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

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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
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