Category: Events

Paul looks much younger than I thought, and looks alot like his Grandpa, Mr. Pang Jingtang, a typical Shandong big man. As a lawyer in Vancouver, he speaks fluent English, not Chinese. The way he talks about his family and the donnation sounds very humble. Paul told me a very different story of how the Pang’s Collection was donated to the Library. After his Mom, Ms. Pang Yi, an UBC graduate, passed away in 2000, he made many phone calls to UBC. Dr. Cheung told him that he went all the way to Martha.

We talked about his Grandma, Ms. Yang Baolin, who was an active political woman in Taiwan. I told Paul that I was viewing her video clip before we started the event. I also shared a good news with him, as my Chinese colleague, Ms. Gu Min, has just located some rare books with Pang’s seals in Shandong Provincial Library, which matches the information from the Heze Gazetteers. Paul’s eyes sparkled as he speaks “so my grandpa donated the rest of his books to the library”. Yes, at least those left in Shandong, and they are still there after all the wars and the Cultural Revolution. Unlike his grandma, Paul’s mom was a private person, who may visited her father twice in the 1970’s.

The title list of Pang Jingtang Collection to UBC may not mean much to him, so he questioned about the collection’s research value and insisted to have them digitized and shared on the web asap. I only started looking into them a month ago, there are still lots of questions and evaluation needs to be done, but I did give him the numbers of unique, rare and very rare according to the criteria in China. Paul is fascinated and told me about his mother’s scroll collection and other documents, which he will bring to a later dinner.

I am still receiving emails from American and Chinese colleagues on the Winter Olympics. The busy spring term is supposed to be back to normal now, but people are talking more about the closing ceremonythan work.

For February 2010, I had options of travelling far to Cape Town or staying in Vancouver to get involved. I am glad I stayed and changed. This pride and excitement may never disappear from my second hometown. Ok, back to work now.

The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies and the SLAIS Alumni Association are going to host the 2009 Meet the SLAIS Grads event. The event will take place at the Vancouver Public Library Alice McKay Room, April 3, 2009 from 5:30-8 pm.

Lingbo is a regular goer and sponsor. Hope more of us can make time to attend.

Prof. Michael E. Everson from U. of Iowa talked on issues in Chinese literacy learning. As Prof. Duff introduced, we don’t have any scholars in Canada like him, who has studied that deep on the issues. Besides the K-16 Chinese language teaching in the US, teaching and research programs in American universities are way ahead of ours. One thing came out of his talk to me is that the library should start to change our collection development policy to meet the needs from our students.Rushed back from the CRCLLE, I was happy to see the display thanks to Phoebe and our vendor for express delivery. I met Alison who brought the four gentlemen in the lobby. They were suprised to see their works re-designed to a variety of new products. 格非 said that he’d rather spend a year to go through our collection. 两位其他本家，刘震云和庆邦也感叹修身养性的好环境。 除了在书库里流连忘返也赞美四周高耸入云的水杉和鲜艳的枫叶。

下午的讨论会上，白烨先介绍国内的文坛现状和三位作家。庆邦强调劳动和诚实在他写作过程中的重要性。格非则讲，在生活中左右都逢源的人往往想不到写作，而失败者用写作与人交流。 震云将小说比喻成两个朋友灯下谈心，谈得投机分手时能达到心智的替换。想起我六年前产假后的一段写作经历，觉得三位的讲法都很实在。他们也分别提到自己独特的经历和感受，如震云的外婆，庆邦的母亲，以及格非生活中的低潮。

I like them all. Besides theｉｒ strong interest in the library and books, they are sensitive and curious, amazed by all witches and wigs in the library. Above all, they are experiencing the world with their mind. Have to skip theｉｒ dinner, for I have promised Qi and the kids to see the fireworks in South Arm.

Ponderasa F is warm and crowded this rainy Thursday night. Although I received the invitation many times for the opening, I didn’t know much about the Centre. Hanban made a commitment of half million?! Sister Xu, way to go!Chinese Consul General, Shugen Liang, commented on the lovely rain in Vancouver, and it would be appreicated if spreaded to China. Dr. Farrar, UBC Provost, and Dr. Tierney, Dean, Faculty of Education joked about the big movement from Australia to BC, for Mr. Liang just arrived from Melbourne. Madame Xu Lin’s name was mentioned many times. Dr. Tierney told the large audience that China related programs have grown from a few to almost 30 in Education, covering all provinces in China. Dr. Patricia Duff also mentioned a few programs in details.

Some people from Asian Studies and Libraries were there. Prof. Swatek got excited when she heard about my recent adventure in Beida. The Peking Opera personal notes and manuscripts of the major actors I have seen in the rare collection made her jealous. “I really need to read them before I die!”, she said. Hope I can find time to write down my experience in China soon.