Tribute to IM Pei

The legendary architect IM Pei has died at the age of 102

This morning I woke up to the sad news that architect IM Pei had died at the age of 102. Tributes have been pouring in for the Chinese-American who is famous for his buildings scattered around the world, including the Louvre Pyramid in Paris, the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, and of course in Hong Kong, the Bank of China headquarters.

The Bank of China Building in Hong Kong

I pass by that building every time I go to the gym behind the bank, climbing up the stairs along the mini waterfalls. When the bank was first built, superstitious Hongkongers worried the building looked like a knife, cutting up the city, or that it looked like the devil with its two antennae at the top.

Pei's family has a long history with the bank -- in fact it just celebrated its 100th anniversary last year, making it around the same age as him!

His father, Tsuyee Pei, was one of China's leading bankers, according to the New York Times, and when Ieoh Ming Pei was an infant, the family moved to Hong Kong so that Pei senior could run the Hong Kong branch of the Bank of China.

A century later and two generations later, IM Pei's son, Li Chung Pei or Sandi, would lead the renovations of the old Bank of China just down the street from his father's shiny triangular building.

It's a wonderful anecdote that clearly illustrates the Pei's family roots in Hong Kong and its contribution to banking and architecture in the city.

The Suzhou Museum is symmetrical and calming

My other story is in 2008 I spent Chinese New Year in Shanghai on my own. One of my days there I caught the train to Suzhou for the day, wandering around when I stumbled on a building that didn't look like the typical mainland Chinese architectural style of big, boxy and lacking style.

I was immediately drawn to this building that was very symmetrical and discovered it was the Suzhou Museum -- designed by IM Pei.

But of course.

This realization made my visit to Suzhou exponentially better as I was immediately soothed by its simple lines, sitting on the edge of a man-made pond that had a calming effect.

Dramatic pyramid down below the Louvre

How did I not know this was here? The building itself was much more interesting than the exhibits inside.

Sadly the Bank of China building is the only IM Pei building in Hong Kong -- in October 2013 it was announced Sunning Plaza, a 31-storey office building in Causeway Bay, whose main feature was that there was a large open space around the buildings, thus creating an "urban oasis". People liked being able to sit outside and dine al fresco amid a quartet of palm trees.

But alas Pei's first project in Hong Kong was torn down by landlord Hysan Development that replaced it with -- what else -- a mixed retail and office building that is a non-descript office block -- literally. It opened late last year.

Nevertheless, in front of the cameras Pei was always smiling, looking dapper in his suits and wearing his trademark black frame round glasses. He knew how to charm potential clients and explain to existing clients why things had to be done his way. There were compromises too, but probably his biggest battle -- the Pyramid at the Louvre -- shows Pei's skills not only in design but also patience and persuasion.

I haven't seen this entire video of his lecture at MIT about the project, but he explains in great detail (with jokes aside), the challenges he went through and how he solved several issues.



Pei is not only a legend in architecture, but also for Chinese immigrants and ethnic Chinese the world over, an inspiration of being proud of his roots and being successful for his designs that changed the urban landscapes around the world.

Pei fought the controversy of having a pyramid at the Louvre

He may have left us but may his buildings continue to live on.

Number of the Day: HK$640 Million

The 10th handover anniversary is nine times cheaper than this year's bash

Can you believe it's almost 20 years ago when the British formally handed Hong Kong to China?

A decade ago we spent HK$69 million, so how come another 10 years later it has ballooned to HK$640 million?

Perhaps just as infuriating is that the money is going to events and activities that hardly have anything to do with the handover anniversary with the theme "Together, Progress, Opportunity".

We'll see more steps beautified like this with taxpayer money

The Leisure and Cultural Services Department will have a whopping HK$194 million budget and it will splash out on a "City Dress Up" project, where stairs in different districts will be painted. Shouldn't that just go under maintenance?

The Development Bureau gets to spend HK$14.67 million and part of it will be splurged on a Backstreet Art and Run project. Sounds like a gentrified graffiti project.

Meanwhile the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department has HK$9 million and is spending the money on tree planting, hiking and camping facilities that it would normally budget for in its costs. So why does it need this extra money?

Similarly, how are International Fire Instructors Workshop; Fire, Ambulance Services Academy Open Day: Hong Kong Cup Diplomatic Knowledge Contest and Inter-school Cross-curricular Project Competition on Climate Change have anything to do with the 20th anniversary of the handover?

Lau Kong-wah says the events "spread care and joy". Huh?

Some critics are already questioning the use of the money, adding that government officials don't seem to have any imagination for better ideas.

However, Secretary for Home Affairs Lau Kong-wah said the events were meant to engage the public and "spread care and joy".

If Lau wants the government to spread "care and joy", how about revamping the education system to get rid of the rote system, making more financial resources available for the poor, developing more social housing, setting a decent minimum wage, stop kowtowing to tycoons, giving young entrepreneurs a break and so on.

Does an exhibition about Egyptian mummies and art pieces from the Louvre have anything to do with Hong Kong?

Works for Paris' Louvre Museum have no HK connection

There is already an uproar about spending HK$190,000 on making the song, "Hong Kong Our Home" that has been mocked by anti-establishment musicians.

It's an outright mess, but it's too late to voice our concerns.

It seems the Hong Kong government is keen to spend an outrageous amount of our hard-earned taxpayer dollars to please Beijing. But does it care really? And it does seem ripe for corruption opportunities.

Oh wait -- opportunity is one of the themes of the 20th anniversary of the handover this year.

It all makes sense now...

Some Paris Gems

Looking up at La Grande Arche at La Defense against the blue sky

Our third day in Paris was more secular, starting off at La Defense, in the far northeast end of the city.

One of then French President Francois Mitterand's "grand projets" that also included the Pyramid in the Louvre, Musee d'Orsay and Bibilotheque Francois Mitterand, La Defense's Grande Arche was completed in 1988, a 20-year project.

The site was originally where the French successfully defended themselves from the Prussians in 1870, and has now evolved into a business district, with many top national and multinational companies setting up their headquarters here.

The Arc de Triomphe is straight ahead in the distance

The arch is quite impressive, the gorgeous white marble and sharp edges create a striking image against a blue sky with disorderly clouds passing by. Look down from the Grand Arche and you can see the Arc de Triomphe in the distance.

Sadly we couldn't go up to the top of the building because the area where the glass elevators were was being renovated.

Nevertheless we took a quick peek at the nearby Quatre Saisons mall, where sales were going mad at 50 percent off.

Then we headed east all the way to Bastille, where as soon as we emerged from the metro station we saw the Colonne de Juillet or July Column. It was erected in the 19th century to honour the victims of the 1930 and 1848 revolutions. At the top is a golden statue, the Genie de la Bastille, who represents Liberty.

The curious Oriental room in Victor Hugo's apartment

We saw a sign pointing towards Victor Hugo's home and decided to find it. Down a small pleasant street by a park is his residence, an apartment where he lived with his wife Adele Foucher, from 1832 to 1848.

He paid an annual rent of 1,500 francs that was paid in four installments for the 2,800 square foot flat on the second floor.

Restorers have tried to make the apartment look as closely as it did when he lived there, following photographs of the place and eyewitness accounts.

Each room looked lavish, with sumptuous-looking wallpaper, lots of paintings on the walls, heavy antique furniture, and family portraits in photographs and paintings.

One of Hugo's ink drawings that has a lot of detail and depth

Most intriguing was a room that was done in an Oriental style, with caricatures of what Chinese people looked like -- with slanted eyes and wearing robes, Chinese-inspired furniture and murals, that were mixed with porcelain vases and plates, and two Guanyin statues.

So it turns out Hugo had some exposure to Chinese art and apparently appreciated it too!

The smallest room at the back was the bedroom, and they recreated it to look like the one in which he died in 1885, complete with the four-poster bed that was quite small, along with two paintings of his corpse on the death bed.

Soutter created abstract paintings in the 19th century

I still remember reading Les Miserables out of my own curiosity when I was in high school and what a slog it was reading the first third of the thick book. However after that things started to get interesting and the different plot lines came together making it a riveting read to the end.

And then years later the musical came out, but never gave the book justice to the numerous twists and turns in the plot, let alone the character development...

The ground floor of the apartment is reserved for rotating exhibitions and here it was showing Hugo also had an artistic ability, proficient at drawing, and how he influenced a violinist named Louis Soutter.

Hugo didn't pick up drawing until he was 30, while Soutter started when he was over 50. Soutter lived a sad life -- he never became famous as a violinist and instead ended up divorced and penniless -- his brother had to sell his violin to be able to let him live in an old people's home.

Hanging out at the Pyramid in the Louvre

When the two artists' drawings are put side by side, it's interesting to see their different styles -- Hugo masters facial expressions with minimal strokes, while Soutter is not afraid to cover the entire paper with pencil strokes that are confident and expressive.

From Bastille we headed to the Louvre, just to take pictures outside and then head to Opera station for Palais Garnier, named after the architect Charles Garnier who was commissioned by Napoleon III to build an opera house to reflect the opulence of the Second Empire.

We didn't go inside, but it was already impressive on the outside with the portraits of many composers lining the large building.

A memorable pistachio and strawberry ice cream sandwich

Just a block away was Galeries LaFayette and I was finally able to complete my mission in Paris -- to try an ice cream sandwich from Pierre Herme. My colleague had raved about them to me before, how she had one and returned not one more time, but twice in succession to savour these cold treats.

I tried the combination of pistachio and strawberry (6.90 euros) and was not disappointed at all. The sandwich shell is made of macaron, and then it's a thick slice of the strawberry swirl ice cream. Each bite was not too rich, and very refreshing, though my dad had the chocolate and nougat one that was quite heavy.

For my mom I chose three macarons for her and we agreed the Mogador was fantastic -- chocolate with hints of passion fruit to cut the richness and wasn't too sweet.

Au Printemps celebrates 150 years in pink and roses

Before going back to our hotel we passed by Au Printemps which is celebrating its 150th birthday this year, the outside of the store dressed in bright pink complete with rose-shaped medallions.

Imposing Limits on the Forbidden City

A pilot plan next month will limit the number of visitors to the Forbidden City

The next time you visit Beijing and want to go to the Forbidden City, make sure you're one of the lucky ones who get to go in.

Management is trying out a pilot scheme to limit the number of visitors to 80,000 per day from June 13. Shan Jixiang, director of the museum says visitor number control is a must to protect the security of both the cultural relics and tourists.

The Palace Museum has had more than 10 million visitors annually in recent years; in the last three years, numbers exceeded 15 million, more than the Louvre and the British Museum, Shan said.

This has resulted in great pressure on the museum's service standard and safety control, Shan said.

What service standard and safety control?

Each time I went there, security guards looked bored, or several times would shout at visitors not to use flash, but were ignored and gave up, or the grounds were not kept clean thanks to lots of littering, and spitting... I don't even want to know if there was urinating in the former imperial palace!

Limiting the number of visitors would be a good start, but guides must advise their tourists of the rules, and if any are violated, the guide should be held responsible. And those visiting on their own and violate the rules should be accountable.

There will also be a real-name registration system for buying tickets, while group tickets must be booked online.

That's the end of our public service announcement for today.