBC), Mr Zhang Ximin.
Typing MOC list.
Give Adam some feedback about his Kindergarten design.
Pick up Prof. Chen Yiyun translation of The Crucial Contribution of Women and a typescript of Baha’i Marriage. I have to get it retyped in the computer. The disc had a virus. Gave it to Charles but he could not get rid of it. I never saw the files again. Ups and downs.
October 25 Work on MOC housing design priorities list. Challenging. For example, one line about bathrooms says “the bathroom fan should be able to work against conveyance of strange order from neighborhood”. I translate this as “the bathroom fan should convey odors to the roof”.
Phone call with Mrs Boyd in Guangzhou. She gave positive feedback about our CMHC work. She's very quick, very professional.
Pick up Dongxi’s permission (one-time exit visa) to go to Canada.
Visit Beijing real estate exhibition at Guo Mao. Meet the representative of a Canadian Company called ‘Royal Plastic Houses’. I shared with him the challenge of selling plastic houses in cities where everything is made of fire-proof bricks and concrete, and where single family homes are discouraged (There’s too many people and not enough land). Gao Xiao Hui delivered some very useful MOC materials for our CMHC Project. He thinks the UIDC (Zong Heng) should shut down because of our Liu Qi connection. He made us very frightened.
October 26
Visit Beijing Building Materials ‘City’, a huge market-place.
Lunch with Jeorge Wuttke.
October 27
Visit Beijing Chang Ping western style housing estate.
Take Dongxi to Grandma's House.
Jian Ning said the next issue of “Zero” magazine will contain the Hidden Words of Baha’u’llah.
October 28
Organize CMHC project materials
October 29
Family gathering at Grandma's house.
[Note from the June 2021: Until the appearance of the first great-grandchildren in 2002, these frequent gatherings brought together eleven people: Hongyu’s parents, Dongxi and I, and the husbands and one child of each of her two elder sisters. As I write this, this chapter in all of our lives may end as Lao Ye (Grandpa) is nearing death with cancer. Lao Lao (Grandma) died two years ago; she had Alzheimer’s Disease. Hongyu will go to Beijing. With Covid, the process is very difficult: proof of negative Covid, two weeks quarantine in Shanghai, and one week wait in Shanghai before being allowe to go to Beijing. Will Lao Ye still be alive? Hongyu and I see what a wonderful gift it has been to be part of that extended family. The same thing is happening in Ottawa. When my mother goes and the family home is sold, the center of the Carter extended family will be gone. My father died in 2003.]
October 30
Organize CMHC Project materials. Tian Zhong said they would make a new set of drawings for me of the kindergarten. Not made yet.
Peng Pei Gen (Alfred Peng) invited me to join him in a lunch with Michael Graves.
PM
Attend Michael Graves lecture at Qinghua.
[Note from 2021:
Michael Graves (1934–2015) was one of the most celebrated architects and designers of the 20th century. A member of the influential group of architects known as the New York Five, Graves was also a member of the Memphis Group and a leader of the postmodern movement. He founded his own firm in 1964 and, in 1982, completed one of his best-known projects, the highly controversial Portland Building. His subsequent projects include the Denver Public Library, the Humana Building in Louisville, Kentucky, and several buildings for the Walt Disney Company. raves, a professor at Princeton University for 39 years, was also well known for his product designs for Alessi, Target, and JCPenney.]
October 31
Make small corrections to UIDC brochure designed by Adam and Karen.
Assemble various Baha’i-related compilations and statements on one super floppy. There are nine parts.
Work on CMHC Market Survey.
Lunch with Dan Abramson and Sun Hua Sheng.
Dinner with Yang San Cheng his wife and daughter.
November 1
Visit with Jian Ning at No. 50 restaurant.
Phone Bijan Farid and talk about my difficulties and opportunities. He was encouraging. He said they always want my thoughts. I lack confidence that people want them. Then I called Lori. We talked about the kindergarten project and collaboration with School of the Nations. Every third sentence she said. “We really want you to be involved.” Must be ‘Cheer Joe up’ week.
November 2
Adam, Karen and Sybil visit. Last minute organizing before we go to Canada.
CMHC Project: Some China sources are nervous about sharing information with a foreigner.
November 3
Leave for Canada. Set up office at Mark's home in spare bedroom.
November-December
In Canada, Dongxi is more often called “Leo”. He went to English kindergarten at St. Luke's School. An ultrasound told us our new child will be a boy. He was born December 20 in the Salvation Army Hospital on Wellington near Parkdale. Warm staff and domestic feeling, not institutional. Natural birth, no Cesarean. The doctor gave me pruning shears to cut the umbilical cord. We had not chosen a name so Hongyu’s hospital bracelet said, “He Baby”. “He” was Hongyu’s family name. The hospital staff referred to our new baby as “Hee Baby”. The “e” in her name, however, is pronounced like the second “e” in “elephant; her name is not pronounced “hee”. It was too difficult to explain all this and we let it go.
One benefit of the Salvation Army Hospital was the singing. The Salvation Army are a Christian group that places emphasis on music. We were treated to a choir that moved around the hospital from bed to bed singing Christmas carols.
Hongyu was well enough to attend Christmas dinner and bring “Hee Baby”, now called Alexander”. My mother, on seeing Alex for the first time, said, “This boy is going to be a leader”. Hongyu and I are blessed. In addition to having interesting work in Canada exactly when there are so many dark shadows for us in China, we have a new son. Both new ‘projects’.
Salvation Army Hospital Ottawa
I went to the wake of Courtney C. J. Bond (1910-1995). I was good friend of his son “Corky”.
The Bonds lived two houses east of us in a neighbourhood called “Fairhaven”. At the wake I met a well-known older Ottawa architect, John Leaning. Through him I met his son Anthony and his wife.
[Note from the present: “Corky” was born in 1944 and died in 2018. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 1990. I saw no sign of his disease in 1995 when he visited Beijing with his family. His mother died in 2002.]
I went alone to Toronto to visit friends for a few days. I stayed with Husayn and Anne Banani. Husayn was a electrical and lighting consultant to many famous Canadian architects. His firm was called “Mulvey & Banani”. ”It was formed in 1981 through an amalgamation of two long-0 standing predecessor firms, ‘Mulvey Engineering’ (est. 1955) and ‘A.H. Banani and Associates Ltd.’ (est. 1964).
I went to Husayn’s office one day and met several members of the staff. They were interested to hear about China. One of their employees mentioned Hongyu’s and my name to someone at Bennett & Wright, a Toronto-based project management company. They had hired a Baltimore firm called RTKL to do Conceptual Design and Design Development for an office tower in Beijing for the China Insurance Company. The architect in charge phone-interviewed me. He asked whether I was interested in being their representative to ensure the design intent was kept intact through the construction drawings phase.
Big, yes.
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