Ford Every Stream - Asian Scholarship Foundation

Newsletter Staff
Executive Director
Dr. Lourdes G. Salvador
ASF Editor
Somkamol Yongkrittaya
IFP Editor
Jaruwat Kiatiwongse
Managing &
Production Editor
Kunaporn Patthawaro
Editor-At-Large
Danilo Francisco M. Reyes
Asian Scholarship Foundation
Under the Royal Patronage of H.R.H. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhornn
Newsletter of the ASIA Fellows Program
and the Ford Foundation International Fellowships Program
July 2007 www.asianscholarship.org
A ROYAL TREAT FOR ASF
Over dinner at Sra Pathum Palace last May 18, 2007 HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn
placed the Asian Scholarship Foundation officially under her royal patronage.
The two Ford Foundation Asia representatives, Dr. Charles Bailey, Representative for Vietnam
and Thailand and Dr. Ganesan Balachander, Representative for India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka
led the courtesy call. The ASF Board Management Committee were in full force for the affair.
The Bangkok staff joined them, along with Dr. Barbara Watson-Andaya, Professor, University
of Hawaii at Manoa, who chaired the ASF External Review Committee.
They honored their Royal Host with Thai puang malai garlands. Dr. Juree Vichit-Vadakan,
ASF Board Chair, led the reception line in honoring the Princess. The BMC Chair, Dr. Wang
Gungwu introduced those present at the dinner reception to the Princess. Dr. Lourdes Salvador,
Executive Director also handed over abstract folios of ASF-funded projects.
Royal patronages recognize local institutions attending to Thai public welfare. The royal
family takes them gladly as public-service partners. ASF notes the exception with tremendous
pride since there are only a handful of transnational organizations to be granted such privilege.
Receiving the ASF entourage was another Board Management Committee member, Dr. Prapod
Assavavirulhakarn, royal classmate and good friend. He led the group in meeting with the
Princess.
The Princess was curious to find out about ASF hectic calendar and program activities. Dinner
was a spirited exchange, as some in the Board were long-standing royal acquaintances. The
Princess enthusiastically went after a personal favorite, China’s intellectual and cultural
history. Then it was time for magisterial photographs. At dinner’s end, she sent off each one
with a keepsake—a book of age-old daily and festive palace recipes. *

Index
Message 2
from
The Executive Director’s Desk
The Third ASIA Fellows 4
Southeast Asia and
South Korea Alumni Conference
Lily Rose Tope
2
4
I’m Fulfilling Promises
International Fellowships Program (IFP) in Thailand
The Heart of Thailand
Pannee Samerpak
Asian Sojourns & Flavors
Asian Sojourns & Flavors
From the Journals of ASF Cohorts
Winter in Beijing
Phan Thanh Hai
From the Journals of ASF Cohorts
A Drink or Two
Satyajit Singh
Ford Foundation
International Fellowships Program (IFP)
in Thailand
For or ord or d Ev Every Ev ery Str Str Strea Str Strea
ea eam ea
Jaruwat Kiatiwongse
Asian Sojourns & Flavors
From the Journals of ASF Cohorts
Enc Enchanting Enc hanting India
India
Sheng Rong
11
11
8
3
6
10
10
Message
From the Executive Director’s Desk
This lively splash takes us back to
Bali, Indonesia where ASIA Fellows
(Cohorts 1-7) descended, sparked up new
ideas, and wove stronger links. Of course, they
still have their sights on Asia’s cultures, political
life, and its exciting powerplay. But years after
their ASF stint, our guys continue to score
remarkable achievements. In Bali, they were
unflappingly high on bold ideas and passions—in
various issues where Asia still counts on them.
Time and again, we’ve said that ASF is all for
Asianizing Asia. And what better way to do this
than for our cohorts to bond again? We want
Asianists to secure fulfilling venues, to make their
brave ventures happen.
We’re also happy to share dispatches from three
current fellows, drawn from their field notes and
travel journals. Ranging freely from China’s
imperial gardens to Indian city zoos and the lure
of sandy beaches in the Philippines, these stories
offer quiet personal discoveries. Enlightened
tourists make inroads into another culture and
stumble across daunting projects that hope to
beat Asia’s long-time woes. Certainly, our fellows
don’t just have fun; they take on work with
worthwhile consequences.
And from our many programs, we thought it nice
to hear from our IFP fellows as well, this time.
The IFP flies promising leaders to graduate
schools abroad, believing that educated and
empowered can bring big and small changes to
help underprivileged communities feel safer,
more secure, and move forward within this
lifetime.
Enjoy these stories. For where the news bristles
with dramatic little changes in the landscape, the
heart leaps with excitement. For once, it is
possible to whistle that in our own little corner
of the world, life is perking up! *

Satyajit Singh stayed in the
Philippines to study decentralization
in the management of natural
resources. He is reader in Public
Policy and Administration at the
University of Delhi.
I
spent a fruitful nine months
studying decentralization and
resource management in the
Philippines. The Philippine Institute
of Development Studies served as my
gracious host.
My research took me to some parts of
the archipelago. In Laguna, for
instance, I went to the municipality of
Magdalena, fast becoming the model
among local governments for its
drinking water project. I also spent a
couple of months in Oriental Negros
and Bohol islands, close neighbors of
Cebu. A quick tip to ASF backpackers
in Bohol: don’t miss Alona Beach.
I know now why people gush Wow
Philippines! It is indeed a beautiful
green and blue country. Given the
poverty and the lack of resources, the
rural areas are surprisingly clean.
Unlike in India, the markets that I
visited and the huddled places where
people lived were not littered with
plastic bags and garbage. The coastal
areas, too, were free from solid waste,
now the headache of most developing
countries.
While I collected a lot of materials
in the Philippines (good for three
papers), I immediately wrote something
on the different paradigms of
decentralization. I wanted to find out
how such a move helped Oriental
Negros to take a grip on its drinkingwater
problem. My work looks at the
institutional design of decentralisation
and its effects on resource management
and people’s livelihood.
In book upon book on decentralization,
the West shows its usual fondness for
dishing out prescriptions. It argues for
a decentralisation helped along by the
usual suspects—fiscal federalism and
liberal democracy. But some developing
A Drink Or Two
Asian Sojourns & Flavors - From the Journals of ASF Cohorts
countries shake their heads, noting
how a lot of these must-dos seem really
out of place.
Recent work from India stresses the
need to focus on all the critical
requirements for decentralisation—
political, fiscal, and administrative
autonomy. It says that a lack of focus
leads to underdeveloped or badlydesigned
institutions sabotaging the
process.
I flew to the Philippines with this
perspective, curious to understand its
political economy of decentralisation.
And the experience opened my world
to broader perspectives and paradigms.
Certainly, it is interesting to see how
people will react to these papers written
on the south from a foreign southern
perspective.
My host institution, the Philippine
Institute of Development Studies
(PIDS) provided the helpful bridge
between the worlds of academia and
policy. I had a good starting point for
understanding the Philippine context.
PIDS even gave me an efficient
working space and I made the best use
of it by staying close by. Plus it has
an excellent library focusing on
development.
Various people helped me in
conceptualizing the project in detail—
key local government officials at
the Department of Interior and Local
Government, mayors, donor agencies
like the World Bank and the German
Technical Cooperation, civil society
and non-governmental organizations,
as well as academics from the
University of the Philippines, De La
Salle University, and those associated
I know now why people
gush Wow Philippines!
It is indeed a beautiful
green and blue country.
with the Philippine Social Science
Council (PSSC).
One regret, though, is that ASF limited
my study to the Philippines when
I really wanted to look at both the
Philippines and Vietnam. But what a
unique experience it was staying in
another Asian country. The language
wasn’t much of a problem. It was a
relief that people understood English,
even if they spoke it in a limited way.
I usually got someone working on the
local project as my guide and translator
and it worked well. Working abroad,
I have often worried about finding
enough skilled enumerators and local
institutions, for good effects on my
project’s outcome. But I hurdled that
challenge and what an enriching
experience it had been. ASF could not
have managed it better.
In rural Philippines, I took all sorts of
transport—motorcycles, four-wheel
drives, mini commercial vehicles,
boats, even taking to horseback-riding
once! With all types of food (and quite
cheap, too!), Manila may well be the
food plaza of the east. But Indian food
there was a disaster.
While the Filipinos may not agree with
my review, they would be delighted to
find out that I really didn’t miss it
much! *
3

Asian Sojourns & Flavors - ASIA Fellows Southeast Asia & South Korea Alumni Conference
THE THE THIRD THIRD ASIA ASIA FELLOWS FELLOWS SOUTHEAST SOUTHEAST ASIA
ASIA
& & SOUTH SOUTH KOREA KOREA ALUMNI ALUMNI CONFERENCE
CONFERENCE
4
Dr. Lily Rose Tope, editor of the ASF e-journal, is professor of
Comparative Literature at the University of the Philippines.
She belongs to the first cohort of ASIA Fellows.
The Third ASIA Fellows Southeast Asia and
South Korea Alumni Conference was held in
Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia on 19-20 November
2006. The conference participants included fellows
from Cohorts 1-7.
Redefining Southeast Asia and South Korea in a
Globalizing World was the theme of the conference.
Nine sessions covered diverse topics such as dance,
local communities, contemporary politics, film and the
visual arts, postcolonial histories, economics,
ornaments and architecture, literature, sustainable
development, health policies, civil societies, and
technologies.
Setting the direction of the conference is the keynote
address delivered by Dr. Juree Vichit-Vadakan, Chair
of the Center for Philanthropy and Civil Society,
NIDA, Bangkok, Thailand. She is also Vice-Chair of
the ASF Board. Other board members were also
present and they lent their support by participating
in the discussions. The conference was ably organized
by a committee headed by Dr. Paulina Pannen of
Cohort 3.
The conference brought together fellows with different
areas of expertise and interest. This proved very
conducive to an enriching interdisciplinary exchange
among the participants. The alumni also discussed
possibilities of forming an organization, learning from
the experience of India, which has one.
But the conference was not only an intellectual
gathering. One of the highlights was the cultural night
which was attended by the fellows wearing their
national dress. The evening was enlivened by musical
and literary performances, capped by a rousing
community dancing at the end. The conference was
indeed a reunion of friends and colleagues whose bonds
extend beyond the academic. *
THE THIRD ASIA FELLOW

Asian Sojourns & Flavors - ASIA Fellows Southeast Asia & South Korea Alumni Conference
S SOUTHEAST ASIA & SOUTH KOREA ALUMNI CONFERENCE
19 - 20 November 2006, Bali, Indonesia
5

Ford Foundation -
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6
- learning | leadership | commitment
IFP SNAPSHOTS IFP Facts & Figures
19
Number of provinces in the Northeast
of Thailand
35
IFP fellowships granted in Thailand
from 2003–2006
100%
Community-return rate of IFP
Thailand fellows upon completing
their graduate studies
4,440
Expected number of IFP fellows from
22 countries after the IFP grant ends

Ford Ford Every Every Stream
Stream
Jaruwat Kiatiwongse is the IFP
Program Officer in Thailand.
In 2000, the Ford Foundation
launched the International
Fellowships Program (IFP) with
an allocation of $280 million, the
largest single grant in the foundation’s
history.
The IFP operates in 22 countries in
Asia, Africa, Latin America, and
Russia where the Ford Foundation is
a grant maker. It differs from other
international fellowships in several
distinct ways. First, IFP Fellows are
selected on the basis of their leadership
record and commitment to their
country or community as well as
the strength of their academic
achievement. Second, IFP Fellows
come from disadvantaged groups that
have limited access to higher
education. About half of the current
Fellows are women; many are from
ethnic, religious, or linguistic minority
groups in their home countries; and
most come from remote or rural areas
distant from capital cities. Third, IFP
Fellows may be able to pursue
graduate studies at universities
anywhere in the world.
In September 2002, the Asian
Scholarship Foundation (ASF), a nonprofit
organization based in Thailand,
was selected to administer the Ford
Foundation International Fellowships
Program (IFP) in Thailand. IFP
Thailand focuses exclusively on
I’m Fulfilling Promises -
-
- International Fellowships Program (IFP) in Thailand
Northeast Thailand where one third
of the Thai population reside and where
people reportedly have less access and
opportunity to higher education due to
the region’s limited natural resources.
The Northeast also serves as the
doorway for ethnic groups from Laos
and Cambodia migrating to Thailand.
IFP Thailand was launched in
February 2003, the year ASF also
selected the first IFP Fellows. It is
implemented in consultation with
different individuals and academics
who have worked in community
development projects in the Northeast
including those from government
offices and private organizations.
The IFP grants are open to Thai
citizens from the public and private
sectors. As of November 15, 2006, ASF
has selected 35 fellows (six PhD Fellows
and 29 Master’s Fellows). Forty five
percent of the Thai IFP Fellows are
males; 55 percent are females. Six
fellows have already completed their
master’s degrees and have returned to
their hometown.
With their strong
commitment, IFP Fellows
are coming home to take
up local challenges.
The IFP Fellows can elect to study
in any discipline relevant to the
further development of Thailand.
Accordingly, 9 percent of the Fellows
are pursuing graduate degrees in the
Arts and Humanities; another 43
percent are getting their graduate
degrees in Development Studies; 28
percent are studying Education and
Communications; 11 percent are in
Environment, Health and Applied
Sciences and 9 percent are in the Social
Sciences. Thirty three of the Thai IFP
Fellows are doing graduate studies in
the US, another 59 percent in the Asia-
Pacific and 8 percent are in Europe.
In May 2006 the Ford Foundation
announced a further infusion of funds
into the International Fellowship
Program worldwide. The new $75
million grant allows 900 additional
Fellows to participate in the Program,
broadening advanced study access for
people from some of the world’s poorest
communities. The new support is
based on positive results from the
program’s first five years which show
that a very high proportion of Fellows
have achieved academic success and
are returning home to tackle
development challenges in their own
countries.
The 2,421 IFP Fellows selected to date
worldwide have won admission to
masters, doctoral and other advanced
degree programs at top universities in
Europe, North America, and in their
home countries and regions. A total of
4,440 Fellows will receive support by
the end of the program in 2014.
Susan V. Berresford, president of the
Ford Foundation, announced the new
grant at a press conference joined by
US Senator Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.),
chairman of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee.
“Five years ago, we launched IFP
because we saw the need for a new
kind of fellowships program,” said
Ms. Berresford. “Our challenge was to
increase access to advanced education
while reducing ‘brain drain.’ Today we
are excited to report that IFP Fellows
are not only doing well academically,
but are using their training to make
life better in their home countries. An
investment in IFP is an investment
in international development.”
“Today there is an urgent need for
programs like this that promote
international understanding and train
new leaders who can advance peaceful
and equitable development around
the world. The Ford Foundation
International Fellowships Program is
making an important contribution to
furthering this goal,” said Senator
Richard G. Lugar. *
7

I’m Fulfilling Promises -
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8
Panee Samerpak belongs to Cohort
1 of IFP Thailand. She has completed
her Master’s in Development
Management (MDM) at the Asian
Institute of Management (AIM) in the
Philippines.
For two days, from 21-22
April 2007, at Khon Kaen’s
Sofitel Raja Orchid Hotel,
I had the good fortune of joining the
first IFP Thailand Alumni Meeting.
The gathering gave me the grace of
experience as I listened to interesting
thoughts shared by the other six Thai
IFP alumni, the talks prepared by
various experts in field development in
Esaan. We also enjoyed the cheerful
attention of the ASF staff and precious
insights from Ms. Minh Kauffman of
the Center for Educational Exchange
with Vietnam.
A fond welcome
Dr. Lourdes G. Salvador, ASF
Executive Director and beloved mum
to all fellows, extended her warm
welcome to everyone. We followed this
quickly with an exciting sharing of
experiences about our work and
studies. From the self-introductions,
we found out different and surprising
experiences and learned a whole lot
from Khun Jaruwat’s comprehensive
IFP Global Overview.
Then, it was time to hear a string
of interesting presentations on
Leadership and its Role in Making
a Difference in the Communities
in Esaan, Addressing Development
Needs in Esaan: Collaboration
Between NGO and Academia, New
Phase in IFP-Leadership for Social
Justice Forum and Dr. Juree
Vichit-Vadakan’s inspirational talk on
Privileges, Moral Obligations, and
Social Commitment.
Tough questions
Right away, the meeting moved me to
turn back and ask thought-provoking
questions about leadership and my
- International Fellowships Program (IFP) in Thailand
The Heart of Thailand
First Alumni Meeting: Seven alumni attended the first IFP Thailand Alumni Meeting in
Khon Kaen on April 21-22, 2007
possible role in Esaan. I found myself
asking those important questions all
over again: Who am I, where am I
right now, where am I going, what is
my alternative way of life, and how
The IFP meeting in
Esaan inspired me
never to doubt my
dreams and to keep
trying to fulfill them.
can I make a difference in developing
Esaan’s various communities?
Dr. Banchon Kaewsong, advisor to the
Coordinating Committee on Rural
Development (NGO-CORD) in the
Northeast, was the first to raise these
tough questions.
The meeting inspired me never to doubt
my dreams and to keep trying to fulfill
them. This seems a grand thing to
say but the meeting really inspired me
to commit myself to doing good and to
doing it well along the way.
A facilitator’s alphabet
Minh Kauffman, talking about a new
phase in IFP, gave an excellent
presentation on Lessons Learned from

Leadership for Social Justice Forum.
In her session, I learned about the
ABCD Approach: “Asset-Based
Community Development”—a proven
approach that seems to work best with
most developing communities right
now.
ABCD is a positive approach, with an
eye for strong points rather than the
weak ones. Ms. Kauffman asked us to
focus on just one question: How can
you know what you need if you don’t
know what you have?
I found her presentation very helpful
since she offered something that I
could directly apply in my work.
Moreover, at the end of that session,
I’m Fulfilling Promises -
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- International Fellowships Program (IFP) in Thailand
my role as catalyst or facilitator in the
process of community development had
become clear enough for me to
understand.
Decisions
During the meeting, I decided to learn
by heart certain big words that kept
cropping up: Learning, Leadership,
and Commitment. Then, the question
about making a difference in rural
development started nagging on me
again. This time, I found myself
focusing on my commitment as a Thai
IFP alumnus.
I would like to work with small-scale
farmers in my hometown. I think that
I can help them deal with issues of
The IFP has
given us some
of the best
things that we
will cherish in
our lifetime.
sustainable agricultural development.
We can all do something to improve
their quality of life and self-reliance.
Collective pledges
In two days, all of us in IFP Thailand
found the chance to share our dreams
and to present small projects meant for
our communities. We ended the day
by putting up an IFP Thailand Alumni
Network.
With this new network, we hope to
share experiences and to assist each
other in the way of social development.
We want to pool together our
knowledge and the many experiences
gained both from our work and field
studies. Hopefully, such sharing will
help us in making a difference in
community work in Esaan—to assist
our local groups in finding both
“identity and sustainability.”
The group agreed to meet up every
three months to revisit our vision,
mission, and activities in view of our
shared goals.
Gift and gratitude
I have saved it for last to send a big
thanks to the ASF staff, the Center for
Educational Exchange with Vietnam,
and to The Ford Foundation.
You have given us some of the best
things that we will cherish in our
lifetime. In our own small way, we
promise to bring the same gift of the
very best for other people and
communities in our home in Esaan, or
wherever the dream calls us to share—
whether in other humble places
in Thailand or farther away in the
world. *
9

Asian Sojourns & Flavors - From the Journals of ASF Cohorts
Sheng Rong, associate professor at
China Agricultural University, went
to India to research on village
governance and the provision of public
goods.
India’s beautiful university
campuses leave me with deep and
fond impressions, having become
the dream garden in my mind. On a
half-year stint, I stayed in two
campuses. For three months each, I
was at Anand’s Institute of Rural
Management (IRMA) in the west and
at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru
University (JNU). And all the time,
it felt like living in a tropical park.
IRMA’s campus is 60 acres of a tropical
garden. Spaced far between, clusters
of three-story buildings rise on its welltrimmed
lawns. The songs of
melodious birds make the whole place
even more tranquil. Here and there,
it’s easy to spot pretty birds and
squirrels. Its groves thrive with a
whole lot of birds, big and small. There
were beautiful wild parrots, without
anyone daring to trap them.
Everyday, I watched some 30 monkeys
perform their giddy relay among the
trees. And when night came, it was
time for the foxes, snakes, and weasels
to put on another show. For the first
time, I was so thrilled meeting a fox
In India, animals are
not afraid of human
beings. And people
are not scared of
animals, either.
10
Enchanting India
up close, in the wild. I stared at it long
enough. It must have sniffed right
away that I was new around there. It
also lingered on, eyeing me for a while.
And then, the fox moved on, stepping
away slowly. Apparently, I couldn’t do
anything to scare it away.
It dawned on me that in India, animals
are not afraid of human beings. And
human beings are not scared of
animals, either.
JNU’s campus is much larger,
spanning some 4 kilometers of
forestlands. From high up the
buildings, I often saw flowering trees,
crowned with blossoms in swatches of
red and yellow. One of the university’s
special charm is that peacocks could
be found everywhere in its campus.
While working at my desk, I have often
gazed at the window, watching them
strut about. Occasionally, they would
take off and span the distance. It was
quite stunning, birds of that great size
flying on their long, sapphire trails.
The campus was also home to a type of
buffalo called the nilgai. My idea of a
buffalo was undone because this one
had a long blue stripe on its chest and
was quite different from the usual that
wore its hide and muscles in a sag. The
nilgai looked more energetic and active,
more like an antelope. It immediately
disappeared in the woods when I tried
to come closer.
It’s hard to believe that amid the bustle
of a big city like New Delhi, there still
live wild peacocks and striped
buffaloes. I couldn’t help but snigger
and shake my head sometimes. If they
were living in a Chinese city, these
animals would have ended up on the
dinner table right away.
In their hearts, India’s people hold it
dearly that Human beings and nature
co-exist harmoniously. But in China,
this lingers on merely as some kind of
ancient saying. *

Phan Thanh Hai manages the
Research Guiding Department of
Vietnam’s Hue Monuments
Conservation Center. He went to
Beijing to compare Hue City’s Royal
Garden with a number of Chinese
classical gardens.
I
arrived in Beijing a month before
the Lunar New Year’s Tet Festival.
Friends could not believe that I
had chosen to be there in winter. But
ASF was willing to fund this once-ina-lifetime
opportunity so I trooped to
China, comparing classical and royal
gardens.
I had a real experience of the north’s
extreme chill in Beijing. It was my
first time face on with such frosty
weather. All the rivers and lakes had
whitened into meters thick of ice. And
for the holidays, families often skated
on the frozen lakes.
I spent a whole week running after the
Beijing Parks and Gardens
Department. Things were busy before
Tet, but people continued to relax even
after that. A good thing that Prof. Tao
Lifan (of China’ s anthro circle) placed
me with Qinghua University’s
Institute of Architecture and the
Industry Ministry’s Research Institute.
His good word put me on the right
track. One experience that I took
home is that, in China, a good
relationship is the key to success.
From Beijing, I also travelled northeast
to marvel at the 600-hectare Rehe
Royal Palace, China’s biggest royal
garden. Down Jiangnan, I looked up
famous gardens in Suzhou, Hangzhou,
Shanghai, and Yangzhou. A line of
ancient Chinese poetry reads: To go
sightseeing in spring is to enjoy the
greenery and the flowers. Suzhou’s
gardens are unique, with nine of them
Asian Sojourns & Flavors - From the Journals of ASF Cohorts
Winter in Beijing
listed as UNESCO World Cultural
Heritage Sites.
Suzhou was unforgettable because of
my visit to Huanxiu Shanzhuang, a
small garden with the most beautiful
and best-known rockery. While I was
visiting, an American guy also
happened to be there. We had tea
together, conversing in Chinese about
rocks, bonsai gardens, and the East-
West exchange. We both love ancient
Chinese culture but my American
friend seemed the more passionate. He
had left both his country and family
for China. He learned the language
ASF taught me that
in China, a good
relationship is the
key to success.
all he can and even took up with a
Chinese woman.
I had many interesting discoveries in
Beijing. For instance, even the people
in Beijing rely upon maps to catch up
with brisk city changes. Beijing maps
get updated each year and usually come
cheap.
Everyone travelling to Beijing looks for
roast duck. But authentic Beijing duck
is not easy to find. The real thing must
please the eyes in pretty arrangements,
charm the nose with its intense
fragrance, and surprise the tongue
with its plump and tasty flavor. This
is why tourists book in advance. There
are no empty table when the holidays
come.
Those who fancy imperial palaces
should visit Gugong, Yiheiyuan,
Tiantan, Shishanling and the
impressive Mt. Changcheng. For royal
gardens, there’s Yuanmingyuan,
known as “the garden of a thousand
gardens,” now being preserved as a
heritage site. Xiangshan Park is an
inviting stop-over, a palace built by
Kings Liao and Jin of the Ming-Qing
dynasties. In these gardens, each
season looks different, but autumn is
especially famous for forest floors
carpeted with red leaves.
Two newly-built parks are also
worth the stop—Daguanyuan and
Taoranting. Daguanyuan Park was
the film studio for the classic Dream
of the Red Chamber. When the film
wrapped up, the 23-hectare plot was
turned into a sprawling park. The
Continued on page 12
11

Asian Sojourns & Flavors - From the Journals of ASF Cohorts
Winter Winter in in Beijing Beijing (Continued)
famous Jia family garden is still there,
along with stills from the historic flick.
If time permits, buy a waterway ticket
from Diaoyutai (near the Old Palace
park) to Xishan. Ancient Chinese
Emperors used this route to sail from
the Imperial Citadel to the five royal
gardens in Wudamingyuan. Your eyes
can feast on scenic riverside
sights while picking up a whole lot
about Beijing. The trip’s true delight
are the Chinese tour guides who pepper
their spiels with insert comics and
folktales.
Booklovers will fall in love with
Wanfujing. Along the way, there are
4-5 rather big bookstores with
a diverse selection of Chinese titles.
If Wangfujing doesn’t have what
you’re looking for, head for Xidan
Street. Xidan Bookstore could well
be the biggest in Beijing. It sells not
only compact books and notebooks
but also an assortment of disks. One
must note, though, that most books are
illegally printed. This leaves China
still on a wild goose chase where
illegal production and usage are
concerned.
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal,
Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Republic
of Maldives
University of Pennsylvania Institute for the
Advanced Study of India (UPIASI)
India Habitat Centre,
Core 5A 1 st Fl., Lodi Rd.
New Delhi 110003, India
Tel (91-11) 2460-4127
Fax: (91-11) 2460-4126
E-mail: upiasi @del2.vsnl.net.in
12
But Beijing’s people work hard
to overcome their shortcomings. They
pay attention to every small
detail, believing that one can’t
get rid of a custom overnight. A publictoilet
inscription says it all: “To have
a civilized society, we must let go
of backwardness step by step.” True
indeed! How can we succeed in
important affairs if we don’t start
with the simple things?
ASF Partner Institutions
People’s Republic of China
Institute of International Education
(IIE)
Huatong Bldg. A, Room 439
Che Gong Zhuang Xi Rd No.19A
Beijing 100044, China
Tel: (86-10) 6848-6213
Fax: (86-10) 6848-6215
E-mail: jiyn@iiebeijing.org
Indonesia Vietnam
Indonesian International
Education Foundation (IIEF)
Menara Imperium 28 th Fl., Suite B
Metropolitan Kuningan Superblok Kav 1
Jl. H. R. Rasuna Said
Jakarta Selatan 12980, Indonesia
Tel: (62-21) 831-7330
Fax: (62-21) 831-7331
E-mail: iief@indo.net.id
Center for Educational Exchange with
Vietnam (CEEVN)
So 5, Ngo2, Pho Giang Van Minh
Quan Ba Dinh, Hanoi, Vietnam
Tel: (84-4) 723-6825
Fax: (84-4) 723-6827
E-mail: ASF@ceevn.org
Coming to Beijing in winter and
leaving in summer, I had the chance
to witness the north’s three seasons.
The winter was lengthy and cold
while the beautiful spring was
so brief. And summer had been both
muggy and stuffy. But I missed the
cool and romantic autumn. I will
surely return to witness autumn in
Beijing because this city has won my
affection. *
Brunei, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Japan,
Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore,
South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand
Asian Scholarship Foundation (ASF)
29 Vanissa Bldg 4 th Fl., Chidlom,
Ploenchit Road
Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
Tel (66) 2655-1615 to 7
Fax: (66) 2655- 7977
E-mail: info@asianscholarship.org
Philippines
Philippine Social Science Council (PSSC)
Commonwealth Avenue
Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines
Tel: (63-2) 922-9625
Fax: (63-2) 924-4178
E-mail: projects@pssc.org.ph