MY CHINA DIARY II - World Association of Soil and Water ...

From left: View from the window of my plane showing the wetland area (fish, shrimp farming) south of Suvarnabhumi Airport, on the Gulfof Thailand; Main building of the Guangdong Institute of Eco-environmental and Soil Sciences in Guangzhou, Dr. Yishan Liao who worksas webmaster for the WASWC website in Guangzhou; Ms. Zhang Li, my good friend in Guangzhou; The Eastern Cornucopia Holiday Hotelin Guangzhou where I stayed; View from the window of my hotel room; Subtropical and tropical fruits in a fruit shop in Guangzhou.Another old friend of mine is Dr. Xia Hanping, of the South China Botanical Garden –CAS. On July 11, he drove an electric car belonging to the Botanical Garden to take me tolunch with him and Prof. Zhian Li, a soil ecologist of the same institute. I found that Dr.Xia wanted to show me the newly built and soon to be finished glasshouse of his institute.He said it was not one, but four combined. The largest one, 7,000 m 2 in area, was the2largest in Asia, if not the world. Of the smaller ones, three of them were 1,000 m each.2

From left: Dr. Xia Hanping fetching me with his Garden’s electric car; Taking photos at the South China Botanical Garden (SCBG) withhis colleague, Prof. Zhian Li; And at the Champi Sirindhorn tree (Magnolia sirindhorniae) that Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn ofThailand planted in the Garden in October 2003; The glasshouse (7,000 m 2 , largest in Asia, if not the world) is near completion; Interior ofthe large glasshouse; The same; Me at a very poisonous tree; The Waterfall; A pitcher plant with a deep pitcher-shaped fluid-filled pouchin which insects are trapped and absorbed (many species, chiefly in the family Nepenthaceae); A pleasant walkway in the glasshouse; Asmaller glasshouse for a specific group of plants; A happy laborer weeding an area of the Garden.The glasshouses should be ready around October 2008 and would accommodate many plant species. In the largeglasshouse, besides hundreds of varieties of plants, there would be various types of landscape, namely a stream, awaterfall and jungle – plus a coffee shop. The latter was well hidden under an artificial hill and could serve at leastone hundred customers at any time. Dr. Xia always shows me some new thing every time we meet!Information about the institute (taken from one of its publications): South China Botanical Garden, ChineseAcademy of Sciences (SCBG-CAS), formerly known as the Institute of Agriculture and Forestry, Sun Yat SenUniversity, was founded in 1929 by Chen Huanyong (Woon-young Chun), renowned botanist and academician ofCAS. It was renamed as South China Institute of Botany – CAS in 1954, and changed to the present name in 2003according to the development strategy of CAS. SCGB is one of the largest botanical gardens in China. Its nurseryand exhibition zone occupies an area of 282.5 ha. It is designed mainly for plant conservation with over 11,000plant taxa grown in over 30 gardens. These contain special collections such as magnolias, palms, gingers andorchids. Inside the garden there are several unique landscapes such as the Magic Forest by Dragon Cave,modern Conservatory Greenhouse and Guangzhou oldest village. Address: Xingke Road #723, Tianhe District,Guangzhou 510650, China. bgs@scbg.ac.cn, www.wcbg.ac.cn.On July 12 Dr. Li Dingqiang, director of the Guangdong Institute of Eco-environmental andSoil Sciences, took me for an outing and saw me off to Beijing by train in the evening. Firstlywe went to the birthplace of Hong Xiuquan ( 洪 秀 全 ), see left. He was leader of the TaipingRebellion (1850-64) in the northern part of Guangdong Province. Quoting fromhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion, he established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom orHeavenly Kingdom of Great Peace with its capital atNanjing and gained control of significant parts of southernChina. At its peak, about 30 million people were being ruledover. I had heard of him and his movement but this was the first time to visitthe birthplace, currently a museum. Besides learning a bit of Chinese history,visitors to the place might also see some interesting folk arts of the period oneand one-half centuries ago. Dr. Li told me the semi-circular pond in front of thehouse was unique due to its shape, which he believed was the only such designin this part of China.From left: In front of the residence of Hong Xiuquan, leader of the Taiping Rebellion; With Dr. Li Dingqiang in front of the statue; Thestatue of Hong Xiuquan; Dr. Li and an inscribed stone in front of the house; The semi-circular pond in front of the house; A row houseprobably used by his followers; The main house of Hong Xiuquan; Dr. Li in front of the entrance to the main house; Me inspecting theearth bricks used to construct a house; Chinese tourists taking photos of each other in front of the statue.3

From left: Young Hong Xiuquan plowing the rice field with a buffalo; Statue of Hong Xiuquan in the building; Two paintings showing himbeing respected like a semi-God; Three paintings showing him during the campaign, when he was very popular among poor peasantfarmers.Household articles and furniture in use during 1850s.Our happy hour after the tour of Hong Xiuquan’s residence.4

Story of Hong Xiuquan: From the base of his statue, we learnt thatHong Xiuquan was a native of Guanlubu, Hua County, and founder of theTaiping Heavenly Kingdom. In 1843, he identified himself as God’s secondson, “God’s Chinese Son” and organized a group called the GodWorshipers. Afterwards, he went to Guangxi Province to preach with FengYunshan and others. In 1851, he led the peasant uprising in Jintian Village of Guangxi. Later on, he establishedthe Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and proclaimed himself Heavenly King. In 1853, the Taiping forces capturedNanjing which was renamed Tianjing later. In the same year, the landowning system of the Taiping HeavenlyKingdom was promulgated. The confrontation between the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Qing Dynastylasted until 1864 when Hong Xiuquan died.I was scheduled to take a train from Guangzhou to Beijing that afternoon. We enjoyed the day so much that Ialmost missed the train. When I realized the time and our distance from the station that the train would leavefrom, we had only a quarter of an hour left! So we had to make a big rush to the station. With the help of an oldbut experienced coolie we ‘flew’ past several barricades and perhaps a thousand other passengers (true, notexaggerating), only to reach the train just before its wheels started to roll. I regret for my lack of vigilance, whichcaused so much trouble to my host. Maybe I need to examine myself a bit. The action of the old coolie remindedme of Aesop’s Lion and Rat story.The Guangzhou-Beijing railway is one of several trunk routes of this country. Swiss engineers came to start theconstruction of railways in China in 1895. Since then train travel has become the standard mode of transportationin this country. Compared with European trains, these older iron horses were of lower quality but undoubtedlymuch, much better than those in Thailand and other Asian countries (with exception of Japan). For myself, I feelcomfortable traveling everywhere by train in China though my command of Chinese is poor, knowing just fewwords. I prefer to take a hard bed ticket (6 persons in one compartment) whenever these are available. This ismore economical than the soft bed ticket (4 persons in one compartment). I find no problem to climb to the topbed close to the roof of the train, but typically a fellow traveler will always be kind to let me exchange the bedwith his or hers, if that is the case. In certain cases I can also take a seat ticket, which reduces my budget a lot,with the bonus of getting to know some local Chinese people. That night I read the book Xuzhou to its end.From left: Upper row: A corridor on the train Guangzhou-Beijing; A girl enjoying her breakfast; A boy staring at my camera; A trainconductor collecting garbage and gathering recyclable materials at the same time; A male conductor sweeping the floor of the corridorafter the meal; Restaurant personnel bringing fruits from lower latitudes in Guangzhou to sell to passengers who might want to givepresents to their relatives in Beijing. Lower row: Boy performing Kung Fu after I asked him – which he enjoyed very much, as did otherpassengers.July 13, I woke up just before a vendor arrived with a pot of hot porridge, so I enjoyed one bowl, which cost just5 RMB. The train had already passed Zhengzhou and would continue on to Shijiazhuang to arrive at Beijing earlyin the afternoon. A very small boy came around so I asked him to demonstrate me Kung Fu, which he did verywell. It seems everyone in this country knows this kind of martial art. I had planned to visit Shaolin Temple inHenan Province on the final leg of this trip. Kung Fu originates in China and study of this martial art is still beingencouraged everyday.5

Before reaching Beijing the train ran past a large plain growing corn, beans and other field crops, which has goodirrigation and attains high yields. I have traveled this route quite often, so the vast landscape of the North ChinaPlain is now quite familiar to me. If I pass this route in autumn, it is nice to see a lot of corn left to dry in thesunlight on the flat concrete roofs of houses along the rail line.The train pulled in at the Beijing West station (known to be the largest railway station in Asia) where I took a taxito the Jade Palace Hotel in the northern part of the city. This hotel was close to the meeting venue of the Bio- andEco-engineering conference, to be held the next day.From left: A high speed train of China – CHR = China High-speed Rail – while stopping at a station en route to Beijing; Fields growingcorn and other crops along the railway; A large corn field; Trees are grown along the railway and highway; Beijing West Station, thelargest train station in Asia; Jade Palace Hotel, my residence in Beijing this time.After checking in, I did not wait long before finding my way to the center of the city. The nearby train station ZhiChun Lu serves Line 13 (aboveground train) and connects with the Line 2 underground train. There, passengerscan transfer to the Line 1 underground train that traverses the city center. Coming to Beijing this time I found theyhave changed to new trains, to welcome the 29 th Olympic Games. To lessen the use of personal vehicles andreduce pollution, the city has encouraged its people to use public transport by reducing the fare of the whole trainsystem within Beijing to only 2 RMB, a real gift to the visitors!It took me almost one hour to reach a new Beijing theater, called the National Centre for the PerformingArts. The theater opened last year but it is so new that many people go there for sightseeing. I went in to find outif there was any performance that I could attend. Inside the half-egg-shaped dome I found that there was not onetheater but at least three. There was one on the east side, acting as a Concert Hall, one on the west side for dramaand a large one in the middle for opera. The three theaters were well separated from each other. There was noperformance in the Concert Hall, so I bought a ticket to see Merchant of Venice. Then I found that Aida was alsobeing performed in the Opera House on the same evening. I had never seen Aida before and had hoped to see it,notably the impressive Aida March. So such a chance disappeared and don’t know if it will come again.I admit that when I chose to see the Merchant of Venice it was ONLY to get to see inside the DramaticTheater. The performing artists belonged to an American company; they talked and sang in English, with Chinesesubtitles shown on both sides. It was full house today though the tickets were not cheap. I paid 380 RMB for myseat in a middle row! I believe some of the audience were not there to enjoy the play but rather to view theappearance of the theater. I noticed one Chinese family who decided to walk out only after a few minutes. Itseemed a pity that the more than 1,000 RMB they had paid for entering such a prestigious place did not providemuch return. The play lasted less than two hours, with one intermission. Then I walked around inside the wholedome, where they have arranged some theatrical exhibitions for visitors. These included how the present NationalCentre for the Performing Arts was planned and constructed, with the groundbreaking taking place early thiscentury. Before leaving, I bought a few CDs that were issued as a commemorative set of this great architecturalmarvel. They should make good presents for friends. See the performance programs of all theaters at the Center(in Chinese only) at www.chncpa.org.6

From left: Zhi Chun Lu train station serving Line 13 of the Beijing train system; New trains were introduced to replace the old ones on theoccasion of the 29 th Olympiad; In front of the National Centre for the Performing Arts; Posters showing some performances to take place inthe three theaters within this dome-shaped structure: Dramatic Theater, Opera House and Concert Hall; A couple taking a photo in frontof the Aida opera poster; Poster showing an old Chinese play – Jinzi.I admit that I enjoy western types of performing arts, especially opera. Though not equipped with lots of money,when traveling abroad I used to take the opportunity to visit theaters or opera houses of note. I saw Bizet’sCarmen at the Opera House in Paris with real horses galloping on stage; that was as early as 1967. Otherperformances I have seen include Madame Butterfly by Puccini at the Stockholm and Prague opera houses, withFidelio by Beethoven at Covent Garden in London, to name but a few.On the way back I had a chance to look around, while walking from the train station to the hotel. In fact, travelingin China is relatively safe, perhaps because of strict laws with severe punishment. But one should not always trustthe relatively calm situation. I was once held captive in a beautiful city of China. I was threatened and had to partwith some money just to regain my freedom. I hope to have a chance to write about this short episode later.July 14, 2008. Today the conference will start. The conference venue is just a few minutes away. The NationalCenter for International Research in LIAMA (Sino-French Laboratory for Computer Science, Automation, andApplied Mathematics) (or Institute of Automation) that belongs to the Chinese Academy of Sciences is on the 11 thand 12 th floors of a beautiful building (see below). While the room for our bio- and eco-engineering meeting is onthe 13 th floor (Chinese have no problem with number 13), the top level. This was the first time I would meet Dr.Alexia Stokes, so it was an exciting moment. Actually we had had a continued correspondence over the past 4years, since the 1 st meeting on eco-engineering in Thessaloniki, Greece, in 2004. We found we had a commoninterest in using plants to stabilize slopes, especially in non-agricultural areas, which is both cheaper and muchmore visually-attractive.Foreign delegates formed the majority of participants today, while Chinese colleagues were in small number. Thisis the opposite of what might be expected in Thailand. I had met a number of foreign delegates before, namelyAlex Watson from New Zealand and Doug Wimble from Australia. They attended the Bioengineering conferencein Manila in 1999, while I’d met Gernot Fiebiger from Austria at the Debris Flow conference in Taipei in Octoberlast year. Jean Poesen had attended the BORASSUS conference in Chiang Mai, Thailand early this year. Reunionwith friends made the friendships firmer and meeting new friends would make something new happen!7

From left: National Center for International Research in LIAMA (Sino-French Laboratory for Computer Science, Automation, and AppliedMathematics) (or Institute of Automation), belonging to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is on the 11 th and 12 th floors. Our Bio- and Ecoengineeringmeeting was held on the 13 th floor.Altogether there were almost 50 papers presented during the 3½ days of the conference. Can you see yourself?Conference opening: Alexia has worked with her Chinese colleagues at this institute for over 2 years and thisconference seems to be the project conclusion. After she had made a short introduction to the conference, DirectorTianzi Jiang gave an opening speech, to be followed by Doug Wimble, talking on behalf of the IECA(International Erosion Control Association). Gernot gave a speech on IUFRO’s behalf. I then gave a speech onWASWC’s role in promoting soil and water conservation worldwide, especially by using plants. This wasfollowed by a PPT presentation about the recent earthquake in Sichuan Province. It had been prepared by Prof.Peng Cui who could not come. The PPT (http://waswc.soil.gd.cn/SoilErosionNSWC.html) clearly identified thelocations of quakes and results in terms of damage and injuries. The death toll was almost 70,000, with millions ofhomes being destroyed.8

Pictures from the Sichuan earthquake on May 12, 2008, as shown at the conference opening. The PPT is available on the WASWC website.We should all congratulate Prof. Peng Cui and his colleagues from the Institute of Mountain Disaster andEnvironment – CAS in Chengdu. They had laboriously prepared this valuable set of 70 slides as an importanthistorical record. At the time of the meeting, the staff members from this institute were still helping in the rescueof the injured and rehabilitation of the quake areas. Constant risks remained due to several lakes formed by theearthquake.CONFERENCE OVERVIEWThe conference went on ‘as usual’ for 4 days, with activities such as:An ice-breaking drink session around the posters on the evening of Monday, July 14, 2008.In the afternoon of Tuesday, July 15, 2008, the group went to the Beijing Botanical Garden.In the evening of Wednesday, July 16, 2008, all went to attend a banquet at the famous Bai Jia Da Yuan RestaurantThe conference ended in the evening of Thursday, July 17, 2008. Alexia said goodbye to all participants.Whole day Friday, July 18, 2008, many but not all went to tour the Great Wall and Ming Tombs.The conference was well attended by participants from both the west and east. Several had attended the firstmeeting in Thessaloniki in 2004, so it created a nice atmosphere when the organizers (particularly Alexia Stokesand her husband Thierry Fourcaud) met with acquaintances once more. Among them was a group of eight peoplefrom Greece, plus another good friend formerly from Macedonia (I teasingly called them the Pan-Hellenic groupduring social functions).During the conference, each person was allowed 20 minutes to cover their talk and to answer a few questions. Ithink all of them, including myself, had used the Powerpoint computer program to present their work. I mustcongratulate Bill Gates once more for having created a good product for the academic community to use inadvancing their profession. I always admire and thank him, since his innovations of Windows and MicrosoftOffice allowed our association to serve members in 10 languages! Another person to admire (and even more thanBill Gates) is the US computer engineer Mr. Ray Tomlinson, who invented internet-based e-mail some 37 yearsago http://inventors.about.com/od/estartinventions/a/email.htm. Such an innovation, and its present impact, shouldbe worthy of earning the inventor a Nobel Prize, since it has been said that that no one during their active lifecould avoid using the internet and e-mail. Altogether, there were almost 50 papers presented, with around 10papers by authors who could not make it to the event. Papers were arranged into the following sessions:- Soil mass movement and vegetation (I, II)- Erosion processes, soil conservation and vegetation- Ecology, biodiversity and restoration after disturbance (I, II)- Ground bio- and eco-engineering tecniques (I, II, III)- Soil hydrology and integrated catchment management- Modelling of slope stability (I, II)- Mitigation, management and the future9

In addition, there were some 30+ posters, half of them presented in the first 2 days and the other half during thelast 2 days. These posters served their purpose well, and I have noted some very good titles among them. Paperspresented at this conference will be selected for publication in special issues of Ecological Engineering (Elsevier)and Plant and Soil (Springer). Readers interested in knowing more about papers at this conference and the specialissues may contact the secretary Ms. Hong Bizhen at bzhong@nlpr.ia.ac.cn.A 53-minute video entitled “Lessons of the Loess Plateau” was shown to participants onthe first day after the ice-breaking. This was compiled as part of the EnvironmentalEducation Media Project (EEMP), Beijing. The director, John Liu (johnliu@eempc.org),came to present it himself. The video shows what development personnel should do in theirwork on the Chinese Loess Plateau. Ideas could be applied to other damaged ecosystems.The video can be viewed at www.earthshope.org.Some conference participants, just before leaving for the Beijing Botanical Garden on July 15, 2008.On July 15 afternoon, we went to the Beijing Botanical Garden, which is located on the west side of the city. Ashort history is given below. I had planned to visit the Beijing Botanical Garden sometime ago. By including thistrip in the conference program, it became a double treat. So I greatly appreciated the organizers’ planning.At the Institute of Botany (CAS) we passed buildings that are being used as offices and a herbarium. We weretaken around the arboretum, gardens and glasshouses. The following photos were taken during this short trip oflittle more than one hour.With digital photography, we were able to gather a lot of informationwithin a short time. In one building I took a photograph of a SouthAmerican water lily and its descriptive plate. I later realised thatmisspelt English words (typos) are still common in China, e.g.‘Vitoria amarzonica’ (wrong) instead of ‘Victoria amazonica’ (right). A photo of V. amazonica in a glasshouse ofthe Institute of Botany is shown here. You can compare this with one in Japan, that can comfortably support achild sitting on its huge leaf (only needing some help in spreading her weight).10

From left: Office building of the Institute of Botany – CAS, a large part of it is the herbarium; Stone pillars of the Institute; A pleasantwalkway within the arboretum; A large juniper; Flowers of crepe myrtle; Daylily, an edible flower; Victoria lily, an Amazonian water plantwhose leaf can carry the weight of a child, the last photo is from Japan.Next, we stopped at one glasshouse and our Austrian friend, Gernot Fiebiger, told us that inhis country such a cactus, with many long, hard and sharp thorns, is called a ‘mother-in-law’sstool’. Many of us laughed on hearing that but agreed that such a name was apt! I rememberwe have perhaps a hundred of them at the glasshouse of the Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden inChiang Mai, northern Thailand. (Note: In Thailand we say ‘Botanic Garden’, rather than‘Botanical Garden’, as is the practice in China.)After crossing a road we were in the Botanical Garden proper. There are many gardens inside and I think it’sbetter to spend one full day there. I took a number of photos to show friends.11

From left: Large stone with the name of the Beijing Botanical Garden at its entrance; Zhuo (Growing Strong) – the sculpture initiallycreated by Japanese sculpturist Mitsuaki Sora to mark the 30 th anniversary of the formalization of China-Japan diplomatic relationship in2002. It was expanded in 2007 to symbolize the friendship of five continents under the Olympic flag; Pleasant pedestrian path inside theGarden, with many pictureque Salix matsudana (or Pendula) trees; A typical bridge of ancient design; Glazed Arch constructed during thereign of Emperor Qianlong which has four pillars, three arches and a single-layer saddle roof made of yellow glazed tiles. Decorated witholivine tiles, it looks all the more exquisite and gorgeous, reflecting the tremendous momentum of the royal temple in the Qing Dynasty.Inlaid on the arch is the glazed design of “Two Dragons Frolicking with a Pearl”, the images being vividly brought to life. Tthe characters“Tong Can Mi Zang” are engraved on the façade of the arch, with the characters “Ju Zu Jing Yan” on the rear surface. These werewritten by Emperor Qianling himself; A monument showing where the 40ºN latitude line passes.From left: Walking along the Wangfujing pedestrian street at night, there are many shops; Century-old gift shop; A shop selling clothes;Wangfujing snack street catering all types of food, especially from remote areas and some strange food like roasted scorpions.We arrived back not too late, so I took the chance to go for a stroll alone along Wangfujing walking street,looking at the century-old giftshop. I bought some souvenirs, tried some local foods at a branch street and boughtsome English books at the Beijing Foreign Languange Bookshop. I got several good books this time, includingone that describes all the World Heritage Sites in China (except the last one – the clayhouses in Fujian Province) –then I went back to the hotel.On the evening of July 16 we were advised that the restaurant for our conference banquet was only 7 minutesaway by car or 25 minutes if we wanted to walk. While I preferred walking but I did not want to risk this special12

event by getting lost; so I went with the group in one of the two organized buses. Along the way, we saw a lot ofdigital technology enterprises, being dubbed the Silicon Valley of Beijing.I quote from the restaurant brochure: “The Baijiadayuan Restaurant lies within the famous “Yuejia Garden”, inSuzhou Street, Haidian District, Beijing. It is famous for imperial court cuisine and the unique Baifu dishes. Therestaurant is in the garden style of the Qing Dynasty. It has successively won such honors as the “NationalSpecial Grade Restaurant”, “Four star Level Tourism Hotel”, Famous Restaurant of China”, “Chinese StyleCharacteristic Hotel” and “Reliable Enterprise”.The garden where the restaurant is located was once the residence of Prince Li of the Qing Dynasty. It was builtin the reign of Emperor Kangxi by the offspring of Prince Li who was the second son of the first emperor of theQing Dynasty, Nu’erhachi. Daishan (Prince Li) was one of the founding fathers and leader of the Zhenghong Qi(one of the “Eight Banners”, the military administrative organizations of the Manzu nationality). He wasconferred as the chief of the powerful and renowned “Eight Iron Crown Kings”. Ten of his posterity succeeded tohis rank. In the early period of the Republic of China, this garden was shifted to the Yue family, the owner ofTongrentang Pharmacy, and renamed Yue Jia Garden”.“As you walk into the restaurant, leisurely ancient music is lingering and reverberating in the air, and thefragrance of flowers and grasses is prevailing here and there. By a squatting down (ancient form of etiquette) andan ancient greeting “Nin Ji xiang” (meaning “Good luck to you”), the maid holding a silk handkerchief leads youinto this poetic and picturesque wonderland. The garden restaurant, with its Qing Dynasty styled garden,architechtures, habiliments, etiquette, music, and cate, creates an impressive cultural atmosphere, which makesthe guests comfortable and forget to leave. Welcome to appreciate the catering culture of the Qing Dynasty here.It’s a symbol of your nobleness”.From left: Entrance gate to the Yuejia Garden Restaurant; Every participant seems to carry a camera; An actor or actress at the show?; Alovely maid examines her photo in the camera of our Bhutanese friend Tshering Dorji; A good cheer of the Pan-Hellenic Group; A lovelymaid shares a happy moment with Alexia and me; Congratulatory speeches from participants; Maids appear in ancient colorful costumes;They say ‘ch-e-e-se’ – when two old friends take a photo together (I heard Chinese would say ‘to-fu’ for the same purpose); Hong Bizhenand Walter Chen being served; A friendly chat between two Balkan friends, Ioannis Spanos and Slobodan Mickovski; The entrance-exit ofthe restaurant is beautifully lit at night.As indicated in the brochure, components of this restaurant are various, not just material cuisine, but also food forthought. By the end of the banquet, all participants had enjoyed the evening enormously and we left for the hotelfully satisfied.13

Doug Wimble, Geeta Shrestha Vaidya and meLate afternoon of July 17: It was the closing session and time to say good-bye. These are the words of Alexia,who chaired the final session: “The 2 nd International Conference on ‘Ground Bio- and Eco-engineering. The Useof Vegetation to Improve Slope Stability’ was held in Beijing, China, 14-18 July 2008. Over 100 participantsattended, representing 22 countries. Scientists and practitioners had met together to discuss subjects areasranging from plant root-soil interactions to large-scale mass wasting processes and restoration measures. In anera where more and more natural hazards are occurring, soil erosion, landslides and other catastrophic eventsresult not only in the loss of lives and infrastructure, but cause major damage to the environment. The aim ofthese meetings therefore is to bring together scientific researchers, practitioners, geotechnical and civilengineers, biologists, ecologists and foresters to discuss current problems in slope stability research, and how toaddress those problems using ground bio- and eco-engineering techniques. The next conference will be held inVancouver, Canada in 2012. Further information will be available at: http://icgbe2.cirad.fr/. Bye-bye.Doug Wimble and I had dinner together in the evening. We shared a feeling that co-operation by WASWC andIECA should benefit many aspects of conservation of both agricultural and non-agricultural land. We will proposeto each council that WASWC and IECA should cooperate over certain activities, e.g. organizing technicalmeetings. I see benefits of such a venture, since both WASWC and IECA have a global mandate and areas ofinterest can complement each other very well.[Earlier in the day, I had a lunch meeting with Henry Lu Shunguang, ourExecutive Secretary and we agreed on founding the work of WASWC in Chinaat Beijing, Yangling (near Xian – see Part 2 of this Diary) and Guangzhou. Wemay thus call this the China Triangle, to correspond with the India Triangle ofDelhi-Ludhiana-Dehra Dun. Also on Tuesday, July 15, I met Li Hui, a student ofProf. Li Hongwen of China Agricultural University in Beijing. We discussedvarious matters; I found her to be an intelligent student. At the same time, money thatWASWC members had donated to help Sichuan earthquake victims was given to theorganizers.]July 18, 2008. At breakfast I met a participant who was considering writing a text book on Soil Bioengineering.Earlier I had announced that WASWC was interested in publishing such manuscripts for general readers,including students. There are several ways to disseminate such knowledge. One way is to publish material as alow-cost text book, like the title No-Till Farming Systems. This was launched at the beginning of 2008, and morethan 9,000 copies have been circulated already.After breakfast John Liu came to take me to his residence in the eastern part of the city. On the way wepassed the Bird Nest, which was to be the main stadium for the 29 th Olympiad in less than 3 weeks. I saw manypeople walking around the area. I said to myself, “I must come here tomorrow with my guide.”John called his house a ‘cottage’, while I preferred to think of it as a mansion, because it has many rooms. Therewas a courtyard in the middle, and with a good-sized gazebo to house a dozen people or so. I met his wife Kosimawho helps administer the Environmental Education Media Project (EEMP), an NGO. After that I was allowed towork with John’s computer to respond to the many e-mails that had accumulated during the past week.I met John’s parents over lunch, both being senior citizens in good health. When I meet older but veryhealthy people, I only wish that I could manage the same – but who knows! John built this house 18 years agowhen the family moved from America and some rebuilding had been required. Photos below show John’sresidence.14

From left: A wooden blind just behind the entrance gate of John’s house; Me in discussion with John in his garden; With John and his wifeKosima; Branches of a tree that belongs to a subspecies of Robinia pseudoacacia (false acacia) - popular among Beijing people; Aspacious gazebo in the middle of John’s courtyard; The interior of the gazebo; The moongate separating between the entrance gate andinner part of the house; The place where solace can be found during stressful times, in company with the image of Lord Buddha.I had a chance to learn something more of John’s activities. Being a Rothamsted Fellow for Communication ofScience, he travels very often to give lectures about the environment and land degradation in many countries.With such ability he could attract funding quite easily. I lack his skill – failing to attract donors to what I havebeen doing reflects a weak point.John gave me more CDs, which I intend to put in HOT NEWS, as we have readers in many disciplines. Then hedrove me to the train station at Sihui, and I traveled to Tiananmenxi to meet a friend at the new Beijing Theater.Traveling in Beijing this time is worry-free moneywise, as the government had reduced the price of the subwayticket to only 2 yuan for the whole system, a part of the attempt to curb air pollution during the Olympics.I met Dandan in Suzhou last year and before I came to Beijing I made an appointment with her so we could go toa concert together. Today is a good day for both her and me. She is a data analyst and has to work quite hard.Just after 6.00 pm Dandan came to meet me in front of the new theater, apologizing for being late. Chinese arequite punctual. This is a respectable quality that I used to lack – but I am honest enough to admit it, am I not? Butthis time I became her guide, as she had never been to this place before despite being a Beijing resident. At thattime the theater had been in operation for more than one year.From left: A Chinese lady taking a photo of her friend in front of the Beijing new theater; Dandan shows a cloth bag thatfeatures a koala, one of her presents from Thailand; Dandan at the cinema snack shop; A movie advertisement for Red Cliff.We checked all theaters in the building, the opera house, theatre and concert hall but none had any tickets left. SoI suggested going to the nearby Beijing Concert Hall but we were disappointed once more. Then we realized it15

was a Friday, so most people have finished their weekly job and wanted to relax. As a result all the entertainmentvenues were full.I asked Dandan to suggest what local entertainment may suit such situation. Then she took me to see the Chinesefilm Red Cliff at a cinema in a shopping mall on the east side of the city. This was only part 1 of the movie, whilepart 2 will be released in October. Fortunately, there were English subtitles, so I could understand it to someextent and I realized it was a good movie. One thing was shown clearly; the troop (in the movie) used the turtleshell battle strategy that Alexander the Great devised more than 23 centuries ago and could conquer enemy troopsagain and again.We parted at a train station on Line 2 close to her home, where she stayed with her auntie. We promised to meetagain in the future and will find a way to attend a performing art of our choice.July 19, this was to be my last day in Beijing; I would take a train to Dalian on the east coast this evening. My oldfriend Wang Zhaoyan came to meet me at 9.00 AM, announcing she had got her Ph.D. in Forest Ecology fromBeijing Forestry University yesterday. I congratulated her with one light hug. Chinese ladies can be more reservedin the way they greet a person of the opposite sex, by comparison with the situation in the west. People who havespent sometime in the west may behave differently. The first time I met Zhaoyan at the 2002 ISCO conference,she was a student recruited to assist the organisers in performing various activities. I met her again in 2004, in2006 and 2007.Zhaoyan came with the same car and driver that we had benefited from over the last two years. Today we plannedto go to 2-3 places in Beijing; the first one was obviously the Bird Nest. The car left us near the Dragon Building(Bangkok has Elephant Building, not far from my house). We crossed the pedestrian bridge to the other side andwalked along the hurricane fence to see at least two sides of the stadium. They had security people guarding thearea tightly. There were many people coming to walk in the direction of the entrance. We walked around for alittle more than half an hour, took many photos and got into the car that came to fetch us at the end of thepathway. Photos below show something of the Olympic stadium and people around it, mostly Chinese. ThisOlympic stadium has really attracted a lot of people and will remain popular even after this great athletic eventhas passed.From left: The Dragon Building, close to the Olympic stadium; Tourists looking at the Bird Nest stadium, the main stadium for the 29Olympiad; Me with Wang Zhaoyan; A security personnel guarding the Olympic stadium; Wang Zhaoyan in front of the Olympic stadium(inset: a lovely Hibiscus flower found nearby; Young students asking questions of foreign visitors about their attitude towards Beijing, andespecially the arrangement of the Olympics; Tourists gather in front of the entrance gate; A tourist guide leading her customers outside thehurricane fence that guards the Olympic stadium area.From the Bird Nest, Zhaoyan brought me to the Dongyue Temple ● Beijing Folk Custom Museum, located at141 Dongyuemiao, Chaowaidajie, Chaoyang District, Beijing.16th

According to the description at the temple: The temple was first built by Taoist monks in the 6 th year of the Yanyoureign period of Yuan Dynasty in 1319. The Dongyue Temple occupied an area of more than 6 hectares (15 acres),with 376 rooms during its prime. Only 500 m east of Chaoyangmen subway station, it is in the center of thebusiest part of Beijing, the temple is the largest in north China of the Zhengyi school of Daoism. Now it is one ofNational Key Cultural Relics Protection Units in addition to the Beijing’s most delightful scenic spots.In history, the Dongyue Temple was built for offering sacrifice to gods or ancestors on a national scale. Thesacred folk celebrations are more splendid, and now the Dongyue Temple, a valuable cultural and historicheritage site becomes the cultural activity center of profound cultural backgrounds in terms of folk custom. Afterits restoration, it is used as the Beijing Folk Custom Museum.Beijing Folk Custom Museum is the only one in Beijing that can hold national exhibitions focusing on folkcustoms.From the very beginning, many large fairs regarding folk customs of old Beijing were held here. Every SpringFestival, as well as other traditional festivals like the Dragon Boat Festival, the Mid-autumn Festival (15 th day ofthe 8 th lunar month), and the Double Ninth Festival, people gathered in the temple to celebrate various wonderfulfolk activities.The Dongyue Temple ● Beijing Folk Custom Museum is a window for you to know and to understand Beijing.From left: The principal stele of the Dongyue Temple; A guard of the Temple gate; These red tapes are put on the fence of a tree for goodluck; Plan of the Temple ground; Me at a large stele that has an animal figure under it; A gate under the false acacia, Robiniapseudoacacia, which is in full bloom everywhere in Beijing and its environs (this street has the largest number of trees in the capital city);The main temple building; A collection of steles; Wang Zhaoyan in an upstairs corridor of the folk museum.A local restaurant where we had lunch; Flowers of Robinia pseudoacacia tree, blooming on Beijing streets; Map of Beijing Badachu ParkIn the afternoon we drove across a large plain west of Beijing towards the mountains. After having had lunch at asmall village restaurant, we went to Beijing Badachu Park, which is a popular place for people to stroll up anddown the hill. There are as many as nine temples along the way. Zhaoyan and I walked happily up and up as thetime passed.17

From left: The main gate of the Beijing Badachu Park; The pagoda of the first temple; A lady is paying respects to a Buddha image;Entrance of a temple with a very old tree (temples are always associated with large and old trees); Buddha image in a cave at the toptemple; The gate of the top temple; A stone carving depicting two elephants.When we reached the top temple, we met a few horsemen who persuaded us to go down by riding horses. Thiswas a good opportunity to ride a horse again, so we agreed to do as asked. The photos that follow show how smartthe horsewoman and horseman were!!!!!After reaching the lower level we took the driver to have dinner with us and soon left for the Beijing RailwayStation. This station, located in the southeastern part of the city, serves trains that go to the east and perhaps I washere before when I came from Nanjing in September 2001. As usual, my friend Zhaoyan was so good to me. Shehelped accompany me to the train and only when the train conductor barred her from going up did she stop andsay good bye, promising we should meet again, probably in the next year. I miss her very much and think she is akind of “friend in need who is a friend indeed.”The K681 train left the station at 21.57 and would arrive in Dalian on July 20 at 8.05 am.END OF PART 1PART 2. Dalian, Qingdao, Zhengzhou, Yangling, Luoyang, Guangzhou (July 20-27, 2008)To be ready soon18