Final China Images Before Moving On

Not too long ago Michael Ma, a sweet young man who works for the Service Center for International Exchanges in the Xicheng District of Beijing, would have been imprisoned for wearing this shirt. He accompanied our delegation almost everywhere and we got to know him pretty well during our China sister city trip. He's a big fan of B.B. King and other American blues artists, and his dream is to come to the U.S. someday for a taste of authentic blues. I showed him some of my blog photos from Memphis related to B.B. King, and he was practically overcome with joy.

The 161 Middle School is on the grounds of a set of ancient buildings that once were part of the Forbidden City. And we think Pasadena schools are historic! Students from 161 and Blair High School have been communicating with each other via the Internet for more than 10 years, and delegations of students have visited each other's communities.




Here's Phil Montez, a member of the Pasadena Sister Cities Committee, in our Beijing hotel lounge with Judy Kent and yours truly. When we were in Shanghai, he heard a group of people speaking Korean. After he approached them and told them he had fought for the good guys in the Korean War, they very emotionally said to him, "Thank you for saving our families." It was quite touching. (This photo was shot by Fred Alcantar.)


There were several welcome banners indoors and outdoors throughout the Xicheng District.




Ceiling shot at Beijing Airport:


Mayor Bogaard carried this great tote bag from Art Center College of Design on our travels.


People with umbrellas out our bus window in Shanghai. This is one of my favorite shots because the camera focused on the raindrops and not the people.


It's agonizing to say I have dozens of other photos, but it's time to move on to the here and now.

Mystery History -- Solved

Well, people nibbled around the edges but didn't quite make it to this week's Mystery History solution.

In the photo above, chambermaids from the Hotel Maryland compete in a promotional bed-making contest in 1931.

There was a mad dash from the starting line:


Bed linens were flying as the chambermaids rushed to complete the task:


Pretty beds all in a row.


The winner with the fastest bed-making time: Blanche Scott.


Located on Colorado Street between Los Robles and Euclid, the Maryland was a resort hotel built in 1903. After it burned to the ground in April 1914, it was rebuilt (designed by Myron Hunt) and then demolished in 1938 to make way for The Broadway department store.

The hotel spanned from Walnut Street on the north to Colorado Street on the south, Los Robles Avenue to the east and Euclid Avenue to the west. The only remaining portions of the hotel are a building of condos on the northeast corner of Union and Euclid, and fountains behind All Saints Church that are now incorporated into Plaza las Fuentes.

A.M. Clifford was fire chief from 1901 to 1919.


From the Pasadena Fire Department website:

The Maryland Hotel fire turned out to be particularly difficult to extinguish, as a large natural gas line under the hotel continued to spew forth flame long after the hotel had burned to the ground. In spite of all efforts, the valve to shut off the gas could not be located until hours later, when it was found underneath a recently poured cement sidewalk.

The Forbidden City

The Forbidden City was the seat of supreme power for 24 emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties from 1416 to 1911. The palace was "forbidden" in the sense that, aside from members of the imperial household, no one could enter without an emperor's permission.

This historic wall has nine dragons standing guard. In ancient China, nine was a prestigious number.


I never anticipated the vastness of the place -- 980 buildings covering nearly 8 million square feet. It's listed by UNESCO as the largest collection in the world of preserved, ancient wooden structures.

There are countless hand-carved marble terraces and balustrades:


The edge of each roof is topped with an emperor leading mythical creatures that guard against evil. The more figures, the more important the building:



Here's a closeup shot to show you some detail of a typical building:


Judy Kent, field representative to Mayor Bogaard, and I posed with a Pasadena Star-News at one of the ornate doorways. Red symbolizes good fortune. You may see this shot in the paper one of these days!



Judy took a ceiling shot for me:

Mystery History

Where are we? And what's happening?

The first person to guess correctly will win a fabulous prize!

I'll have the full scoop on Thursday.

Pasadena Expatriates in China

Rob Bowman still owns his home in Bungalow Heaven, though he rents it out ever since he moved to the Xicheng District of Beijing about three years ago to teach English at a high school and a middle school.

He used to work in the media center at PCC. Now he's married to his sweet wife Lily, a Chinese citizen. That's Dru Emm, a member of Pasadena Sister Cities Committee's China Subcommittee, on the right.

Brad became very homesick for Pasadena during our visit.



David Pierson used to work in the Pasadena bureau of the Los Angeles Times (back when LAT covered Pasadena, that is). Now he's a reporter with the Beijing bureau and loving every minute of it. He joined us for an official sister cities dinner one evening and I was happy to have an opportunity with catch up with him.



Chad Blackwell (in front of window) grew up in Pasadena, went to PCC and graduated from USC. Now he's the managing director of Jieyang Arts and Crafts, a promotional products company in Kunshan that has major corporate clients throughout the world.

We had lunch with Chad on our way back from Zhouzhuang Water Village. (My camera batteries died and I had to take this shot with my phone in funky lighting conditions.)

Rob, David and Chad are among the many, many former students of Professor Cathy Wei, who teaches Chinese language at PCC and is a member of the China Subcommittee of the Pasadena Sister Cities Committee.

Here's Cathy, wearing red, in the restaurant at our Beijing hotel:



And now Doug Emm, son of Dru, will be the next of Cathy's students to fly the coop: Chad offered him an internship -- just the kind of job he was hoping for to get his foot in the China door.

Here's Doug (center) at one of our many dinners, with Jack Wills and yours truly.

Great Wall, Revisited

I made it to the entrance of the Great Wall and could go no further, but others in our delegation did. So I'm borrowing some photos in hopes that you'll get the full flavor of the place.







All the photos above were shot by Fred Alcantar, chairman of the Pasadena Sister Cities Committee. His knees were just fine.

Here's Fred (second from left at one of our many state-occasion dinners) with Jack Wills (far left), USC emeritus professor of history and member of the PSCC's China Subcommittee; a gentleman from Penrith, New South Wales, Australia, another of Xicheng District's sister cities; and Jeannine Bogaard.

China Alley Shopping

In Beijing and Shanghai we found some of the most quaint shops down historic, cobblestoned alleys.

Here Mayor Bogaard feasts his eyes on something fascinating in a Shanghai alley shop window. It was drizzling that day.

There are also plenty of open-air markets and services, such as these in Beijing:





The photos above were shot by Fred Alcantar, chairman of the Pasadena Sister Cities Committee.