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Peter Wilson
Political counsellor, BeijingZai Jian to China
We've had an amazing three and a half years here. China forms the majority of my three childrens' lives, and for Mónica and me Beijing has been a wonderful posting. If you're thinking of coming to live here yourself, my strong advice is - do it! I said in my first post that change is a constant theme here. As the thirtieth floor of the tower block behind our garden gets decked out (it was a hole in the ground when I started blogging), things show no sign of settling down.
Anthony Yuen from Phoenix interviewed me last week for Phoenix. If you're curious to hear my Chinese (and then my English!) please try this link.
And thank you for clicking on this blog. I've really enjoyed writing it, reading your comments, and meeting people through it. Zai jian!
Peter Wilson
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The amazing UK pavilion at Shanghai Expo
Here is a guest blog from Liu Ping, who works in our Press and Public Affairs Team, in Bejiing:
I had a chance to stay in Expo park during the first two weeks of May, helping Shanghai colleagues with media work. I'd love to tell you how I feel about our Pavilion.
I think the UK Pavilion is the best one in the whole Expo park! Here are some highlights you can't miss out on:
1. The Green Maps. Here, we showcase four green maps of four capital cities in the UK - London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast. We take off all buildings and streets from the satellite views and retain all the green places. You can have a clear idea of how green British cities are. And you'll also learn that London is the greenest city among all cities of the same size in the world.
2. The Seed Cathedral - for sure! This is definitely a low carbon building. In daytime, no power is used at all! The sun penetrates all the rods and lights the inside. Compared with other pavilions, which are mainly made up of huge screens, don't you think the British one made the best choice? When you go inside it, you'll feel you've entred a mystery world, with hundreds of thousands of seeds lying around you. They are the origins of life! I know some of you may say that there is nothing to see inside the Seed Cathedral, but that's actually the shining point -- the Seed Cathedral itself is already the exhibit. Nothing else comes close.
3. Check out our urban park! 75% of the UK Pavilion is taken up by parkland. It is a part of British culture that when it is sunny, people can have a picnic, chat, and lie down on the grass, and generally have fun. We hope Chinese visitors can experience the same thing, that people can come to our pavilion, sit/lie down on the grass, and enjoy our professional British street-style performances, which take place every half an hour (from 10.30 to 17.00).
If you haven't been to our pavilion yet, do go and have fun during your summer holidays!
Peter Wilson
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Chevening Scholars' Graduation Ceremony
Guest blog from political team member Angela Guo
On Tuesday evening , 25 May 2010, Sebastian Wood, our Ambassador, held a graduation ceremony for the Chevening Fellowship Class of 2010 & Chevening Scholarship Class of 2008-2009 . Over 50 Chevening alumni, 6 sponsors and more than 10 embassy officers came.This annual Chevening event is a chance for newly returned alumni to take photos with the Ambassador with their caps and gowns , as many of them did not have the chance to do this while in the UK. It has become a popular event: some alumni came all the way from Shenzhen, Changsha and Harbin to attend.
Ambassador Wood gave a warm welcome to the graduating scholars and fellows . He said ''tonight's graduation ceremony is less about marking the end of the scholarship year and much more about the start of the Chevening experience.'' He welcomed the alumni to take part actively in the alumni networking events organised either by the Embassy or the China Chevening Alumni Association.
Chevening has been in China for 26 years, and over 2,700 Chevening scholars have studied in the UK. Every year, the British Embassy organises several Chevening receptions to network with alumni. Since the setup of the China Chevening Alumni Association (CCAA) in 2008, supported by the Embassy, it has organised a series of Chevening events covering a wide range of topics such as cross culture, the UK-China relationship, low carbon, leadership, and career development.
The Ambassador also wanted everyone to remember Mr. Li Xiaoming, a fellow Chevening scholar who should have been there that night but who was tragically killed whist serving China on a peace keeping mission in Haiti in January this year.
Following the Ambassasor's speech, two alumni shared their experiences in the UK. They talked about what they had learned, and how the Chevening scholarship had helped them to realise their dream to study in the UK.
Group photos with the Ambassador , and with caps and gowns, was the most exciting moment! The Alumni were divided into 8 groups to take photos. Everyone looked so happy and joyful. The reception ended by alumni collecting their Chevening certificates , quite late in the evening - the sign of a good event!
Peter Wilson
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IDAHO in Beijing
Last night the British Embassy held an event to mark IDAHO (International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia) together with Chinese LGBT NGO Queer Comrades. Different British Embassies all round the world were doing similar things. We invited a variety of Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) civil society organisations to attend and share information about their organisations with members of the Chinese and international media as well as members of the international community. This was followed by a specially produced film by Queer Comrades, which focused on media coverage of LGBT people in China and a panel discussion with leading LGBT civil society participants who kindly shared their experiences.
The result was an interesting and informative discussion as well as an opportunity for over 80 people to come together from across different sectors of society, both Chinese and international to show their solidarity towards ending discrimination against the LGBT community in China. It was a colourful and diverse event, with a really positive atmosphere. It was inspiring to see so many people come together and share their often difficult and very personal experiences with strangers to help further their understanding of their lives.
Since the initial concept of the event was suggested, many people asked what IDAHO is and why we at the British Embassy consider it something worth celebrating. I hope after last night’s event, we helped answer those questions. The British Embassy chose to celebrate this day as a way of demonstrating our commitment to the principle that human rights apply equally to all people, regardless of sexual orientation. LGBT people are often particularly vulnerable to human rights violations.
May 17 was chosen as the day of the event because homosexuality was removed from the International Classification of Diseases of the World Health Organization on 17 May 1990. In China, homosexuality was removed as a criminal offence in 1997 and declassified as a mental disorder in 2001; however, discrimination remains an issue for many of the LGBT population. IDAHO provides an opportunity to raise awareness for many of these issues, and it was certainly a thought-provoking and enjoyable event. Thank you to all who participated and shared their experiences.
Peter Wilson
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Shanghai Expo
The Shanghai Expo opened on May 1. It is a huge deal. The city has received a massive facelift, from revamping the famous Bund (waterfront) to new metro lines and a new airport. The Expo site itself is far larger than any before, and, with over 180 countries participating, it will be the most diverse. Estimates suggest the city has invested more than £48bn - more than the total cost of the Beijing Olympics. The Shanghai Expo Bureau estimate 70 million visitors before the Expo closes on October 31. Records from the first days suggest this ambitious goal may be exceeded.
Our Ambassador, Sebastian Wood, went to attend the opening ceremony, and visit the British Pavilion. I've written about it here before: we have an expo site that we are very proud of. It is already a major attraction,because of the unique shape of the building and the lovely outdoor area that will be hosting different performances every day. And the 60,000 acrylic spikes look magical at night. We have a virtual presence too - www.ukshanghaiexpo.com - so if you are not able to visit, see the amazing space we have created on the web!
Peter Wilson
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8 Chinese cities in 88 days
He began by expressing sympathy for the Qinghai earthquake of 14 April. More than 2,000 people have died, and well over 12,000 are injured. During his travel round the country, Sebastian went to Dujiangyan in Sichuan. In under two years since the even more terrible Wenchuan earthquake there has been amazing reconstruction. This shows what China can achieve when it mobilises its resources. In two years the picture in Yushu will be very different. But now our thoughts are with the victims and their families. Like many other offices in China, we lowered our flags on 21 April in mourning, and our Embassy and Consulates have been sending money we've collected to organisations active in the area, and British companies have been donating. One enterprising group has driven in supplies to a part of this remote area.
8 cities in 88 days was designed to understand the reality of development in today's China. China combines great modernity with real development challenges. The sheer variety is amazing. Each place left very deep impressions on Sebastian, and will inform his work in China. From meeting the company Huawei, which filed more patents than anyone in 2008, to villages outside Lanzhou, where children walk kilometres to elementary school and until recently most girls did not attend school at all. From lush agriculture round Chengdu to harsh, arid landscape in Gansu. From old metropolises like Shanghai and Guangzhou to brand new cities like Shenzhen and Erdos.
Sebastian also saw many examples of, and opportunities for, strong Sino-British collaboration. Guangzhou's TV tower, the world's tallest such tower, engineered by a British company - looking out over a stunning new British opera house designed by a British architect. The successful conclusion of a ten year UK/China cooperation programme in elementary education in Lanzhou, Gansu. Hong Kong - an object lesson in what it takes to be a global financial centre, where many UK firms are active. Villages near Chongqing, where the UK financial sector has a potentially galvanising role to play in micro-finance initiates.
There is another great example of UK design and architecture in Shanghai. Our amazing EXPO pavilion is one of the reasons why Sebastian has been there three times! It is a testament to UK creativity and innovation, and the partnership we want to forge with a new generation of Chinese consumers in modern cities. I hope many more people come to see it, both in the EXPO Park when it opens for six months starting May 1, and on line any time.
Peter Wilson
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Happy Jiangyin
Guest blog from Giles Montagnon, the Embassy’s team leader on China’s internal politics
Since reform and opening up the priority for China’s government - local and national - has been to deliver economic growth. But once a region has achieved a certain standard of living what comes next? I was fortunate enough to participate at a conference that looked at this question organised by leading Chinese political thinker (and author of Democracy is a Good Thing) Yu Keping.
The conference’s host and case study was the city of Jiangyin, a port on the lower reaches of the Yangtze.
In 2005 Jiangyin was declared one of China’s first ‘xiaokang cities’ (moderately well-off cities) with an urban per capita disposable income over RMB 16,000. To guide its next stage of development it launched “Happy Jiangyin”: an award winning project to target more holistic development for the city’s 1.2 million residents.
The project aims to make the government responsible for meeting a set of five targets linked to jobs, incomes, the environment, culture and health. Jiangyin’s government has set measurable indicators under each target to show whether it is performing. Opinion polling data provided by a third party is used for some measures to build up Jiangyin’s overall “Happiness Index”.
The conference gave rise to a passionate debate about happiness and the government’s role in delivering it. There was a debate about which indicators best reflected whether citizens were happy. Important questions were posed. Should the city add other targets for example on education levels? Did the project fully factor in the well-being of the city’s 600,000 migrant workers? How should governance and levels of participation be adjusted to deliver these goals? What about the process for evaluating happiness? What was the role for third parties and for civil society?
These were fascinating questions. With further growth and rapid urbanisation these questions will become increasingly important for more cities in China. The conclusions they reach will affect all of us.
Peter Wilson
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David Miliband in Shanghai
The Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, gave an important speech in Shanghai today.. You can read it in Chinese, here:
http://ukinchina.fco.gov.ukand English here: www.fco.gov.uk
He also visited the stunning British pavilion at Shanghai Expo - there are great photographs on the Foreign Office's main website.
In the afternoon he flew to Beijing. First stop was Langfang Peacekeeping Academy, where Chinese police train to be peacekeepers. He paid tribute to the eight Chinese peacekeepers who recently died in Haiti, and underlined our peacekeeping co-operation. He then saw a rapidly expanding solar panel factory, now doing billions of pounds' worth of business. A vivid demonstration of how the low carbon economy creates huge opportunities for entrepreneurial firms. He had dinner with Foreign Minister Yang this evening, and holds formal talks tomorrow.
Peter Wilson
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China's National People's Congress, and television
In case you're interested, a couple of media clips from Embassy people last Friday - from me, on CCTV's English language channel...
...and an extract from a longer interview with Duncan Sparkes, head of our Economic team, on the more widely watched CCTV economic channel.
I don't know if we make great TV (!) but just in case you want to see.
Peter Wilson
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China and International Women's Day
Guest blog from Kathryn Rand, Political Team.
Hello, I am guest-blogging on Peter's blog today in order to say thank you to the women and men who paved the way to allow young women like myself, recently graduated from university, to enjoy the freedoms and rights I have today as a woman, but also to say that the journey towards realising genuine gender equality is not yet complete. Yesterday was International Women's Day, and in order to celebrate the event, the Ambassador and his wife hosted a reception for some of China's most prominent women from across society. Women I consider to be an inspiration; from world champion athletes, billionaires, scientists, civil society actors, politicians, the room was awash with powerful women. It was an opportunity for the UK to demonstrate its commitment to promoting gender equality and diversity, but really it was an opportunity to genuinely celebrate the women in attendance and remember the long journey women have made and are still making in the fight for true gender equality in society.Whilst International Women's Day is recognised as an important day in China, most people in the UK have never heard of it. And even in China these days, the darker issues surrounding the fight for equal rights, like domestic violence, access to reproductive health and human trafficking, can be obscured by shoe sales. For those who say the fight for women's rights is now a part of history one only needs to look at the report released by the UK Government Equalities Office yesterday to coincide with International Women's Day. It detailed the sad fact that even now, in 2010, one hundred years after the first International Women's Day was celebrated, women are still a significant minority in senior decision-making roles in the UK. In the Chinese media, many front pages were dedicated to the grand International Women's Day celebration held in the Great Hall of the People. Whilst the photograph offered a glimpse of China's most powerful women gathered together in one room, it also served to highlight the lack of women in the most powerful roles. Four rows of women stand behind the front row of China's leaders, all of them men. As President Hu Jintao once said, "The promotion of gender equality and protection of women's rights impact on the immediate interests of women and decide whether human beings can fully develop their potential and pursue a better life." International Women's Day matters because it provides an opportunity to recognise the progress that still needs to be made.
This morning my colleagues told me some of the comments they had received from the women who attended our International Women's Day Reception. There was much discussion was about whether this was the first event ever organised by an Embassy in China in celebration of International Women's Day. I do not know that this is the case, but it is the first time these women had ever been invited to one. One of the attendees went on to say "Anyway, when it marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the International Women's Day, I feel so special that we can have a ceremony and discuss gender equality." My colleague also shared with me her opinion "In China, people always attach great importance to this holiday. For example, many Chinese companies and government agencies offer half-day leave for their female employees. I guess it just reflects the need to recognise our society's gender inequalities. In terms of opportunities for education, job-hunting, promotion etc., women still face discrimination. Personally, I think this reception generates a platform for us to think about gender issues and women's rights. Obviously, we need to do more in the future." For me, these comments made the event worthwhile.
Two hours before the event began I read an email from my mum wishing me luck for the event. She told me to remember my grandma and the hard life she experienced because of being a woman in the times she lived. And that's what last night was about. We celebrated the achievements of women past and present. But what really matters is how we think of women every day, not just on days dedicated to them.
Peter Wilson
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Meeting President Hu of China
Today our new Ambassador, Sebastian Wood, presented his credentials to President Hu at the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing. That now makes him the official representative of our Head of State in China, which is why he met China's Head of State personally. It is a very formal ceremony, and underlines an important idea - an Ambassador represents his or her country at the most senior level, and speaks personally for the Head of State and the Head of Government. Four of us went with him from the Embassy. I felt lucky to be one of them, because this does not happen very often.
Although this was a formal ceremony, President Hu was warm, and the meeting felt a bit more relaxed than I had expected. He said that the relationship between our countries had great potential, and broad prospects. Sebastian said that this was a historical time to be here, and that he was optimistic about the future. These sentiments matter, particularly when we don't see eye to eye on some issues. We've had diplomatic relations with the People's Republic for 38 years. The breadth of the relationship has expanded hugely since then, particularly in the last decade. There's a lot to build on if we both work at it, and build the structures that are necessary to take the relationship forward.
The same ceremony will happen soon in London, when China's new Ambassador, Liu Xiaoming, goes to meet the Queen. He and Sebastian have really big jobs, and can make a huge difference to how a relationship works. Hope everything goes well for them both.
Here is a photo of Sebastian leaving past the guard of honour on the way from the Great Hall. The official photos will reach us from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs a little later, and we will put them on the website.
Peter Wilson
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Shanghai - first of 8 cities in 88 days
Sebastian Wood, our new Ambassador, is just back from Shanghai, the first of his 8 cities in 88 days.
If you go to the UK in China website, you can see him on the front page, by our Shanghai pavilion as it takes shape. It is changing fast - there is already a big difference to the photo I posted on this blog three weeks ago.
If you click on the story, you can also follow Sebastian's progress round China on an interactive map.
He has been active in Beijing, too - calling on key Ministries, and meeting opinion formers across a range of issues. He has also started to meet some of the extraordinary Brits in China - see the photo below, and our website front page for some of their stories.
Peter Wilson
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New Ambassador to China
Sebastian Wood had his first day at work as our new Ambassador to China today. If you would like to read what he says, and see what he looks like, click here! www.ukinchina.fco.gov.uk
Peter Wilson
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China, the UK and Haiti: Making sacrifices for peace and security
But the good atmosphere was shattered by news from Haiti that 8 Chinese peacekeepers, including two closely involved with our joint programme, had been killed by the earthquake. It is likely that UK staff were also killed in the same UN headquarters building, along with tens of thousands of Haitians in the capital and beyond. This disaster has brought further misery to a country that is trying to emerge from conflict and underlined the dangers faced by UN peacekeepers working in difficult circumstances across the world. We can only hope that the ongoing humanitarian efforts, including by Chinese and British workers, can help avoid further deaths.
Peacekeeping takes skills of communication, organisation, discipline and bravery. Two Chinese colleagues with whom we worked, Guo Baoshan and Li Xiaoming displayed these skills. Mr Guo launched the UK-China Peacekeeping English programme several years ago and was respected by all who worked with him. Mr Li studied at Warwick University last year on a Chevening Scholarship and inspired his fellow students.
We will remember Mr Guo and Mr Li's sacrifices for peace and security, as well as the other victims of the earthquake in Haiti. And in their memory we will maintain our enthusiasm for international co-operation on peacekeeping.
Peter Wilson
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22 January 2010
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UK@Shanghai Expo
This space tells many stories, and I really want to experience the whole thing for myself when it is ready. Seeing it take shape on the banks of the Huangpu River, the pavilion seemed to me like an animal coming out of hybernation. I am posting a couple of pictures of what the structure looks like now. But photos don't show how dynamic the building will be. Over sixty thousand acrylic spikes move. They bring light to the inside in the day, and to the outside, from small lamps buried in the spikes, at night. Embedded at the interior end of each spike is one of over 6000 types of seed, from the Millennium Seedbank at Kew and the Institute of Botany in Kunming (a province from where an astonishing number of British flowering plants originally came).
This space, and the whole Expo, will be open until 31 October. Six months. I really hope you see it! Do look at the website - www.ukshanghaiexpo.com - for the virtual flythrough, and the competition to find a nickname for the site.
Peter Wilson
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17 January 2010
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A blog about the work of the British Embassy in China.
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