Proposed Site Planning for Qingdao Fu Shan Bay
1991
January 7 - 8, 10
Work on design for Gong Zhu Fen northeast corner.
At Zhong Jing we had no foreign architectural magazines. The only access to foreign ideas about design was a magazine published at Qinghua University called World Architecture. On the cover of a recent issue was the Lotus Temple from India. There was no article about the Temple inside the magazine. I was at Qinghua one day and asked someone who worked for the magazine why this temple was on the cover? They put it there because they thought it was beautiful. They had no other information about it.
Lotus Temple, Delhi
January 9
Work at Building in China.
January 11
Yan Xing Hua (Director), Shen Ya Di (Vice-Director), Chen Hao Zeng (Assistant Director) and I leave for Guangzhou, stay at Gui Du Hotel near the railway station. We are headed for Manila to attend a Trade Fair. We join 150 other people from all over China who are also attending the same event. We all attend a workshop in Guangzhou on how to behave properly overseas.
We change planes in HK and arrive in Manila. Except for me they all had their passports taken by Philippine customs so they wouldn’t try to go to another country. Many of them are angry. They are suspected of trying to escape to a third country.
January 13
Find our spot at the Exhibition area.
January 14
Set up our exhibit.
January 15
Meet Husayn Anwar through the Baha’i network.
First day of Exhibition.
January 15-19 Exhibit continues.
Three collaboration possibilities emerge:
- A Taiwan property developer
- Husayn Anwar
- Mass Dynamic Developers (Manila)
January 17 to February 28
Operation Desert Storm in Kuwait.
We walked around Manila together. At the intersections, Chen Hao Zeng wondered where the policeman were; in Beijing every intersection had one or two to direct traffic.
I introduced them to Macdonald’s. There were none in Beijing yet.
Note from 2021: In October, 1990, the first McDonald's opened in mainland China, in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) of Shenzhen, Guangdong province. On 23 April, 1992, the largest McDonald’s restaurant in the world opened in Beijing. With 700 seats and 29 cash registers, the Beijing McDonald’s served 40,000 customers on its first day of business. Over the last ten years the popularity of McDonald’s has increased at an astonishingly rapid rate, with the country supporting around 2500 restaurants as of 2017.
At the exhibition there was a small shop selling snacks and drinks. Che Hao Zeng asked Shen Ya Di and Yan Xing Hao whether they wanted a drink. Yan Xing Hua said yes; Shen Ya Di said no. I went with Chen Hao Zeng. He bought four drinks. “Why four? Why not three?” I asked. Che Hao Zeng replied, “According to Chinese etiquette, Shen Ya Di will not ask us to get him a drink; I must buy one for him, even if he really doesn’t want it.”
January 20-22
Shop for gifts for family and friends in China.
January 20
Husayn took us to the volcano south of Manila and to the University of the Philippines campus in Los Banos.
January 22
Return to Beijing via HK and Guangzhou.
January 23-5
Travel to Qing Yuan about 70 km north of Guangzhou. We traveled with some contacts to look at a site in a valley just south of Qing Yuan. The potential client wants to build a hot springs hotel on the site. Lunch included live shrimp thrown into a pot of boiling water. I asked one of the party showing us around what he did. He said, “I manufacture men’s ties”. I said, “What is your relationship with a real estate project?” “I am the introducing person”, he said.
We went to a beautiful temple north of the river on a steep hillside; Buddha, Confucius and Lao Tze were all in the same temple. Their religion is one.
January 26
Return to Beijing, back to Hongyu and Dongxi at Xuan Wu Men.
Continue work on Gong Zhu Fen and start some ideas for the Qing Yuan Hot Springs Hotel at 1:1000.
January 30
Shahram and Natasha Noorgostar came for supper. They are Baha’is; he is an architect.
January 30?
Hongu’s gave her Ph.D. oral defense. Her thesis was titled “Towards a New Balance: The Regeneration of Old Residential Districts in Beijing”.
Attending the oral defence was Mr. Liu Qi, the leader was of the Beijing Municipal Housing Reform Office (Fang Gai Ban). He invited her to join the team of bright young people he was assembling in the Beijing Municipal Government’s Housing Reform Office to help implement housing reform policy in Beijing.
He was constructing the institutions and companies needed to actually finance, design, develop and manage housing in Beijing. He established Gong Ji Jin Housing Fund Administration Center (money from salaries and from employer dedicated to home ownership), Xin Xing Property Development Company, Jiu Zhu Property Management Company, Tian Zhong Design Company, and Zong Heng Consulting Company.
Hongyu accepted Liu Qi’s offer and requested Qinghua University to approve her employment in his office.
January 30
Shahram and Natasha Noorgostar came for supper. They are Baha’is; he is an architect.
February 2-26
Work on Qing Yuan Concept design
Qing Yuan Concept Design
February 5
Go in the morning to the Canadian Embassy to apply for Dongxi’s Canadian passport.
I contacted the Architectural Society of China and asked whether they would like to have the architect of the Lotus Temple come to China and introduce his design. It was a design both modern and Asian, a combination of great interest to Chinese architects. They said he would need an invitation letter from the Ministry of Construction. The Architectural Society of China (ASC) was under the Ministry of Construction. I met many people in both work units when I was doing my CIDA Project, especially through Sun Huasheng and Zhang Long. The ASC asked whether I could draft the invitation letter for them. I did that and sent it to them. They arranged the preparation of the formal letter and sent it to Mr. Sahba in Haifa.
February 6
Go to Xie He Yi Yuan to get a tooth filled. Went to a Chinese medicine doctor; she gave me some energy medicine. Hongyu is upset about the upcoming Baha’i Fast.
February 7
Filling fell out of my tooth.
February 9
Sharam and Natasha visited me at work and we had lunch together.
February 12
Spring Festival Party at Zhong Jing. Dancing and games.
February 27-8
At Building in China I’m proof-reading Lin Zhi Qun’s article about housing in China.
March 13
Qinghua University approved Hongyu’s move to the Beijing Municipal Housing Reform Office (Fang Gai Ban). Soon after she began to work with them at their office just to the the east of Tiananmen Square.
Qinghua University 1991
Graduation Work Assignment Agreement
(bi ye fen pei xie yi shu)
March 2-21
Wu Ke Song Conceptual Design: Four ideas at four different densities.
Top of Image: Mid-rise, no high-rise. Bottom of Image: Mid-rise, some high-rise
Top of Image: High-rise point towers
Bottom of Image: High-rise slab towers
I started a weekly one hour English class at Zhong Jing. I suggested it to Yan Xing Hua and he said “Go ahead!” I made a poster and asked Wang Quan, the architect with the best English, to translate it into Chinese. He said, “I have to ask the boss first.” I felt hurt that my word wasn’t good enough; he had to be sure the boss approved before he helped me.
Western individualism meets Eastern collectivism.
In one class we studied Winnie the Pooh story about the bees and the balloon. I stood on a chair to imitate Winnie in the air.
Observing the Fast. Everyone was curious; “Are you a Muslim?” They brought one of the staff members – who was a Muslim – to meet me. I explained something about the Faith.
March 25
Go with Hongyu to her office to attend a meeting about a World Bank report on housing in China.
March 28-April 19
Work on Day Break Middle School (West 4th Ring Road)
March 27
At Building in China I chose pictures for Lin Zhi Qun’s long article.
April 14
Sunday. Bring Xiao Dongxi to People's Daily and leave him at Grandma's House (Lao Lao Jia).
April 24
Work on article I wrote for Building in China comparing Sweden and China Housing. Using Hongyu’s (286) computer.
April 29
Attend a May Day dance party at Zhong Jing
April 30
(May Day Holiday) Go with young architects from Zhong Jing on our bicycles to Yuan Ming Yuan (Old Summer Palace Park). Wang Quan, Jiang Ping and her little son Chuizi, were there. Wang Quan was learning to ride a bicycle and fell down a few times. A sudden dust storm immersed us an all-encompassing orange-yellow cloud. We played for a while in the boats in the park but left early to escape the storm. When I got home I was totally yellow, covered with fine desert dust. Hongyu used a broom to sweep me clean before I entered our apartment.
May 4
Letter to Universal House of Justice re Fariborz Sahba's visit to China.
May 6 - June17
Wok on Qingdao Bus Station mixed use center.
May 18 - June 19
Torrential rains fell in Anhui Province during May 18 to June 19 with rainfall of over 400cm in two thirds of the province. These have resulted in overflowing of rivers and heavy flooding throughout the province. In the Huaihe, Chu and Yangste Rivers levels were registered as close to highest in history.
May 28
Visit by David Covo, a McGill classmate from Canada.
May 30
Lunch with Jean Bellows.
June 2
Sunday, Hongyu, Xiao Dongxi, and I eat at the new Canada chicken restaurant north of Xuan Wu Men near the vegetarian restaurant. Ice cream for desert. Yum!
June 3-5
Revise Daybreak School design. Chen Guang and I go to the client meeting on our bicycles. The design is for an expansion of their campus. The school has a small factory where the students make cakes to sell in shops. Each year they make 40,000 yuan.
June 10
Go with Hongyu and her boss, Liu Qi, to Tong Xian (Tong County in the east of Beijing) to Xi Yiu Ji Gong Yuan.
June 11
Phone Dad from Beijing Hotel on his (68th) birthday. They were having his birthday dinner.
June 11 and 14
Lunch with Shum Yu Cheung and his wife.
June 16
Go to Fragrant Hills (Xiang Shan) with Hongyu.
June 17
Lunch with Bijan Farid, Ruby Fuller and other friends.
June 18
At Building in China, proof-read an article about Francs Kales the designer of Wuhan University. I admire the design very much for its attempt to combine East and West and for its beautiful integration with the landscape. The campus was opened in 1893.
Wuhan University
Wuhan University
PM
Go to Qingdao on overnight train. Recently, Zhong Jing sent a letter to the Beijing Government requesting my contract be extended for another two years. No news yet; what if….? I arrive in Qingdao at 6:30 am. In the market, I bought a model house made by a farmer as a gift for Xiao Dongxi. Yan Xing Hua, Xiong Gong, and Xiao Wang arrive in Yan Xing Hua’s Buick at 5:00 pm. They had driven from Beijing. The hotel they want to stay at will not allow foreigners. Yuan Xing Hua was angry. One of our projects this time is housing for the Public Security Bureau (Gong An Ju). He persuaded them to let us stay at the Guest House (Zhao Dai Suo) of the Public Security Bureau next to the prison.
Another client wants a beacon-like office tower by the Qingdao waterfront. I visit the Bus Station/Office Tower site on Wen Zhou Lu. A kind old caretaker let me take a leaf from a 500 year old Gingko tree. Spend time revising housing design
June 21
Banquet with Qingdao Pubic Security Bureau (Gong An Ju) and City Planning Office. Our design is still not right. Eve: Meet Huang Ke Bin and his wife; they are radiant, warm, kind. They lent us some drawings of local housing for us to “study”.
June 22
Go to Wei Hai. The driver went a slow way and we arrived two hours late. Li Hai Li angry.
Wei Hai air so good, the sea, the beach. We were greeted by the Head of the Planning Bureau and Li Hai Li’s friend, Mr. Bi.
June 23
Mr. Bi, with his wife and their 2 and a half-year old son, take us to Liu Gong Island, formerly a British naval base.
Evening return to Qingdao, continue work on Gong An Ju Housing.
June 24
Went to Si Fang District Government Office to meet Planning Department, government and municipal development company leaders.
My plans were fine but they preferred Yao Dong’s elevations. His idea caused some function problems; merge the two?
PM Visit Si Fang Qu Development Office, meet everyone again, show them pictures of Xiao Dongxi. Go shopping, eat at Ruby’s Restaurant with Ju Ke, Xiao Wei, and Cheng Kan. Yan Xinghua said Ju Ke’s appearance and way of walking was very ‘di er lang dang’ (sloppy).
June 25
We had to use ‘guanxi’ (relationships) to get train tickets back to Beijing.
June 26
Home again. Xiao Dongxi remembered me. Go to the Police Sub-Station (Pai Chu Suo) to register for my Ration Tickets (Liang Piao).
June 29
Teach English at Zhong Jing. Will take a break from English class until September.
June 30
Hongyu is translating a World Bank Report on a Pension Plan for China into Chinese.
Lunch with Noorgostar.
July 2
Leave Xiao Dongxi overnight at People's Daily
July 4
See Hongyu off at airport; she’s going to Shenzhen. On the way home I had an air-conditioned hamburger at the Jian Guo Hotel. When I got home, Hongyu was there. She had missed her plane.
July 5
Hongyu gone again to Shenzhen. Xiao Dongxi at People's Daily (People’s Daily). I’m alone.
July 5-July 20
Prepare a planning design for Fu Shan Bay, the 58 hectare coastal site in Qingdao.
The site is in the fourth bay east of downtown.
The plan layout takes its cue from the old German downtown, with buildings defining streetscapes without and courtyards within. A large green space is kept at the east side
of the site.
Two old drydocks at the center of the above image are preserved. Old ships are 'parked' here to serve as restaurants and hotels.
Qingdao 2021, Fu Shan Suo Bay (existing)
Qingdao 2021, Fu Shan Suo Bay, with my plan overlayed on the existing.
* * *
In bits of time I have been finishing my CIDA report. The last task is a Table of Contents. For the past year I have been getting up before six to read and write for an hour before Hongyu and Dongxi get up. It has turned into a 13-volume compilation, including Volume 3, about social principles related to housing; for example, participation and the equality of men and women.
July 8
Work at Building in China
July 9
Still no news about my visa; it expires July 31.
July 10
Hongyu is back from Shenzhen.
July 13
Went with Zhang Long and Xiao Guo to the State Ministry of Civil Affairs to talk with _____about Part 3 of my CIDA compilation.
July 14
Birthday celebration at People's Daily (People’s Daily) for me and Ba Te. I took Ba Te to the Jing Guang Hotel for a cappuccino and ice cream. I feel a lot of stress; my job is not “permanent”, Hongyu’ s parents are concerned, my parents are concerned, my visa is still not renewed.
July 15
Finish a design for Qing Dao housing. Start looking at Wai jiao Bu (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) Competition.
July 16
Meet Paul Stott, Principal Operations Officer, World Bank Resident Mission in China, Beijing (1989-93). The Canadian Ambassador called me at work about his friend__________
July 17-18
Start another Wai Jai Bu Concept.
July 19
AM meeting at Qinghua with consultant Wang and pm meeting at Zhong Jing to discuss (Wai jiao Bu) Ministry of Foreign Affairs Concept Design.
July 20
Qingdao Planning Competition, 58 hectares. After spending almost 3 weeks on it, Zhong Jing will withdraw. Still needs some Chinese words to “wrap it up”; we’ll give it to them anyway. Xiao Wei wrote the Chinese for me.
July 21
At home with Hongyu and Xiao Dongxi.
July 22
The Wenzhou Road mixed-use building in Qingdao can now go ahead.
July 23
Work on Wai jiao Bu (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) Design.
July 24
Work at Building in China. Proof-read article for Lin Zhi Qun, translated by Zhang Long. Lunch with Fred Thompson and his son Ian.
Professor Fred Thompson
Fred Thompson (Professor Emeritus) University of Waterloo. Prof. Thompson has made extensive study of the relationship between ritual and space, particularly in Japanese culture. He has further studied the relation of these issues in Japanese culture and Western notions of space. In addition to numerous articles on this subject, he also has published the work Ritual and Space (1988) and a pivotal thesis ‘A Comparison between Japanese Exterior Space and Western Commonplace’ (1988). Thompson has been a visiting professor at various schools of architecture, including: Helsinki University of Technology, Finland; Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, New York, USA; the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, and the Danish Academy of Fine Arts. He worked in the office of Kiyonori Kikutake from 1961 to 1964 and in the office of Prof. Aarno Ruusuvuori from 1965 to 1968.
July 26-28
Wai jiao Bu (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) concept. I am not allowed to be too visible in this process because the China Foreign Affairs Ministry requires limited access to foreigners.
July 27 (Saturday)
Hongyu and I take Prof. Thomson and his son on a tour. Start at Bei Hai, look at the building I designed (Wen Cai Ge) now built, walk to the Drum Tower, then to Nan Lou Gu Xiang and Ju Er Hu Tong to see our new home, under construction.
July 29
At home with Hongyu and Dongxi. Hongyu tired.
No news yet about my visa.
Xiao Dongxi says “B-B-B-B-B“ when we look at the pigeon coop on the balcony next door.
Clean up most of the CIDA chaos on top of the book case.
July 29
We are having trouble with my visa. Hongyu and I go to Fang Gai Ban to get Liu Qi’s help. My papers have been approved but not stamped.
July 30
Wai jiao Bu (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) concept. I’m making it round: a fortress of well-being? Unity? The World is One? A New World Order? About my round design idea for Wai jiao Bu (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Yan Xinghua says, “China’s outlook must be directional not “everywhere”.
July 31
Work at Building in China. Lunch, as usual, with Liang Liang and Shan Ying. Lamb Kebab (yang rou quan) with cumin (ziran).
Yan Xinghua, the boss, has his own phone. In the long corridor outside our rooms there was one phone for all the employees. When it rings, someone walking by answers and calls out the name of whoever is being called. The first word people say when they answer the phone is "Wei?" ( 喂 ). It is a special word used for answering telephone calls. The dictionary translation is "Hey". This feels inadequate to me. This one sound combines many messages: "Hello. Who are you? What do you want? I'm listening."
This shared phone was on the wall just outside our room. We heard half of every conversation. One day the caller had a lot to say and the job of the person answering was to listen. For over ten minutes the listener said nothing other than a periodic “Ah”. Another pregnant sound that said, “I hear you. I understand what you are saying, I encourage you to say more”. The conversation terminated with a 'Xian Zhe Yang' (Let's leave it like that for now).
August 1
Lunch with Ning Yuan Zhi, friend of Paisley.
August 2
Wai Jiao Bu (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), trying other design ideas. Still haven’t found a good way. Supper with Professor Min Jia Yin (CASS) and his wife Tian Xiao Qi. I met them through the Baha’i grapevine.
August 3
Work on Wai Jiao Bu (Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
From a sound tape, I typed out Peter Khan’s talk on “Women, Equality, and Peace”.
August 4
Back pain (stress-related, I think)
August 5-6
Can barely move. Go to clinic, northeast corner of Xuan Wu Men and get electronic massage. Just heard…..I received my VISA!!!!!! I can stay in China!
August 8, 9, 10
Rest at home.
August 10
Farewell dinner at Ah Jing restaurant for two Zhong Jing architects, Li Dong Fang and Yang Gong.
August 11
Kong, from Macau, came to visit our home. He brought a gift for Dongxi from Roxanne.
August 12
Back to work. Heard again that Yan Xinghua does not like my round idea for the Wai jiao Bu (Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
August 13
Try again, with Wang Quan’s help, to make the round idea more convincing.
Organizing printing of my CIDA paper. Hongyu’s friend at Fang Gai Ban, Xu Ping Bo, is married to a woman whose family has a printing business.
August 14
Spent day with Patrick and Dorette McAuslan looking at courtyard housing. He is from the London School of Economics, temporarily with the United Nations Center for Human Settlements (UNCHS).
Bought some brass bells for Dongxi for his birthday.
Professor Patrick McAuslan
Patrick McAuslan Obituary Manchester Guardian 13 Feb 2014 Legal scholar who promoted land reform in the developing world and helped create a radical law school at Warwick University. Patrick McAuslan made post-colonial land reform his primary goal from the late 1980s The legal scholar Patrick McAuslan, who has died aged 76, promoted land reform in English-speaking Africa. By strengthening the protection of traditional land tenure, these reforms overthrew the old colonial structures that had been retained at independence. They empowered millions of ordinary citizens by allowing them to participate in land-use decisions, enhancing the security of their land rights and legislating to ensure that women could acquire land and participate in communal decision-making. In 1996 Patrick was commissioned to convert Tanzania's ambitious, but also ambiguous and contradictory, national land policy into legislation. This huge exercise, resulting in two acts of more than 800 pages, was completed with great efficiency, becoming a model that was later adopted in Uganda and South Sudan. The reforms placed the management of rural lands in the hands of 11,000 village councils that form the backbone of Tanzanian society and granted women equal rights in those councils. It significantly reduced corruption in land transactions and considerably enhanced the protection given to forestry and game reserves.
August 15
Revisit Wai Jiao Bu (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) round idea with Wang Quan.
August 16
Big Meeting (Kai Da Hui) downstairs for all the staff at the ping pong table in the lunchroom. Yan Xinghua talked for an hour and we all listened. He said he latest Qingdao trip was successful; my design for Wenzhou Road was accepted. He said we weren't working hard enough. Sometimes when he dropped into a room to see how things were going, he saw everyone talking more than working. He said, "Ka Te (卡 特) (a Chinese transliteration of my name, Car-ter) is not like that, he's always working. He is not talking. Now why is that?" Before anyone could answer I said in Chinese "Wo bu hui" (I'm not able.") Everyone laughed and Mr. Yan went on to the next topic.
August 18
Birthday Party for Xiao Dongxi, now one year old. Six or seven objects were arrayed around him to see which one attracted him. The objects all represented some career or interest. He did not choose the stethoscope; he chose the pen. A writer?
Eve. Work overtime with Wang Quan on the Wai jiao Bu (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) round idea. That night I dreamed he and I were out to sea on a small piece of plastic which promptly sank. The sea was very dark.
August 19
Meeting at Housing Reform Office (Fang Gai Ban) with Hongyu. I introduced my housing research project. Gao Xaio Hui from Ministry of Construction was there.
PM
At Zhong Jing. Wang Quan said three officials from Wai jiao Bu (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) came to look at Zhong Jing’s ideas. They said a New World Order was not a good theme for the building. My ship sank.
Start work on developing the Wenzhou Road concept for Qingdao.
August 20
Prof. Pino Rapanos called me at work (no phone at home). He was Emeritus Professor at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He was born on the island of Kos in 1947, and held a Ph.D. in economics from Queen’s University of Canada, an MA in Economics from Lakehead University of Canada, and a BA in Business Administration from the Athens University of Economics and Business. He invited Hongyu and I to join him for supper at the Jian Guo Hotel.
August 21
Work at Building in China Magazine.
August 22
Wenzhou Road Design
Continue typing out Peter Khan’s talk.
August 23
Take Prof. Dino Rapanos and his wife, Zheng Dai Jun, around Beijing to look at housing. They have come representing “New Paradigm”, a CIDA Project. Qiu Jiang has worked with them.
August 24.
Wai Jiao Bu (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) idea: a back to back, two curves concept.
August 25
Go to a park with a lake. Dongxi’s first boat ride.
August 26
Yan Xing Hua chose the back-to-back curves as one of two designs to be developed further. Tang Pei’s design is similar.
August 27
Draw 1:500 plans of Wai Jiao Bu (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
August 28
Work at Building in China. Lunch with Liang Liang and Shan Ying.
I bought a bamboo bicycle baby-seat for Dongxi. It is attached over the front wheel in front of the handle bars. After work I took him for a ride and he lost a shoe.
Play ‘Crazy Eights’ and ‘Chi Mian Bao” (Eat Bread) with Hongyu.
August 29-30
Qingdao Wen Zhou Road; redesign floor plans and elevations.
August 30
Went to park with Xiao Dongxi and Hongyu.
August 31
Li Dong Fang’s last day at Zhong Jing. I will miss her.
September 1
Take the Number 9 bus to Grandma's House (Lao Lao Jia). Carry Dongxi. Holding a baby on a crowded bus, I knew how kind it was when someone offered me their seat.
September 2-4
Work on Wai Jiao Bu (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and Wenzhou Road.
September 5
Go to Ba Da Chu with Hongyu. Foreigners are not allowed in, so we went to Xiang Shan (Fragrant Hills) instead.
September 6-7
Start Ministry of Railways Hospital (Tie Dao Yi Yuan) concept design.
September 9
Buy Christmas gifts for family in Canada.
Hongyu lost her keys. We left Dongxi at Grandma's House (Lao Lao Jia).
Evening meet Wang Li Fang and Wang Yu Kun. Wang Yu Kun invited Hong Yu and I to be part of a urbanization research team, sponsored by the Ford Foundation. I tried to reach Dr Aprodicio Laquain; he was not at his guest house. I had read about him in my research and was very interested in his ideas about participation.
Professor Aprodicio Laquian
September 9
Hongyu found her keys.
Wai Jiao Bu (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), I feel the two ideas, including mine are not strong enough. Everyone can see it, I think. Why don’t people speak up? Afraid? No one has a better idea.
September 10
Work on Ministry of Railways Hospital (Tie Dao Yi Yuan).
September 11
Work at Building in China. Edited an article about Dong Minority architecture. It had beautiful drawings to go with it. Thanks to Zhang Long and her magazine, I learn much about China.
Drawing by Prof. Xin Kejing of Tu Minority village in western Henan and Hunan provinces
September 12
Feedback from client about our revised Wenzhou Road concept for Qingdao: it was changed too much; it’s too high. The road in front is 30 meters wide not 40. The client representative who came last time said it was 40 meters. The whole basis of our revision was wrong.
Also, the planning work I did for the Qingdao waterfront was returned with a “We don’t want it; we have already decided what to do”. Discouraging.
My passport, resident permit and Orange Card are all missing!
He Aiyi, living with us now, is teaching He Li to call the foreigner, Fred, who moved in next door, a “Si Lao Tou”, a “Dead Old Man”. Very rude. Heyi sleeps on our foldout sofa.
September 13
Qingdao client arrives with more requirements for Wen Zhou Road. Now it’s almost impossible to use my original design. No one likes the back-to back curve idea for Wai Jiao Bu (Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
September 14
Try to revise Wen Zhou Road design.
September 15
Spent every night all last week and all day Sunday proof-reading Wang Yu Kun’s paper on land management in China.
September 16-19
Revise Qingdao Wen Zhou Road design.
September 19 pm
Meet Wang Yu Kun at State Council Development and Research Center, Prof. Yang from HK, and others about a Ford Foundation funded research project called “Urbanization in the 1990s”.
September 20-21
Work on Qingdao Wen Zhou Road design.
Lunch with Peter Stern from U. of Toronto, Prof. Yang, Prof. Ye (Geography CAS), and Peter Harris, Director of the Ford Foundation Office in Beijing.
September 22
Sunday, celebrate Moon Festival at Grandma's House (Lao Lao Jia)
September 23
Hongyu says I’m living in a dream.
September 24
Help Tang Pei with elevations for his Wai Jiao Bu (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) Design.
Draw my kindergarten at 1:1000. Good exercise to draw at such a small scale! Forces me to simplify; see main relationships.
September 26
Bring Dongxi to Building in China. He played with Wang Tian Hui all day. Lunch with Wang Tian Hui, her brother Wang Tian Xi, her father, her husband, and Wang Tian Xi’s daughter.
My Sweden/China article for Building in China is almost done.
September 27
Help Hongyu finish a proposal for the World Bank.
Go to Fragrant Hills Hotel to see Stephen Poon at the ARCASIA Meeting. I had met Stephen in Hong Kong in 1988.
Eve
Talk with Hongyu about my “living in a dream“ problem. We feel a bit better.
September 28
Went shopping with a 50 yuan certificate we were given at work.
September 29
Office dinner and dance party. I did my “disco” dance; could not keep up with the ballroom dancing skills of my Chinese colleagues. They are all light on their feet, and graceful.
October 1
Celebrate National Holiday at Grandma's House (Lao Lao Jia).
October 2
Organize all our photos, slides, and negatives.
October 3
Polishing the English in Wang Yu Kun’s paper about the Land Market in China.
October 4-18
Work on Wai Jiao Bu (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) elevation design, help Tang Pei.
October 9
Zhong Jing sponsored a health check for all staff at the Navy Hospital (north of CCTV) on Fu Cheng Men Wai. I was the only foreigner in our office, perhaps the first to come to that hospital.
October 16
Hongyu and I accompany Tim Kehoe, Executive Director of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) to see the Forbidden City and Wen Cai Ge. I have maintained my membership in the RAIC.
October 17
Breakfast with Tim Kehoe and Essy Baniassad, President of the RAIC.
They had some funding through the Canadian International Development Agency to do some projects in China. We talked about employing me to facilitate these activities in Beijing.
October 19
Letter of Invitation to Mr. Sahba from MOC has not come through yet. Mr. Sahba may not be able to come. I sent the information package to MOC, Qinghua, BIAD, Tianjin University, Zhong Jing, Farzam in Shanghai, and ? in HK. The package for Qinghua was lost in the mail. I sent another set to Zhao Bing Shi. Also wrote to Zhao Zhing Zhao at Beijing Institute of Architectural Design proposing November 13 for Mr. Sahba’s lecture.
Working on Tie Dao Bu (Railway Department) Hospital.
October 20
Lunch at People's Daily (People’s Daily)
PM
With Doug and Hannie MacCullum. He is an Independent Planning & Development Consultant currently at the Institute for Housing & Urban Development Studies (IHS), Rotterdam. We had supper at a Guan Dong restaurant near Dong Si. We talked about possible cooperation between IHS and Hongyu.
Doug MacCullum
Douglas McCallum is a senior Development Planning and Management Expert, an urban planner and economist with more than forty years of professional experience in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Western Europe, Central & Eastern Europe, and Latin America. He has worked for the major international agencies on long-term assignments including Principal Urban Economist for the Bogota, Colombia, Urban Development Study (World Bank-UNDP, 1972-73), Principal Advisor (Planning) for the ITB development project in Bandung, Indonesia (World Bank, 1982-1986), and Advisor to the Ministry of Housing (Government of Bahrain, 2004-2009). He has worked on short-term assignments for the principal multilateral agencies such as the World Bank, UN-Habitat, UNEP, UNDP (several country offices), and directly for the British, Chinese, Danish and Dutch Governments, as well as under sub-contract to private firms and organizations. Some 98 short-term overseas assignments were completed while based in Europe between 1986 and 2004, with six more being done since returning to Europe in May 2009.
October 21
Take Xiao Dongxi's notarized birth certificate to the Canadian Embassy.
Go to see a Peugeot we want to buy. It is owned by someone at the French Embassy. The Customs officials (Hai Guan) do not believe Zhong Jing is a real Work Unit.
He Aiyi’s relatives came to Beijing insisting she go home, back to Sichuan, immediately.
He Hongyu found out the city rejected her plan for families in difficulty (kunnan hu).
October 22
Customs says I need a letter from BIAD, the work unit responsible for Zhong Jing.
EVE: Meet Glenn Eyford (he is working for CIDA) at the World Trade Center Hotel. Went with He Hongyu and Dongxi. Dongxi needed an emergency diaper, which we were short of. “Borrowed” a small hotel towel.
Professor Glen Eyford (1927-2010)
[In his obituary it said, "Glen was a long time member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Canada and professor emeritus at the University of Alberta. Glen's curiosity, imagination and spiritual intuition touched people and communities around the world…His keen insight and sense of play will live on.]
October 23
He Ayi says she will stay longer.
Customs accepted the letter from the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design (BIAD) - the parent work unit of Zing Jing - saying who I am, and allowed me to buy a car. We go the French Embassy to meet the owner’s friend, Odile. Give them a form for the Ambassador to sign.
October 24
Return to French Embassy to get form signed by Ambassador. Go to BIAD to get the same form signed by BIAD. ____Wei Jia, who put the BIAD stamp on the form, asked what Mr. Sahba was going to talk about.
PM
Railway Department Hospital design.
Go to Customs with Odile. They accepted all our papers and forms; now Odile can sell and I can buy, the car. Her husband is Chinese, an art dealer. I admired her Chinese; she could say “driver’s license” and “litre (of gas)”, new words for me.
October27
Photograph my work to make slides for my lecture in Tianjin.
Lunch at People's Daily (People’s Daily)
Work on proposal for the RAIC program in China.
October 28
Hospital elevations and axonometric. Hand-drawn.
Mail letter to Zhang Jie Zheng in Shanghai including the letter of Approval from
Architecture Society of China (ASC) for Mr. Sahba’s visit .
October 29
Finish drawing Hospital axonometric
October 30
Add colour to axonometric
PM Meet with BHRO at Development Company Office. Tang Pei attended.
October 31
At Building in China, meet Professor Xin Kejing, with two small dogs. He lived with the Tu minority people during the Cultural Revolution. Drew beautiful pictures of their villages.
November 1
Get little white Peugeot out of Customs garage. I had to move a Mercedez Benz out of the way first. First time I drove one of those.
PM
Historic village in North Beijing. Site Plan
November 2
Historic village and Che Gong Zhuang small district planning.
Visit Che Gong Zhuang site.
November 3
Good talk with Hongyu. Sort slides. Finish RAIC proposal. Repair hissing electrical outlet. Take Xiao Dongxi to Che Gong Zhuang Bird Market. Write letter for Liu Qi (Hongyu’s boss) to IDRC in Singapore.
November 4
Housing deign near Che Gong Zhuang: First floor all office, upper three floors is housing. FAR 1.7.
November 5
Visit Changping Ming Dynasty Town.
November 6
Write RAIC proposal covering letter. Eve banquet with Eric Carlson and MOC Officials.
November 7
AM lecture by Eric Carlson on Housing Finance Institutions.
PM Make arrangements for Mr. Sahba’s lecture at Zhong Jing. The only place wide and empty enough is the corridor, next to the toilets. Supper at Zhang Long’s home with Mr. Carlson.
November 8
Chang Ping Village Planning
November 9
At Ministry of Construction (MOC) with Hongyu, Tang Rei, Tao Tao, Yan Zheng, and Chen Wen Jun to work on the Guan Yuan (Che Gong Zhuang) planning.
November 10
Lunch at People's Daily (People’s Daily)
Work on Guan Yuan Planning
November 11
Meet Mr. Sahba at airport (T1) with our new Peugeot. We drove, as slowly as we dared, by the Iranian Embassy. He had designed it many years earlier while he was still in Iran; and he had never seen it. He wanted so much to photograph it, but we did not dare. We had lunch at the Jian Guo Hotel. I got him settled at the Yue Xiu Hotel at Xuan Wu Men. We went for a walk to Liu Li Chang and over to Qian Men. He said the hutongs reminded him of Tehran when he was young. We took the subway to Min Jia Yin’s home to have supper with a few friends.
Fariborz Sahba
November 12
Work at Zhong Jing, leave Mr. Sahba on his own.
November 13
AM
Presentation by Mr. Sahba for ASC and MOC Design Institute followed by Lunch banquet.
PM
Presentation at BIAD. Supper with Zhang Long and Wang Tian Hui.
November 14
AM
Presentation by Mr. Sahba at Zhong Jing followed by banquet lunch.
PM
Presentation at Qinghua. After the lecture, Prof. Zhao Bing Shi carried Mr. Sahba’s bag on the back of his bicycle as we walked to a nice dining hall at a campus hotel. Prof. Li Dao Zeng joined us. After dinner, Prof. Li gave Mr. Sahba a big hug. That’s the first time I ever saw a Chinese person give someone a hug.
Later, met with Mr. Attila Sonmez, Chief of Mission of the World Bank, Beijing.
Attila Sonmez
November 16
Work with Hongyu on Guan Yuan Housing.
November 17
Go with Mr. Sahba to Tianjin.
PM
Visit at the Lamberts.
EVE
Meet with friends at Lamberts.
Someone from the Tianjin TV Station was there. He took a copy of a video Mr. Sahba had and showed in a program that played videos from around the world.
November 18
AM
Visit the Architecture Department with Mr. Sahba. Lunch with Jin Xin.
PM
Visit the city. Club sandwich supper at Hyatt with Mr. Sahba.
Eve. Gathering at Lamberts. I invited Chen Laoshi, her daughter and Jin Xin.
November 19
AM
Prepare for PM lecture
PM
Lecture by me and then Mr. Sahba; I was the “warm-up” act.
EVE
I return to Beijing. Mr. Sahba will go tomorrow to Jinan.
November 20
Hongyu and I go to Chang Ping Village, Ming Dynasty
November 21
Work at Building in China Magazine.
November 22
AM
Chang Ping Fang an
Book a meeting with Attila Sonmez, Economic Consultant with responsibility for China (1992-95).
November 23
Sat. Work on housing (Dong Bian Men)
November 24
Write letter to UHJ and Ruhiyyih Khanum about Mr. Sahba’s trip.
November 25-6
Housing
November 27
Work at Building in China Magazine.
November 28
Housing
EVE
Hongyu and I go to visit with Glen Eyford at the Great Wall Hotel.
November 29-30
Housing: Finish a corner unit for 4 apts./floor.
EVE
Visit Professor Wu Liang Yong re Habitat Project.
Professor Wu Liang Yong
December 1
Supper with Cecelia Chang of Esso and Yu Gong and his wife.
December 2 Housing
EVE
Prepare proposal for Dr. Laquian re UBC/Habitat/ New Paradigm Program
December 3
Shen Gong said the Qingdao Wen Zhou Road project has come back to life and to prepare a package for the planning bureau according to my original conceptual design (Fang An).
December 4
Half day with Dongxi.
PM
Meeting at West District Development Company (Xi Cheng Qu Kai Fa Gong Si) about the Guan Yuan Concept Design.
December 5
Feel sick, stay home.
December 6,7
Revise Qingdao, Wen Zhou Road design.
December 7
Supper with Hongyu and Husayn Anwar.
December 8
Sunday Husayn came to visit, lunch, see him off to Shenyang.
December 9 - 14
Wen Zhou Road Design
December 15
Feel tired, sick. Evening Christmas Party at the home of Fred and Eva Bild. Fred was the Canadian Ambassador from 1990 to 94. Dongxi had a good time; we were the only ones who brought a child. Eva gave a Dongxi a beautiful box of wooden blocks. She had intended to give it to one of her grandchildren.
There was another Baha’i at the party; he said he had photographs of Dongxi for us given to him by someone in Macau. Mr. Bild greeted everyone personally at the door, with great humility.
Fred Bild (left)
He is a former Canadian diplomat and current adjunct professor at the University of Montreal Centre of East Asian Studies, CÉTASE. He graduated from Concordia University (Montreal). He has a diploma of International from University College, London and a foreign student's diploma from the École nationale d'administration in Paris. He has held diplomatic appointments in Japan, Korea, at the International Control Commission in Indochina, and France. He was Canadian Ambassador in Thailand (1979–83), with concurrent appointment to Laos, to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and Myanmar. In 1990 he was appointed as Ambassador to the People's Republic of China and to Mongolia
December 16
Finishing Wen Zhou Road.
Arrange for Husayn Anwar to meet the El Hadi’s so they can take him to the Foreign Experts Bureau at the Friendship Hotel.
December 17
Wu Ke Song Housing. Lunch with Yan Xinghua (Head of Zhong Jing), Chen Hao Zheng (manager) and Husayn Anmwar (An Sai Yin).
December 18
AM
Wu Ke Song Housing.
PM
Take Husayn Anwar to the Beijing Environmental Protection Institute.
December 19
Wu Ke Song Housing. Lunch with Husayn.
Pick up 10 sets of Part 3 of my CIDA Report from OCE.
December 20
Wu Ke Song Housing
Get physical health exam at Xie He Yi Yuan and then get my Driver’s Licence.
December 22 Sunday
Snow and ice; can’t drive car. Hongyu goes to work; I take care of Xiao Dongxi and arrange CIDA, Part 3.
December 23
Work at Building in China Magazine. Lunch with Li Xiao Quan, former Qinghua architect student, friend of Eric Carlson.
EVE
Write proposal for MOC to give to UNDP.
December 24-5
Worked on Qingdao Custom House.
December 25
Take Hongyu to hospital for bleeding hemorrhoids.
December 26
Yan Xinghua’s 70th birthday party at Zi Yu Hotel.
Drive car for first time in Beijing. Take Hongyu to hospital, go to Xu Ping Bo, printer near MOC to pick up copies of my CIDA report. Take it to CBTDC. After supper pick up camera at Yu Ning and Mao mao’s home. Arrange lunch tomorrow with Jean Bellows and Shan Min.
December 27
Qingdao Custom House. Long lunch with Jean and Shan Min. Shan Min came by in evening for visit.
December 28
Opening ceremony for Wen Cai Ge, the headquarters of the China Writers Foundation. Because of me, Hongyu and I were late. I wanted a haircut before attending the ceremony. Normally there would have been time but the barber cut it one hair at a time, hard to escape. We got there 15 minutes late and the ceremony was already over. Ma Wan Qi from Macau had paid for the building and attended the brief opening ceremony. I had invited Ambassador Bild to come. He came and I missed it! How embarrassing! Ma Wan Qi invited everyone for lunch at the Great Hall of the People. At least Hongyu and I were at that part.
Former Portuguese President Ramalho Eanes (left) toasting with Ma Wanqi. Photo: SCMP
[Wikipedia: Ma Wanqi (1919 = 2014) was a Chinese-Macanese businessman, tycoon, entrepreneur and politician. A strong supporter of the Communist Party of China, Ma was a proponent of the transfer of sovereignty over Macau from Portugal to the People's Republic of China, which took place in 1999. Ma was Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference's (CPPCC) eighth, ninth, tenth and eleventh sessions, beginning in 1993. Ma was also the chairman of the Chinese Literature Foundation. Deng Xiaoping penned the title for one of Ma Wanqi's poems in 1998.]
December 29
AM
Work on Qingdao Custom House.
PM
He Hongyu’s office New Years party. Brought Xiao Dongxi. Forgot diapers. Yu Miao lent us a feminine napkin.
December 31
Sore back.
EVE
Meet with Hossein and Michele Danesh and their son. Have supper with Min Jia Yin and Tian Xiaoqi.
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