My present trip is my second around the globe, this time in a westerly direction. My first trip commenced in 1986, travelling east, in the opposite direction. It saw me leave Beijing on the morning of July 16th, arriving in Omaha, USA, on the afternoon of the same day. Looking down through the porthole of my aeroplane, I admired the fertile American landscape, divided into huge farms festooned with mirror-like lakes.
My friend Rod Satory welcomed me at Omaha airport. We stayed at his sister's villa. I was told that the area of an ordinary farm was about one square mile. In the past, farms had been smaller, but with the exodus of young farmers to the cities, many small farms had been merged into larger units. Omaha is the largest city in Nebraska,
with a population of more than three hundred thousand. It was my first opportunity to see and understand the workings of a modern city. This one consisted of many scattered communities, each community being situated in an environmentally attractive location.
The villa where we were staying was on the bank of a lake. People who lived there had small motor boats and spent their leisure time on the water. However, the shopping malls were located far away from these communities. Without a car, living there was impossible. It was the first time I had ever seen shopping malls: vast complexes brimming with goods of all kinds. The cost of power used for air conditioning alone could not have been born by any enterprise in our country.
I noted that there were no irrigation systems on the farms. Either the rainfall was adequate or the farms were simply too large for such systems to be implemented.
My next destinations were Boston Massachusetts, Toronto and Kingston Ontario, Canada. I presented papers both at Inter-Noise 1986 (Boston) and at the 12th ICA (Toronto). I also visited Queen's University at Kingston invited by Professor D. A. Hutchins and gave a lecture there.
On Wednesday 6th of August I took a flight to London from Toronto at 19:50, arriving at Heathrow airport at 7:30 the next morning. This was my third trip to England, where I have many friends. I visited Cirrus Research Limited at Scarborough, invited by Dr. Alan D.Wallis, the Farnborough International Air Show, and Racal Acoustics, invited by the Managing Director, Mr. Lewis Macdonald. I then went on to the Department of Applied Acoustics, Salford University, invited by the Director of the Department, Professor Peter Lord, followed by a visit to the Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, invited by Professor J. E. Ffowcs-Williams. After a visit to Sussex University, I went to see all my old friends in the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR), at the University of Southampton. I flew back home on Friday, 19th September 1986.
During 1986 I also attended a party at the home of Professor Richard H. Lyon, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where I met Professor Zbigniew Engel of the Institute of Mechanics and Vibroacoustics, the S. Staszic Technical University of Mining and Metallurgy at Cracow Poland. He invited me to visit his Institute. It was the Inter-Noise 1987 conference, held at Beijing, which prompted me to travel the Globe again. From that time onward I commenced with plans for the trip and submitting applications for support. Fortune smiled upon me. My institute approved my application to visit Cracow for the Noise Control 1988 conference and would pay the international air ticket fare from Beijing to Warsaw. The Chinese Academy of Sciences agreed to list my name in the exchange program signed with the National Research Council, Canada, and would pay my airfare from Ottawa, Canada back to Beijing. Professor Hermann Viets, the Dean of the College of Engineering of the University of Rhode Island invited me to visit his college, offering to pay my salary during my visit. All in all, I received sufficient enthusiastic assurances of support to guarantee the viability of the trip.
To realise my plans, my next task was to apply for visas. I needed visas from nine countries! Fortunately, during my application, the Soviet Union, Poland and East Germany declared agreements for mutual exemption of visas with China. I completed the other six applications and received visas in just six weeks. To obtain six visas in such a short time was astonishing. When I went in to the Administration office of the Academy, the clerk joked: "you're the friend of all the ambassadors, aren't you!"
It was on the 1st of September 1988 that I left Beijing, flying to Warsaw via Moscow and arriving in Warsaw the following morning. At the airport I first needed to change money. I asked a Pole about the exchange rate. He did not know and helped me ask at the information desk. The exchange rate was $US 1:ZL 2000. When I went to the bank for change, I wondered why the rate was 1 to 442 and I thought the Pole could be wrong. Finally I understood that there were three exchange rates: for foreigners it was 1:442; for the Pole it was 1:1800 and the rate was 1:2000-2500 on the black market. Regardless of which rate applied, prices were low. Bus fares were ZL5 regardless of the distance and place. One could buy a ticket book and use the tickets throughout the whole country. A rail ticket from Warsaw to Cracow was ZL937, or $US2.2 at the official exchange rate: very cheap in comparison with $US33 for a "saver" rail ticket from New York City to Kingston, Rhode Island. Perhaps not surprisingly, the train to Cracow was overcrowded. I could not find a seat as there were so many other passengers, and could do nothing else but lay my trolley on the floor at the doorway of my coach and sit on its iron frame for about three hours, until enough passengers had disembarked at the next big railway station.
I was struck by the kindness of the people in Warsaw. At the airport, a lady led me to the bus stop serving the railway station and gave me two tickets for the bus because I had no change.
Furthermore, she asked a passenger on the bus to ensure that I got off at the railway station. The station was a three-storey building and the height of each storey was about 6-7 metres. The ticket room was in the hall at street level. Platforms were all underground. The restaurant was at the top level but there was no elevator access to it. All elevators between the street level and the underground
only worked in one direction. Since the luggage lockers were full, I had no option but to carry my heavy cases everywhere I went. I was so tired and hungry that I did not have the strength to climb the steps up to the restaurant with my luggage.
At Cracow Professor Zbigniew arranged for me to stay in the luxurious "Forum" hotel. This hotel was the best one in Cracow. The hotel was situated on the bank of a river. Across the river was an ancient palace with bright blue-green sharp rooftops. Cracow was the old capital of Poland. The river, a green belt through the old city, the bright palace and other beautiful buildings made it very attractive. I really loved it. Social order and security in Cracow were very good. Outside the hotel, however, food was bad and one only could only purchase fresh fruit juice with hard currency. Goods on display in the market looked dull and unappealing.
Although most Poles could not speak English, they liked to study it. In the city one morning, English radio broadcasts could be plainly heard blaring out of many apartment windows.
Noise Control 1988 was held from the 5th to the 7th of September 1988. It was an international conference of medium size and 108 papers were presented orally. In addition, there were 46 posters.
After the conference, my daughter-in-law and I boarded my son's car and we left Cracow at noon on 7th September. We were in a hurry to go to West Berlin, because after that we were due to visit the University of Southampton, England. My son had to be back to work there before Monday, 12th September, so it was necessary for him to drive us for half a day and one night. We arrived in West Berlin at 6:40 on the morning of Thursday, 8th September, after 19 hours of continuous driving. It was a hard journey not only because of the long distance but also because most of the driving had to be done at night.
Whilst on our way to the border separating Poland and East Germany, a Polish policeman, previously hidden in a forest, emerged on a motorcycle and apprehended us. We wondered what was wrong. He asked my son for a fine, alleging that the car had violated the speed limit. My son argued with him, explaining that the speed of the car was only 90 km/hr, lower than the speed limit of 95 km/hr. The policeman retorted that the car was a sports car and that sports cars were always driven too fast! He asked us to drive back 50 km with him to a town where we could exchange our foreign money for the fine or pay him $US5 directly. Being less gullible than we suspected he imagined, we quickly gave him $US5 without receiving any receipt.
After we left the motorway we lost our way to West Berlin and were apprehended again, this time by the East German police. By this time it was midnight. They took away our passports and ordered us to follow their car. We were afraid of what would happen, but it transpired that they had kind intentions, leading us to a West Berlin checkpoint. Thanks to an American officer on the West Berlin side, we were admitted. The officer told us that this was "Checkpoint Charlie", usually only accessible to diplomats travelling to the airport.
In West Berlin, Professor Manfred Heckl welcomed us and let us stay in his house with his family. He showed us his laboratories in which he and his students were doing excellent research on the field of structural vibration. He also showed us West Berlin. We visited the well-known Berlin Wall that separated Berlin into two parts. It
seemed a great pity. At the Berlin wall on the western side, people could reach the wall freely and look over to the East. On the eastern side, it was quiet with no-one about. The population in West Berlin was decreasing. West Berlin was not a capital city at the time. Geographically it was surrounded by East Germany and only airways and the " Berlin corridor" motorway linked it with the West. Of these, the "Berlin corridor" was potentially more troublesome, because, as one passed through the checkpoint to enter it, one was effectively in East German territory. West Berlin was well vegetated and had many small forests. I loved the city very much.
We stayed with the Heckls for two days and left them in the early morning of Saturday, 10th September. Mrs. Heckl insisted on leading us to the "Berlin corridor" for the Netherlands and presented us with a mountain of food to eat on our way. The Heckls were very kind and well acquainted with Chinese customs: giving food to a traveller is exclusively a Chinese custom. They knew that the Chinese name for"plum" was "li" (my family name), and offered us fresh plums growing in their garden. "Auf Wiedersehn", dear Heckls.
We had one overnight stop at Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on 10th September, crossed the channel to Dover and arrived in Southampton on the evening of Sunday, 11th September. This was my fourth time in England. I love the country and have many friends there.
In England, I was busy. I visited London and Scarborough for business and journeyed to Maiden Newton, a small village in Dorset, to experience English rural life. Mr. Eric Murphy welcomed me in and I lived there with him for four days. Houses in the village were lined up along the sides of the road so that their back gardens faced open fields, used for animal husbandry or cultivation. In Britain, there seemed to be more grazing land than arable land. The post office in the village was shared with the grocer, and villagers called it the "information centre". Villagers went there to buy newspapers and groceries, to mail letters or to receive them. They talked to each other there and exchanged news. Any piece of gossip was spread immediately. I frequented the store, buying stamps and envelopes and collecting my mail. I also walked there with my friend to buy newspapers. It was not long before the villagers knew that the village had a Chinese visitor. I was told I might be the first Chinese person to stay there. Every day I went out to take a walk along the winding path up and down small hills to breathe the fresh air and to enjoy the natural beauty. I picked blackberries growing along the sides of the path and ate them. They tasted sharp and juicy. Having recovered from my tiredness after my long journey, I
prepared the next leg of my trip.
I left Heathrow airport, London in the morning and arrived at J. F. Kennedy airport in the evening on Monday, 26th of September. Mr. Martin Herschorn, the president of the Industrial Acoustics Company invited me to visit his factory and asked his vice president of Research and Development, Mr. David Collings to meet me at the
airport. He arranged a hotel for me and showed me their factory the next day. This was my first time in Manhattan, New York City. As a newcomer in such a crowded city, their hospitality was most appreciated.
I cannot say I liked Manhattan. It was too crowded and some people on the street looked rough and unkempt. Whilst some Americans were evidently rich, I encountered beggars every time I caught an underground train. The waiting room in Pennsylvania railway station was very grimy. Even the clock, supposed to indicate the leaving time of a ferry-boat from Staten Island to the Battery Park ferry in Manhattan, had stopped.
I lived with my uncle's family at his home on Staten Island for four days from 28th of September to the 2nd of October. This was my first opportunity to visit them and learn something of their life.
I left Staten Island to Kingston, Rhode Island on the 2nd of October. My uncle insisted on escorting me to Pennsylvania Railway Station regardless of the fact that he was eighty years old.
Professor Hermann Veits met me at the railway station of Kingston, Rhode Island and invited me for dinner with his family. My wife came to Kingston on October 9th to join me on my journey. We stayed in Kingston for two months until I left for Canada on the 4th December. During the stay, Hermann and his family treated my wife and me as part of their own family. We attended parties at his house and he invited us to his home to celebrate Thanksgiving. He took us to watch a basketball competition between the teams of Rhode Island State and Brown University at Providence. The performance of the basketball cheerleaders was a real novelty.
Kingston was just a place name - only a university was situated there. The nearest shopping centre was Wakefield, about five kilometres away from the University. We stayed at an inn owned by Jim and Ann Ross. It was a big house but the landlord only offered the apartment and another four rooms for guests. It had a large garden covered with many beautiful trees and flower beds, and boasted a tennis court in one corner of the garden: a very pleasant place in which to be. We enjoyed the pretty garden and played tennis and basketball with the Chinese staff and students of the University every weekend.
Professor Hermann Viets was young and had great ability. He had assumed the position of Dean of the College of Engineering only a few years previously. I was interested in how a dean came to be elected. A Chinese professor explained. First, the professors in the College set up a professorial committee. The members of the committee were responsible for finding suitable candidates for the position of Dean. Members of the committee voted for their ideal candidate irrespective of that candidate's location. My time in Kingston coincided with the general election for the next American president. The elections of Dean and American President both illustrated the power of democracy, responsible for the rapid developments in American economics and society. I learned the difference between democracy and bureaucracy.
In Kingston, many Chinese people originated from Taiwan and often held better positions than those from the mainland. Chinese from both sides were very friendly to us. All the overseas Chinese I met were eagerly awaiting the unification of China. I would like to acknowledge with fondness all the Chinese there who helped us.
The United States of America is a very large country. There were great differences from place to place. One could not easily define America after only visiting a few places and in such a short time.
We left Kingston for Ottawa, Canada on the 4th December via Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, where we stopped for two days as guests of the president of Quest Electronics, Robert J. Wurm. We visited his factory and discussed business. They took us around and showed us the area of Milwaukee. We understood that the names of many places were Red Indian names and difficult to pronounce. Mrs. Kuemmel, the wife of Mr. Theodore J. Kuemmel, the engineering manager of Quest
taught us to remember the spelling of Oconomowoc, by the phrase "we can know more work."
We arrived in Ottawa, Canada in the evening of 6th December. Mrs. Embleton met us at the airport and drove us to the Aristocrat Apartment Hotel, an attractive building in the central town of Ottawa, 20 minutes north of the parliament building and 10 minutes by foot west of the bank of the Rideau canal. Dr. Tony Embleton invited
me to visit his section, the Section of Acoustics and Mechanical Standards, Physics Division, National Research Council, Canada and arranged the hotel for us. I started my work the next day. The National Research Council, situated on Montreal Road, east of the hotel, and 30 minutes away by bus, was also well situated in a quiet area with fresh air. The buildings were bright white in colour, harmonising with the winter snow.
We stayed in Ottawa for two further months until we left for Beijing on 12th February 1989. It was a northern winter. During our stay, the ground was permanently covered with white snow. Even so, traffic never suffered delays. Salt was spread on the streets and snow was pushed or swept away with snowploughs or motor snow sweepers soon after snowfall.
Someone remarked "this is not the time to come to Ottawa". I thought, conversely, that it was exactly the time to come to Ottawa. Ottawa is the second coldest capital in the world and in winter it offers something quite special. The section of the Rideau canal from her northern mouth at the Ottawa River to the Dows Lake in the south formed an exclusive natural skating rink with a length of about 7 kilometres. The rink was carefully maintained. Water was pumped out from the canal under the ice and spread on top of the ice to make its surface smooth. It was very expensive to keep the 7 kilometre ice rink always in good condition for skating.
The highlight of winter entertainment was the Winterlude, held from the 3rd to the 12th of February. Different performances and attractions were held at various locations, but the central spot was Rideau Canal. I thought that the most appealing events were the ice-carving competition at the Crystal Garden at Confederation Park and the "Ice Dream" at Dows lake, where more than 100 snow sculptures were exhibited.
Canada was a welfare state. Poor people could obtain a house or apartment from the government and rent was one fourth of the family's income. The house or apartments were of good standard. Anyone older than 65 was eligible for a pension of $C 800 a month from their government, regardless of whether they had a job or not. People still in employment after 65 years old could obtain additional pension income from the tax they had paid.
Canada is a peace-loving nation, with no attack force. An Air Force officer in the National Defence of Canada told me that the Air Force had fighters but no bombers.
Canadians highly valued the equality of people and considered the compulsory retirement of old people still able to work as a violation of that part of the Constitution concerning the regulation of age discrimination. Parliament was due to debate whether or not to dissolve retirement regulations.
I worked with Antony Brammer. He gave me much help in my work and daily life. Tony Embleton also assisted me considerably during my visit.
I returned home on the 14th February. Many kind-hearted people helped me throughout my 6-month trip, and I would like to acknowledge all those friends whose names did not appear in this article.
LI Peizi
