March 28 Go to Macau. Evening concert in large public square. Baha’is involved in performance. Met Counselor Arbab, Afshin, Farid, and a woman from Delhi. I told Mr. Afshin what happened in Ganesh Nagar. Stayed with Herbert Lee, his wife Sui Hing, and their son. March 29 Had lunch with Farzam Kalamabadi. Supper with Research Group: John Tennant, Farzam, Rubee Fuller. Stayed with Chuck and Rubee. March 30 Wrote letter to the Universal House of Justice. Return to Hong Kong from Macau. March 31. Write long overdue letter to Mom and Dad. Bought ticket to Beijing. Bought gift for Jin Qi Min. Attended Fireside meeting at Kowloon Baha’i Center. April 1 AM: Meet with Stephen Poon of the HK Housing Authority. PM: Visit the Tai Po Baha’I Center April 2 Visit Stanley Bay Supper with Herbert Lee and Sui Hing April 3 Letters to He Hongyu, Ann Wilson, Herbert Lee, the Baha’i Universal House of Justice, the Pune Baha’i Assembly. April 4 AM Interview Stephen Poon and Wu Moon Hoi. PM Visit Fu Shin Estate in Tai Po. April 5 Fly to Beijing Go to my Xuan Wu Men home. Three letters from Hongyu. A friend of Sandra Hutchison had come by two days ago looking for me. Note from a family in Apt. 608. I met the husband, his wife, daughter and son-in-law. She will give me a text book that is used in the schools for the moral education of children. We will meet next Wednesday night; I will help them with English. Supper with Zhang Long and her husband Li Rui Hua. She said it looks likely I will be able to work in Yan Xing Hua’s office. It is called 'Zhong Jing Design Institute'. April 6 AM Li Rui Hua came with me to re-register at the local Police Station (Pai Chu Suo). We also had a visit with the Neighbourhood Committee. I’m the first foreigner to live in their jurisdiction. PM Buy vegetables Eve: Craig O’Connor, Sandra’s Hutchison’s friend came by and we went to the Jian Guo Coffee Shop for supper. Later I went to visit Yu Ning, Song Hong Gang, and Bater. It was nice to see them again. Bater said, “Women te bie xiang ni.” (“We really missed you.”) Splitting headache. Why? April 7 Go to Tianjin. Lots of mail. Prof. Jin Qi Min said I will receive a certificate from the university appointing me as a permanent lecturer. More support from Jin Qi Min. April 8 Visit Tianjin University Foreign Affairs Office. I tell them about Hongyu, that I want to stay in Beijing, and I will deliver the result of my research report in September. Although my Work Unit “host” is Tianjin University, Liu De Fu says, “That’s all OK.” Jin Xin has a boyfriend. I told her about Hongyu; she said students had asked her long ago about Hongyu and I. April 9 Back in Beijing. Spent time with Hongyu’s parents at their place and then visited Yu Ning, Mao Mao and Bater at their place. Great food. Take pictures. Feel so tired.
Hongyu's father, He Yan Ling, told me he and Hongyu's mother, Song Zheng, agree with our marriage. He gave me an A4 piece of paper folded in half like card. On the outside was a beautiful chop he had carved of two birds over the ocean. Inside was their signed written consent with both of their chops. He has carved those as well.
April 10 Letter to Hongyu. Letter to Newfoundland Medicare. My health coverage expires after five years (1991). Letter to Newfoundland Motor Registration. Catch cold. Am slow and lazy. April 11 Work at Zhang Long’s office. This is how I pay my rent. April 12 Big clean-up of house including windows and floor in the public corridor outside my door. EVE: Visit my friends in 608. Reading “People’s China” by Craig Deitrich. April 13 Meet with Gao Xiao Hui and Lin Xiao Ping April 14 Letters to Chris Carter, VISA, Edythe Goodridge, Nik Wilkonson. April 15 Sort and organize my research materials. Visit El Hadi family, meet Joerg Wuttke and his wife Mitra, and _______from Japan. Feels good to be with them. Reading “Coops in Developing Countries (Levin)”. April 16 Had dream last night of Ruhiyyih Khanum. She looked happy. Also dreamed I was talking with a Baha’i about my suggestion to form a musical group. I said, “You’re not being frank with me. Tell me whether or not you think it’s a good idea.” Went early to Mao Mao’s place, or so I thought. I had forgotten about Daylight Savings Time, so I was late. The plan was to receive a call from Hongyu; it never came. We went to Hongyu’s parents place nearby, but their phone was broken. I went back to my place and then walked to the telephone building just east of Xi Dan. After half an hour I got through. So nice to talk; she zooms in on the important details. We agreed I will go to San Francisco. I told her my parents are not saying yes or no until they see me. She said “OK”. Since the trip to India I have to fight off a slow and lazy feeling. It is so hard to always work alone; I wish I was part of a group. It’s a struggle to keep going, especially on a self-defined path. Ate jiaozi (dumpling) supper in the little restaurant next door to my building, just to the east. Jiaozi cost 1.20 yuan, coke 3.5 yuan. The waitresses know me; know what I like. They have big smiles, very friendly. I should take some pictures. Near He Ping Men I saw a flat-bed tricycle headed for Tian An Men Square with a huge paper flower arrangement for Hu Yao Bang. He died yesterday. April 17 AM Prepare for meeting with Lin Zhi Qun. PM Meeting with Lin Zhi Qun. He spoke for two and a half hours, outlining his dream about the future of housing in China. Need investment and lending channels for housing finance, input from individuals, government, and work units. Built by developers, coops or individuals. Set up bank mortgage system. Transition from Work unit (danwei) supplied housing to market housing. There is a lack of sense of property in China. Revolution removed private ownership. Need land registration system. May need subsidies for weaker segments of society. Banks should have preferential treatment for the weak. In the countryside, the government is the bystander. In the city, the government is the provider. April 18 Gao Xiao Hui came to my place to return some books. We had a good conversation about MOC work and needs. He borrowed my copy of “Co-ops in Developing Countries (Levin)”. Reading “The Wisdom of Confucius”. April 19 Read, study. Buy ticket to Tianjin. April 20 Meet with Gao Xiao Hui. He tells me about the Housing Reform Program. He mentioned Wu Liang Yong was working on a project where the cost for new construction would be 350 yuan/m2. He said his monthly income is 80 yuan in cash and 80 yuan in benefits. Visit Zhang Long, my guardian angel. She helped me arrange a visit with Bai De Mao, a BIAD architect well-known for his work in housing. April 21 Ridvan Eating good brown bread I bought at the Jian Guo Hotel Bakery. A letter came from Zhang Long saying the Science and Technology Bureau had confirmed verbally that my application to work at Zhong Jing had been accepted. Good so far!
Take train to Tianjin. In the station I chatted with a coach of the China track and field team. They have been to Canada: Toronto, Vancouver and Sudbury. In Tianjin, I stay at my old home on the Tianjin University campus, the Foreign Experts Hotel. There was a letter from Cathy (Ferri)’s Mom. She had no idea whether Cathy would ever respond to me. Met with Zhang Chi (Cary). He will help me find the community service co-op in He Ping District. I hope to meet them next May 3 to 5. I went to visit my former students in the studio at Building 19. Warm feeling still there. April 22 Two packages came from Canada. My brother Chris sent music tapes, licorice, and books from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). IDRC is a Canadian federal Crown corporation that funds research and innovation within and alongside developing regions as part of Canada’s foreign affairs and development efforts. Don Johnston sent videos about mortgages and coop housing, and a long response to my letter to him. A rich harvest! Visit foreign teachers Wolfgang and Irma, Dave and Marcie, and Ito. Briefly saw Xu Su Bin and Jin Xin. Take train back to Beijing. There was a note in my door from Zhang Long saying all the red tape has been hurdled; I can now sign a contract with Zhong Jing. I have work to do in China!!! Gao Xiao Hui dropped by. Another animated discussion about housing. He returned my copy of “Co-ops in Developing Countries (Levin)”. He had photocopied the whole book and the Beijing Housing Bureau had photocopied his photocopy. April 23 Visited Zhang Hui and her husband and their baby at Qinghua University. The students are reading hand-written posters (Da Zi Bao) all over the campus. Political protest. Phone Zhang Long to discuss contract with Zhong Jing. Phone Hongyu’s parents to tell them I have a job. Phone Bai De Mao to arrange for tomorrow. I have no phone of my own. April 24 AM Meet with Bai De Mao in his office at BIAD. His thinking is very clear. There’s a strong sense of social concern, attention to the practical daily life, and at the same time trying to beak down the rigidity of housing design so far. At the An Ji Li housing estate in Beijing he organized the large site into four cluster neighborhoods of about 500 households, each with a gate. The caretaker of the bicycle shed at each gate also served as a watchman. The whole estate also has a gate; the neighborhoods were nested inside. He also introduced another housing estate called Fuqiangxili that he designed in Da Xing District of Beijing. He says a social structure takes 10 to 20 years to build. He arranged for me to see some of his housing design, May 8 or 9, already built at Fuqiangxili in the Da Xing District of Beijing. I had lunch with Huang Hui. She said she had had a meeting with Essi Banniassad, President of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) and David Tsow. They talked about some kind of cooperation. PM Book flight to Canada. There is only one flight per week on Canadian Airlines. I wanted to leave on May 29, but the flight was fully booked. I took a seat on the next flight, Monday June 6. April 25 Prepare for meeting tomorrow. Letters to Mom and Dad, Chris Carter, Don Johnston, Hehongyu. EVE Supper with Larry and Hazel Inch. He is the son of my father’s good friend (war buddy). He’s with the Canadian Embassy. He said I could get work on the construction site for the new Canadian Embassy. Good money. I said no, I have a job, but I would like to meet the people who are offering the work. April 26 Meet with Gao Xiao Hui and members of the Beijing Housing Reform Bureau. Meet in the morning at the ________Hotel to discuss co-ops east and west. In the afternoon, I showed them videos from Canada about coops, from Don Johnston at CMHC. We agreed to meet again; I could help them wrote an introductory book about housing coops. EVE Felt like celebrating, went to the Jian Guo Hotel, bought an International Herald and had a western meal at the Greenery. April 27 Organize my materials. Pick up paper on housing from BIAD, loaned to me by Huang Hui. At 3:00pm I went to the airport to meet Sandra Hutchison. Tiananmen Square is full of people. At 6:15 Sandra arrived. We take a bus into the city. At 7:00pm we are crossing the Second Ring Road at Dong Zhi Men. Below us we see a flood of demonstrators over a kilometer long heading south toward Jian Guo Men and then Tian An Men Square. Crowds on the sides, watching, supportive. Go to Shi Fan Da Xue and get Sandra settle in. Go to El Hadi’s for Feast of Beauty. April 28 Go to Zhang Long’s place, then together we go to visit Zhong Jing’s office to discuss my contract. We met Yan Xing Hua and his Vice-Manager, Shen Yadi
General Manager Yan Xing Hua (right) and Vice-Manager, Shen Yadi, left
We agreed on: Salary 750 Yuan + 200 USD/month. One Return air fare to Canada Medical care White card to spend RMB Accommodation at Xuan Wu Men Da Jie 20 hao Lou, 1 men, 306. Some new furniture for the apartment. Six-day work week: Five days at Zhong Jing, Tuesday through Saturday, Sunday rest, and Mondays at Building in China. We talked all morning. They will try to get my visa and resident’s permit extended before I go to Canada. We ate lunch in the office. They said they don’t want to give me special treatment; I should just be one of them. Spent some time after lunch looking at images of their work hanging on the wall in the adjacent room, and at some of their new computers. I felt nervous about my ability to do good design for them. I haven’t worked on design since 1984, and my experience is limited to Newfoundland, one of Canada’s poorest provinces. Computers in design came to Canada just after I graduated and I never learned to use AutoCAD. I should be able to help them with English, and relations with English-speaking foreigners. Sun Hua Sheng visited me after supper at my place. Together we imagined an organization based in China that would facilitate scholarly and work exchanges between China and abroad. Two letters came from Hongyu! Reading “The Jungle”, by Upton Sinclair April 29 Letter from Bate inviting me to May 1 celebration at Lao Lao Jia.
Ninth Day of Ridvan Spent the day with the El Hadi Family and Sandra. We went to Yuan Ming Yuan. We said prayers together and had a picnic near the east entrance opposite Qinghua.
40,00,45.05N and 116,18,39.54E. Beautiful day. Sandra lonely. EVE went to supper party at Larry Inch’s place. Standing for a long time holding drinks. We are all foreigners except the cook. He had worked all day to prepare our meal, received 50 yuan. Good pay in his world. He trained staff at the Shangrila Hotel. He said the hotel staff/guest ratio was 4:1, and in North America, 0.8:1. He said Chinese restaurant staff/guest ratio was 3:1 table, and in North America, 1 staff for 4 tables. Telegram from Zhang Chi in Tianjin. “Please come to my home, May 2 evening and May 3 morning 8:30.” April 30 Han 利明 dropped by. Six-year-old neighbour. He wants to ‘play with the foreigner’. I’m busy reading; he uses my coloured pencils and paper to draw pictures. Go to railway station to but ticket to Tianjin. Sandra came by, we went to supper at the Jian Guo…talked about loneliness, spiritual battles. She talked about biological time clocks….she’s 34 and not married. May 1 Beautiful day with Hongyu’s family. We watched most of the movie, the Sound of Music. We made a date, two Sundays from now to finish watching it. I’m becoming part of the family. Hongyu’s sisters look forward to a new household and more children. I’m getting to know Shan Ying and Bater better. May 2 Letters to Hongyu and Mom and Dad. PM Go to Tianjin
May 3 Go with Zhang Chi to Xin Xing Jie government office to meet Yao Chang Chen 姚常琛, sub-district government leader; Wu Qi Cheng, He Ping District Civil Administrator; She Hui Ke Director and Dong Chun Fu, Associate Director. Spent all day with them, talking, lunch (banquet).
PM go for a visit to a community center with an arts& crafts center for handicapped people, and a nursery school. Zhang Chi with me all day helping translate.
EVE Very tired. Called on Qiu Kang’s parents but they weren’t home. Their neighbour kindly helped me write them a note and will give them some photos I had of Qiu Kang and Qiu Jiang. May 4 Visit Liu De Fu. Go to my bank on Jiefang Lu (Liberation Road) Photograph Wu Da Dao (五大道) housing in the British Concession. After lunch help Zhang Chi with phone call to Australian Embassy; he wants to study there. Return to Beijing. Subway crowded with demonstrators. No-one is collecting tickets. People ride for free. Spontaneous volunteers help manage the crowds. There is an outbreak of courtesy and patience. May 5 Met man in restaurant; he was 3/4 Japanese and 1/4 Chinese. His father came to China in the 50s, brought his family. “Intellectuals very patriotic. But he caused our family a lot of trouble.” “How did you leave China?” “Easy, my mother was Japanese.” He sells medical equipment for an Australian company. May 5 Letter to Elizabeth Rochester. Review my research materials. May 7 Review my research materials. At last, a letter from Hongyu. Supper with Yu Ning, Mao Mao and Bater. Letter from Gao Xiao Hui saying tomorrow we go to see some Beijing Housing Coops.
May 8 Go with Gao Xiao Hui to visit Ju Er Hu Tong and a food coop near Tian Tan. May 9 Go with Zhang Xiao Guang and Lu Jiang to visit Jin Song Housing District near the 3rd Ring Road. Letter to Gao Xiao Hui and Gao Yi Lan. May 10 Go with Zhang Xiao Guang and Lu Jiang to visit Fuqiangxili, a housing district in Da Xing designed by Bai De Mao. He had explained its design to me earlier.
May 11 Review my research materials. EVE meet Ruhiyyih Khanum (May Maxwell), the wife (widow) of Shoghi Effendi, at the El Hadi’s for dinner. Also met Violet Nakhyavani, Farzam Kalamabadi, Foad, and Roxanne Terril. May 12 Go with Ruhiyyih Khanum and Violet Nakhyavani to the Ming Tombs. Ruhiyyih Khanum hugged lady selling ice popsicles (bing guan). I helped Ruhiyyih Khanum up and down the steep stairs inside the tombs. I sat beside her in the car. Part of the discussion was about cave paintings. I suggested they might have some spiritual meaning. “Oh don’t get religious on me!”, she said. Evening meeting at El Hadis. Bijan Farid joined us. May 13 Go to Summer Palace. Ruhiyyih Khanum happy here. Lunch at Fragrant Hills Xiang Shan Hotel. I made sure the driver joined us for lunch. Welcomed by Ruhiyyih Khanum. Drivers usually go off and eat cheaper meals with the other drivers. EVE Beijing Science Hall at the Friendship Hotel. About 60 or 70 people were there, mostly invited by Farzam, I think. Later it was the first time I tried to explain the Faith in Chinese. May 14 With Hongyu’s family. Go with Shan Ying to play in Tuan Jie Hu (Unity Lake) Park. Ask Hongyu’s parents for permission to marry Hongyu. I explained, that without it I could not marry her. Later, wrote letter to Hongyu’s friend Liu Yuan. May 15 Meet Ruhiyyih Khanum and her party at LiDu Hotel. I was going with them to help them get to the airport and catch a flight to Mongolia. To get to the airport we had to detour around Gorbachev who was coming into Beijing from the airport. The road to the airport was closed for his arrival. He was supposed to be greeted at the Great Hall of the People; I heard later the thousands of demonstrators on the Square made that impossible. Our driver told us we could take back roads; so that’s what we did. I was the translator. I felt nervous because the alternate route would take longer; they were trusting me and him. Ruhiyyih Khanum and Violet Nakhyavani caught their plane on time. PM with Roxanne, see her off. EVE Letter to Hongyu. May 16 Go to Foreigners Gong An Ju (Security Office) with Li Rui Hua and Liu---- on Nan Chi Zi Road. I found out I must first go to Tianjin to get a stamp on my Resident’s Permit. At the Jian Guo Hotel I made a photocopy of my Beijing City Invitation letter and phone Liu De Fu. Buy ticket to Tianjin. EVE “Baha’i Feast” at El Hadi’s May 17 Visit UNICEF Office in Beijing. Meet Dr. Hau Sing Tse, Development Counsellor with CIDA at the Canadian Embassy on San Li Tun. PM Go to Tianjin. Both the Beijing and Tianjin railway stations are full of demonstrating students, all headed for Tian An Men Square. Everyone gets on the train with no ticket. May 18 The Tianjin Security Bureau put the stamp I needed on my Resident’s Permit. Went to my bank, sold my bicycle to the cook at the Foreign Guest House Dining Hall. Stayed with Dave and Marcie Landingham (nice people). May 19 Friday Back in Beijing, my little friend from upstairs came to visit again. He went straight for the coloured pencils and paper and got to work. Sort out photos for an order at Tu Pian She图片社 photography store nearby. Buy ticket to Tianjin. Went to the police again with Li Rui Hua and Liu____ with my Resident Permit (Zhu Liu Zheng), now stamped “zhuan li” (transferred). They said they can process my papers by next Tuesday, but they say it’s unusual for me, a foreigner, to be living in a local residential area (zhu min fangzi). That might be a problem. May 20 Letter to Mom and Dad about the demonstrations. Select photos for enlarging. May 21 Making a collection of China Daily articles about social issues. Now in Beijing there is martial law, no subways or buses operating, mood turned….feels dangerous. May 22 Monday No public transportation. I walk for an hour to the Beijing railway station and go to Tianjin. Sort out the remaining books and belongings I still have in Tianjin. Can’t get taxi to help me move things to Beijing (martial law). Visit my dear Chinese teacher, Chen Laoshi. May 23 Declaration of the Bab Delivered my bicycle to the cook. Visited Tianjin Design Institute. Visited Lin Ning’s parents, Dong Qing and Wang Yue. EVE Banquet. I was a Tianjin Guest Lecturer. Later visited with James and William from Uganda, and then Irma and Wolfgang. May 24 Wednesday Return to Beijing. Subway is running again. MY RESIDENCY IN BEIJING HAS BEEN APPROVED! And I can stay at Xuan Wu Men. Walk around and around in “Thank You!” mood all day. Went to Li Rui Hua and Zhang Long’s home to celebrate Part of the plan is for me to workat Zhang Long’s Center to help with translations one day per week at her magazine, Building in China. Zhong Long phoned Yan Xing Hua to arrange a time to sign the contract with Zhong Jing. EVE Visit Mao Mao and Yu Ning. May 25 Work on collection of clippings from China Daily. Letter to Dr. Tse at CIDA. Wrote letter of recommendation for Zhang Jin Yang. May 26 Gao Xiao Hui and I spent day together. Visited the Street Committee Office 街道办事处near my home. May 27 At Zhong Jing, I sign a contract. I composed it and typed it. They gave me 300 name cards. The name Zhong Jing is derived from the Chinese words for "China" (Zhong Guo) and "Beijing". The "Zhong" from "Zhong Guo" is joined to the "Jing" from "Beijing". China has a six-day work-week. I’ll work five days at Zhong Jing, Tuesday through Saturday, rest on Sunday, and work at ‘Building in China’ magazine on Mondays. PM With Larry Inch and a group of foreigners. We all went to the Fragrant Hills and had supper later at the Fragrant Hills Hotel. May 28 Sunday All day with Hongyu’s family. They asked Shan Ying if she wanted a little sister or a little brother (from Hongyu and I). She wanted a mei mei (little sister). Bater wanted a didi (little brother). Shan Ying was wearing a shirt I had bought for her in Hong Kong on my way back from India. Hong Y’s parents gave me a gift to give to my parents and asked me to invite them to come to China. Time passes beautifully with them. Had interesting talk with Song Hong Gang about democracy, equality of men and women, and about why I wanted to be in China. Hongyu’s father gave me a beautiful small Chinese box. I opened it and inside was a letter, on a piece of paper, signed by both of them. There was a red chop as well, an image of two birds flying together. He had carved it himself, and the chop was a little gift as well. Later, Hong Gang said to me, “Chinese people like to have children.” May 29 Getting ready to leave China for the summer. Phoned Hongyu. She said she’s not mad; I said I’m not sad. Reducing my piles of materials to smaller piles so I can carry as much as possible with me. May 30-31 More work on the piles. May 31 PM meet with Liu Yuan to talk about the Ju Er Hu Tong courtyard regeneration project. June 1 Packing Ambulance sirens shuttle hunger-striking students from the Square to the hospital across the street. June 2 Go to Zhang Long’s office to sign a contract to work at her magazine. Polished three articles while I was there. June 3 Saturday More sorting and packing Song Hong Gang came by for a visit. She had been reading many of the poster-statements (Dazibao) pasted to the walls of underpasses at intersections. She said the whole family wanted to tell me they supported my view that sex should be inside marriage. She was interested in collaborating on translations of books for China…sociology, women issues… My building at Xuan Wu Men, 12 stories high, looks down on the road that leads to Tiananmen Square. I’m on the third floor and have a clear view f the street from our entrance corridor. Evening, dark. Tanks went by headed for the Square. I hear gunshots from the Xi Dan area, 800 meters to the north. A lot of sirens. There’s a fire on the road in front of Xin Hua She, the photography center. Gunshots from east. Flares arc high over Tiananmen Square. Troops of soldiers run by, not in boots; the padded sound of tense, rhythmic running shoes. Bottles are thrown down on the ground by many of my neighbours. They smash for the soldiers to hear. The sound of the last two characters of Deng Xiao Ping’s name, “Xiao Ping”, can mean his name, or, they can also mean “Little Bottle”. ”Smashing Little Bottle” is a metaphor of protest. Today is the Baha’i Feast of Light June 4 Morning. Everyone is stunned. We stand on the sidewalk ans stare at the street. Birds are singing. Someone sells ice popsicles. I head for Tiananmen Square. I approach the south side of the Square from the west. At the southwest corner of the Square is the largest Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in the world. A row of dangerous-looking soldiers with rifles and bayonets stand like statues. Starting with the kindly Colonel Saunders in a white suit, they form a line runs up the west side of the Square toward the Great Hall of the People. I want to cross the Square, but can’t. I must go a long way around to the south. I found someone cruising on a flat-bed tricycle. We agreed on a price to take me to the Jian Guo Hotel on the east side of the old city. On the way, just south of Chong Wen Men, we passed under a pedestrian bridge that straddles the wide road. In recent years, traffic was becoming so heavy these bridges were needed for people to safely cross the street. A roasted soldier was suspended from the bridge by his neck. A light rain started, like tears. I made it to the Jian Guo Hotel and went downstairs to the washrooms. I used the wall hair-dryer to dry my wet hair. I called Joerg Wuttke and he came in his Mercedes Benz. He took me to his place near the Kempinkski Hotel on the east Third Ring Road. I was closer to the airport. I had to leave my suitcase in my flat at Xuan Wu Men. I had only my passport, a little cash, and the clothes on my back. I had supper that evening with Ruhiyyih Khanum, and a few others at the Kun Lun Hotel. She was back from Mongolia. As she walked up the steps of the hotel, I had few seconds alone with her and asked about Hongyu. “We were thinking of marriage, but had some doubts”, I said. “Well, she’s Chinese isn’t she?”, she said. June 5 Everyone at the airport was in shock. No security check. I left Beijing on the last regularly scheduled flight. After that, everything was in evacuation mode. I phoned home from Vancouver, “Hi Mom, I’m out. I’m OK.” June 6 I wrote to Newfoundland, to an old architect friend, Charles Cullum at an office called BFL, to see if I can get work in their office. Ask Mom and Dad, through Dad, for permission to marry Hongyu. No answer, yet. June 19 Go to San Francisco. June 29 Meet Tom Jones, Head of the Community Development Program and the housing assistance program. We talked about participation, non-profit housing with equity in proportion to input, and development corporations. Hongyu and I felt so at home with each other in so many ways. When we are together, I forget she’s Chinese, she forgets I’m a foreigner. But there are obstacles. My religion is a big test for her. Or is it my understanding and approach to religion? She cooked a meal with cooking wine and I didn’t want to eat it. “I don’t drink alcohol”. “If my parents had said ‘no’ to our getting married, what would you do?” Without hesitating, or saying how big a problem that would be, I said, “We couldn’t get married”. Many Chinese and American friends of Hongyu said she should stay in the US. “Why go back?”. The US government was sympathetic to Chinese students after what had happened in China and it was easy to get a Green Card. Hongyu was considering it. I told her I was going back. She asked me if it was a choice between going back to China and staying with her in the West, what would I choose? I said “China”. She collapsed on the ground. Obedience to a power outside herself frightens her and angers her. Two weeks with Hongyu, “Will we? Won’t we, get married?” Finally, “Yes!” She had bought a 286 computer. It was sitting on a desk at her place. I said, “What’s that for?”
July 5 I stopped off in Vancouver on my way to Ottawa. I visited Hossein Amanat and Blair Shakell. Hossein Amanat said Ruhiyyih Khanum used to serve wine to dinner guests because that was what they expected. He implied I was too literal and zealous. July 6 In Ottawa, I received an offer of work from Charles Cullum. Dad came to me in tears. “It’s a miracle, Mom agrees to the wedding and wants to have it here at our home”. However, she is not willing to sign anything, in writing. I consulted with Marlene Macke, a member of the LSA of Ottawa. We knew each other in St. John’s. We agreed she would come to 3 Greenhill Way as a Newfoundland friend coming to visit, for a cup of tea. Let her witness Mom’s attitude toward the marriage. The subject of the wedding did come up. Marlene could witness Mom talking about the plans, the flowers, the caterer,….obviously, she had accepted Hongyu as my future wife. Marlene reported this to the LSA and that constituted “permission”. Hongyu asked a friend of hers going to China to pick up the original of her divorce certificate. Joerg Wuttke faxed me a copy. Christine Batts, the familylawyer, used that to start the process of applying for an Ontario marriage license. In Ottawa I got the consent from Hongyu’s parents translated into English. July 17 Go to Newfoundland. Stay in Robert Mellin’s basement. I design wedding invitations, got them printed and mailed out. The wedding date was set for August 19. August 1 I received a message from the lawyer saying the Ontario government will not accept the photocopy of Hongyu’s divorce certificate; it has to be the original. Hongyu said she had already sent the original by registered mail to the lawyer’s office. I tried to reach Hongyu. She had left San Francisco and was headed to Ottawa for the wedding. On the way she visited other friends in the US. I knew, on that day, she planned to be at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water with her classmate, Xiao Hui. I rushed from work to Robert Mellin’s home to make the call. I had my hand on the doorknob as I was going in, paused, and said, “I leave all my affairs in Thy hands”. I phoned Falling Water and someone looked around but Hongyu was not there. I left an, “It’s an emergency!” message on Xiao Hui’s answering machine in Pittsburgh. I rushed back to work at BFL; there was a note on my desk. The lawyer in Ottawa had called and left a message, “Original just received.” August 11 Fly back to Ottawa. August 12 Pick up Hongyu at the Ottawa airport. Her flight made an emergency landing in Syracuse and everybody took a bus from there. I had prepared Hongyu with a pile of documentation for when she crossed the border into Canada. She didn’t need any of it. Customs said, “Welcome to Canada, have a nice wedding.” My parents think Hongyu doesn’t take the wedding very seriously. They imagine the right clothes, a cake, video camera, toasts, kiss the bride, confetti, give away the bride, etc. In those days weddings in China were extremely simple; I also like ”simple”. The ceremony was on the front lawn. About 40 guests. Half were my friends, and half were old family friends of my parents. Dad felt sorry there was no one present from Hongyu’s family. He volunteered to give away the bride; he and Hongyu hid behind the house while I welcomed everyone in the front yard. I was nervous. This was a Baha’i marriage in front of my Catholic parents. When it was time to start the ceremony, behind me, in view of the audience, Dad brought Hongyu out on his arm. She was wearing a long dress, and had her long hair tied back in pony tail. He was showing her all the love and support he could, in public, to everyone, to us. The program was mainly a selection of prayers and Writings, mostly of Baha’i origin, all in a program we handed out at the beginning. Different readers read. Dad read the Lord’s Prayer. His sister, Aunt Mary Ruth, read a Baha’i prayer for the unity of mankind. She stopped in the middle, overwhelmed, and looked at me. “Where does this come from?” she said with tears streaming down her face. We said the marriage vow, “Verily we will all abide by the will of God”, in front of our witnesses, my brother Mark and Fiona Rochester. We were married. We exchanged rings. First I put it on the wrong hand, then the wrong finger, finally OK. After the ceremony, the guests filed past us, a reception line, on their way to the refreshments at the back of the house. Later, John Dixon, old friend and guest, said it was the most human wedding he had ever been to. My brother Tom drove us to the bus station and we went to Montreal to stay at Pieter Sipkes’s place on Ste. Madeleine in Pointe Saint Charles for a honeymoon (Piet was in Europe). We moved to St. John’s where I had some work, and lived right downtown at a house we rented, No. 6 Ordinance, across from the Newfoundland Hotel. It was a five-minute walk away from my old home on Cochrane Street. Hongyu kept asking, “Where are all the people?” She had never lived in such a small city. Also, western cities are so spread out, with such low density, you rarely see the crowds that are normal in China. Hongyu was not attracted to my Baha’i friends and hated Duckworth Lunch, my old hang-out. Elizabeth said, “She doesn’t like me.” I worry Hongyu has regrets. One night we had a serious flare-up and she pulled her hair. My involvement with a religion bothers her. So, is this a divide? A long wait? We often sat at the same table, working. We sometimes played a simplified version of Chinese Go called “wuziqi” using raisins for one player and popcorn kernels for the other. She couldn’t understand why I was sending out so many letters with photographs. For me, thank you letters to all the wedding guests was normal. Rae Perlin, the artist, lent us her car. She told us she was getting too old to drive. Once at Elizabeth Towers, an apartment building, she thought a wide low-slope flight of stairs was an exit from the parking lot. “After I realized I was on a staircase, well, I couldn’t go back up, could I?” Work at BFL was friendly and it was the first time in almost five years that I had worked for a western salary. I took $5,000 back with me to China; Hongyu also had some savings from part-time work in Berkeley. The last two Sundays before we went back to China, Hongyu did all the work cooking for two large dinner parties to entertain my friends. There were too many for one party. Her love was expressed in food. At a small shop on Duckworth Street she found some (zha cai), salty Chinese pickles. There was a lot leftover in a can. Robert Mellin’s wife, Heidi Kravitz, ate most of it, picking them out with a fork. October 29 We left Newfoundland for Ottawa to spend a few days with my family before going back to China. My job at Zhong Jing and my home at Xuan Wu Men are still there waiting for me. We play a card game called “Lackey” with Chris, Vicky, and Mark. Lots of packing, heavy books. Hard to say goodbye. Mom is shy with Hongyu. Dad tries to reach out. His love was clear. October 31 Meet with Fred Dawes at CIDA to talk about my housing research project. November 12 Arrive in Beijing Feels like home. Slip back into Beijing again. Grateful to be here. We first stay with Hongyu’s parents. The shadow of June 4 is still heavy. A week of jet lag. Last June when I left my apartment at Xuan Wu Men, I had forgotten to put away a bag of raisins. It was sitting on top of a cabinet by the apartment door. When I took Hongyu to our first Chinese home together, there were worms crawling all over the wall above the cabinet. She is especially repulsed by worms. Great start. We bought more furniture. Because she had been living abroad for over one year, Hongyu had the right to buy three ‘big’ things (ji da jian). We bought a TV, a refrigerator, and a sound system. We found a carpenter in the street to make two desks, a wardrobe, and some small cabinets. He made them on the sidewalk outside our home. At Xi Dan we bought a sofa, a bed, a fridge and a small Swan (Tian E) washing machine. We hired a man with a flat-bed tricycle to bring them to our home. I took the bus and Hongyu sat on the sofa high on top of the tricycle so she could guide the man to our home. We met there and carried everything upstairs. Hongyu had made my former camp into a home. We invited her parents to supper one night. Lao Ye installed the washing machine and went around fixing things, making our home more and more livable. November 16 Met Stephen Hodges at China-Canada Council November 27-30 We attended an International Conference at Qinghua University on Asian Cities and Architecture in Transition. Hongyu delivered one of the best papers. She didn’t read; she spoke. We stayed on campus at the foreign student guest house. They were reluctant to let us share a room without showing them a marriage license. I was expecting the police to come and break the door down in the middle of the night. Rod Hackney, the president of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) was there. He terrified Lu Jun Hua and others with his story of Concrete Cancer. All the high-rises in Beijing will collapse, he suggested. The participants from North Korea looked frightened and stayed by themselves. Some of my old Tianjin friends were there: Jin Qi Min and Zhang Wen Zhong. My newer Beijing friends were there: Sun Hua Sheng, Gao Yi Lan, Lin Zhi Qun, Zhang Qing Nan, and Liu Shao Shi, Chief Architect Beijing municipality. Many of those who registered for the conference did not come, to show their displeasure with what happened on June 4th. Li Dao Zeng, the host of the conference, was extremely grateful to those foreigners who did come. At the end of the conference instead of closing remarks, he sang a song, with great emotion, in English, “We will all be friends forever!” At this conference I met Dai Nian Ce, the architect who designed the hotel at the Confucian mansion at Qu Fu. I had walked round the construction site on my first visit to China in 1985. In his paper he said China should not be afraid to open to the outside world. He gave the example of China’s reception of Buddhism. China accepted it, adapted it, made it its own, with great moral and cultural benefits, including the advancement of architecture. I was very happy to meet him. He had the warmest, shiniest eyes I have ever seen; they seemed to give off light when he looked at you and made you feel loved and welcome. Hongyu met her old childhood friend, Xiao Dong. This reunion in these difficult days after Tiananmen brought tears to their eyes. A rare display of emotion.
December 1-11 Getting our home set up. At the Canadian Embassy, I discussed with Ken Pearson the possibility of helping them with assessing and finding housing for embassy staff. He is interested in my assistance and will get back to me in January. December 6 My first day of work at Zhong Jing. I felt a little nervous. The boss, Yan Xinghua, through whom I got the job, was out of town on business. I was asked to wait in the meeting room. I had returned to Canada the previous June after living in China, first for two years as a teacher of design in the Architecture Department at Tianjin University, followed by one year, mostly in Beijing, doing research about housing. Now, five months later and back in China, construction activity had continued its decline, and nearly half of the Design Institutes in Beijing were out of work. I wondered, "What's the situation here? Do they still want me?" December 11 Start work at Building in China magazine. Spent the day writing letters to USA, Canada and Australia to arouse interest in subscriptions. I will work here every Monday. December 12-16 My first days at Zhong Jing. I feel nervous. They have a desk for me in No. 2 Architecture Department (Er Suo). Zhang Gong is the Head and is a kind man. I sit beside Dai De Hua. The young Zhong Jing Architects call me Lao Joe. "Lao" literally means "old". Combined with the family name it is a polite and friendly form of address for older than you. My first assignment is to do the site planning for 30,000 m2 of six storey housing at Bai Wan Zhuang near the Ministry of Construction. There’s a lot I don’t know about residential site planning. Part of the challenge is to maximize the floor are while ensuring the buildings do not cast too much shadow on each other. There is a national code of sun angles for residential buildings that determines the distance between them.
In our studio are ten architects: Su Jia (28), Li Dong Fang (30), Zhou Wen Fang (27), Wang Xin Gang (24), Dai De Hua (33), Joe Carter (39), Yang Xi Wen (65), Zhang (Gong) Yang Jie (62), Chen Guang (30), Qian Man (28).
December 18 Hongyu is pregnant! Her first thought was “Who do I know in a hospital?” If you want good service, it helps to have friend inside, or a friend of a friend.
December 22-31 At the office I am now working on a kindergarten design. Three floors, 1,700m2.
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