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2/1/1991 - Pacific Overtures by Stephen B. Maly

INSTITUTEOFCURRENTWORLDAFFAIRS Pacific Overtures February Vancouver B C Peter Bird Martin Insti Current World Affairs West Wheelock street Hanover New Hampshire 03755 Dear Peter There something about ocean vista justifies staring space hours watching change human history waiting earnest something never happens I hearing sweet music about New Pacific Century What pulls alluring gravity phrase contrapuntal concepts national interest Western Civilization mantra 1990s international competitiveness As I stand facing West toward Orient think about New World Order harmonized structures planetary ecology I struck inclement facts enduring racial animosity ethnic conflict almost everywhere Canada Besides raining raining instead tranquil Pacific sunset I Caniians Who British Colum often betray helart narrow vision L SLand thnkthat neairiM eVerybodyhere their clouds The criticg Correct literal The weather forecast today tomorrow future loUds occasional sunn9 What means given moment someWhcr distance there light slanting downward towards shivering patch saltwater I constantly shifting_circle distant Zon somehow never reachesus Stephen IstituSe Fellow stuoFimg cultural ethnic nations Canada theInstituteofCurrentWorldAffairs theCrane RogersFoundation hasprovidedlong termfellowships tstandingyoung adults outsidetheUni tedstasandwriteaboutinter nationalareasandissues Endowed bythe Crane theInstituteisalsosuppo rtedbycontributionsomlike mindedindividualsand foundations I curious learn members Overseas Chinese community think about going recently Peopls Republic I closing ceremony Tiananmen Memorial Art Exhibition Asian Center University British Columbia campus The exhil called Echoes After Storm young Canadians Chinese ancestry A piece David Li entitled Light magnified photo image heavy chains sunlight filtering through barel Ka Sing Lee The Square photo collage faces names attached I couldn notice these people presumably victims Army crackdown wearing glasses There always seems correlation between overworked fallen front ranks modern revolutionary movemen There canvas signed Mr China featured painted black melange mangled spokes wheels metal tubing against white background Apparently painting meant vestige performance The printed explanation Materials thousand bicycles Performance Video camera behind bikes Then crashes through The performance finished The video which standard shots assortment musicians holding earphones other interspersed documentary footage taken Beijing during demonstrations June There pictures crushed bicycle woman tears giving V young bloodied heads unforgettable scene protestor standing front The chorus People world Stand Freedom Remember Tiananmen Square The video replayed again gallery television monitor The inscribed memory stylus groove phonographic I joined crowd nearly I00 people personal accounts Raymond Chan engineer UBC member Vancouver Society Support Democratic Movement China Ji Mao graduate student commerce represents Federation Chinese Students Scholars Canada Both young recently returned Beijing after brave largely unsuccessful attempts persuade Chinese government officials allow imprisoned dissidents public trials Chan Mao professed Communist regime taking advantage world focus Gulf intensifying persecution democracy activists I found course these remarks subsequent reading under Chinese defendants permitted their government appointed lawyers first seven before their secret trials begin According January story Sheryl WuDunn New York Times about percent defendants found guilty lawyer usually plead leniency rather acquittal After closing ceremony I stopped inside verdant cloister Nitobe Memorial Garden My pamphlet described acres organized stillness authentic Japanese garden North America I inscription plaque honoring Dr Inazo Nitobe internationally known educator Apostle Goodwill among Nations Bright epitaph Perhaps still reasonable notwithstanding flaws Confucian justice system serenely amiable culture evolve New Pacific Business As Usual J You course Dr Graeme MacDonald President CEO Asia Pacific Foundation three people actually killed Tiananmen Square I I aback The brochure I carried exhibit hundreds perhaps thousands Chinese citizens killed brutal melee June asked Mr MacDonald course foster greater understanding among business executives government officials Canada various Pacific Rim countries contend pressure locally based groups support overseas dissident movements He caught drift MacDonald cited recent findings Asia Watch human rights organizations confirm surprisingly sanguine count There hundreds others killed Beijing outside Square during rioting continued hastened current Chinese regime enjoy living China several years there But I reason Canadian firms should continue doing business PRC My discussion Dr Macdonald place Asia Pacific foundation spacious sixth floor suite Canada Place gleaming white edifice teflon sails constructed serve initially nation pavilion Expo thereafter trade convention center The building harbor Burrard Inlet giant cruise I looked window through vertical column swirling ducks gulls seaplanes helicopters I peaks bright yellow sulphur prairies ready loading cargo freighters names Dragon Fortune Kitaura Maru It would mixed potash fertilizer Western Canada materials played important ongoing socio ecological drama Green Revolution cultural disaster different order topic discussion other I there cultural unity Pacific The region hosts diversity languages customs religions political ideologies engender Pacific identity I discovered there Chinese Japanese emigre nation brewing western fringe Canada There hitor racial discrimination started Chinese laborers imported build Canada railroads worse 1920s Exclusion Act coming country several decades There large Oriental populations rooted Canada Chinatowns Vancouver second largest North America after San Francisco Most approximately I00 Chinese people Vancouver second third generation Canadians They speak Canadian English often adding familiar their sentences everybody This brings unsurprising still significant conclusion dominant culture Canada business What makes Vancouver different fromother business oriented localities North America startling degree which economic future being determined recent arrivals Hong Kong Japan China other countries Asia The New Competition I cheese together Board Room Pan Pacific Hotel superstructure Canada Place The event hosted UBC Pacific Rim Club There people attendance mostly students Asian faces There members business community bunched around platter cheese I spied VP Asia Pacific Foundation talking Club organizers Senator Pat Carney prominent scheduled speakers appear I hoped question about proposal about during Meech Lake constitutional debate British Columbia Canada Quebec first Ottawa keeps alienating West state called Pacifica But called Ottawa urgent busines politicians often these Canada Instead heard student leaders invoke platitudes about competitiveness listened executive years experience Hong Kong resident Vancouver great length about competitiveness He addressed audience pillars Canada exhorted apply their budding business sense improving country balance payments I never heard someone fully immersed commercial affairs appeal directly young people patriotism This another aspect coming Age Pacific wherein trade finance recognized explicitly foremost levers power The banker outlined several Canada major difficulties penetrating Asian markets which aggressive mentality match Americans Australians Japanese implementing ambitious trade strategies region H talked about reluctance among Canadians adapt themselves linguistic cultural rigors trading diverse The speaker finally reached bottom It credence skills experience recent arrivals Hong Kong other parts Asia It sounded first pitch immigrant What meant Pacific oriented Canadians likely So immigrant In British Columbia future whether stays Canada people employed Hong Kon developers Taiwanese trading families Japanese owned holding companies In entitled The New Iandlords Asian Investment Canadian Real Estate Donald Gutstein presents detailed verbal Who downtown Vancouver I eventually transactions costs commission property values intende destination clear enough graffiti artists already pointed single painted Hongkouver Gutstein connects story newspapers carried about Regatta immense waterfront condominium complex Sunday strolls A Vancouverites plenty steamed found units advertised Hong Kong before anybody could offer Graeme MacDonaid related story weekend search house encounter single landlord Chinese except Japanese He dedicated professional combat Oriental racism believes backlash inevitable I talked woman operates immigrant counseling service She complete turnabout Her sensitize Anglo Saxon Canadians customs Orien convince Asian newcom engage ostentatious displays wealth buying BMW which drive school because residents wrong People Hong Kong difficulty understanding attitude I They wonder business culture success greeted resentment instead applause Lingua Franca The language business English A scant I0 people province speak French Canada other official language You watch French language television programs listen francophone radio station Vancouver Both heavily subsidized national standards quality But whole people watch local production Chinese channel We sometimes There shows operas action dramas We never really going subtitles because written Chinese Japanese characters Alice I Litt Mountain Neighborhood Centre several times people learn English We volunteered serve tutors literacy program funded Greater Vancouver School Board U N International Year Literacy Literacy Decade Our trainer informs objective local resident never learned Write overcome variety fears handicaps crippling isolation illiteracy As turns majority people Centre immigrants China Taiwan Vietnam Cambodia Thailand Japan India Pakistan Fiji About quarter Vancouver residents Asian Canadians estimated percent immigrants Asian countries As newcomers Canada eligible months English language training B C English Second Language ESL facilities overwhelmed demand There enough money there enough teachers literacy centers filled literate New Canadians Gary Pharness charge tutor training compares government inadequate financial commitment someone invites neighbors dinner doesn there enough around This interesting sometimes exhausting The range reading writing skills deals session remarkable A Taiwan lived Vancouver months barely utter English names children alone write A Chinese woman Canada years large John Buchan novel cannot write wholly intelligible prose I Chinese foursome always together aloud repeat nearly everything I turns gggling while others their dictionaries We tutors frequently resort drawing stick figures hurried Pictionary style sketches concept courage Many these learners literacy jargon highly educated adults about everything I possibly teach about English language Mr Liao Taiwan example struggles valiantly English words mastered country international businessman This affable middle speak Cantonese Mandarin Japanese little Korean His pollution abatement technology throughout Southeast Asia His speaks better English schoolteacher I gesture other computer gizmo translates Chinese characters English words phrases These folks obviously highly motivated private shame doubt But where representatives percent Canadians statisticians claim functionally illiterate Where their competitive spirit We Cambodian refugees violent shadowy pasts other parts there scarily frequent reports Asian warfare In weeks people murdered restaurants robbed their jewelry Chinatown Just after latest Gulf other night TV watched squad camouflaged automatic rifles surround suburban house which Chinese thugs holding elderly woman captive because gambling debts So these battles spilled neighborhood The disturbing encounter I elderly Japanese woman After I helped correct neatly printed paragraphs about successes shopping close powdered cheek whispered Don think there Chinese people In collection essays entitled Pacific Shift philosopher William Irwin Thompson talks about modernizing deracinating world economy He Americans afraid century could Japanese momentum added Chinese create unstoppable Asian velocity future I submit Canadians would racism across sorts ethnic national identities restricted caucasian majority Deracination cannot enough North Pacific quadrant global economy A Short Tale Hongkouver Alice I found classifieds We check A short demure looking Chinese woman slippers those stretch pants loops answered enter This place irritated locals refer monster house beige brick utside palatial rooms filled priceless furnishings inside Everything ooked fresh expensive showroom We looking millions dollars worth barely everything The fortunately going fairly cheap It inside Dragging mattress springs carpeted stairwell Our hostess offered Diet Pepsi We accepted kitchen which untouched garden several smaller older houses neighborhood She moving Hong Kong Her husband already there Is diplomatic service something I asked leaping faulty conclusion Oh business I replied Vancouver small Hong Kong there people there money She husband would house which built scratch cheaper while That could retain their residency Canada still fortune Hong Kong When return Vancouver three years could rental build another monster Their apartment Hong Kong would simply abandoned Communists She seemed picture worked still quandary whether store furniture On July I Canada Day China assume sovereignty British colony Canadian immigration authorities expect several waves middle class immigrants Hong Kong before deadline This genial woman story helped confirm understandings about constitutes money middle class status Hong Kong society The business columnists percent considered return investment Canada whereas Hong Kong sharp businesspeole women double sometimes triple their money years In China Tide journalist Margaret Cannon typical middle class family makes between million those million annually considered upper class The insisted merely upper middle category As finished drinks confessed minor indulgence I bought Louis Vuitton handbag other I really really other handbag Then broke smile It because sister three Louis Vuitton already Isn ridiculous One connecting tissues between anecdote general understanding British Columbia cultural trajectory federal government investor entrepreneur categories immigrants The track Canadian citizenship invest minimum B C Ontario Quebec other provinces money parked there years To about people fulfilled pricey investor requirements brought llions dollars economy Entrepreneurs convince Canadian immigration authorities wherewithal business offer incentives As Margaret Cannon explains rules provide hands management above provide retain would otherwise About three quarters business immigrants category remainder employed generally accountants engineers franchise owners Since program initiated British Columbia received about percent total number types business immigrants Their presence unnoticed During years about people emigrated Canada Half Asian countries these settled Toronto Vancouver Montreal By there million Canadians Asian origin Many others command enormous capital occupy positions influence authority Canada largest metropolitan areas People preoccupied exports imports probably influx alacrity better forge strong commercial rapidly growing economies Asia Asian Canadians business ESL probably become major industry Vancouverites particular learn accept their landlords become competitire Cheers Gung Hay Fat Choy Happy Chinese New Year Received Hanover