June 2, 2010

by Her Excellency Michaëlle Jean

I’m beginning my official visit to China in a spirit of friendship and vitality exemplified by the spectacular world exposition EXPO SHANGHAI 2010. Supporting me here are my husband Jean-Daniel Lafond, who has great enthusiasm for cultural diplomacy, and a powerhouse delegation made up of a dozen representatives of non-governmental institutions and organizations involved a wide range of economic and social sectors, including health, academia and culture. Environment Minister Jim Prentice readily accepted my invitation to travel with us. We are marking the recent co-operation agreements between China and Canada on energy and environmental projects with site visits to verify the socio-economic and cultural impact of the Sino-Canadian partnerships.

We’re being given an extremely warm welcome, far beyond my expectations. Energy is high among the Chinese we meet formally or informally, and dialogue is quick to start up. There is a real desire for dialogue, co-operation and diversified partnerships in strategic sectors, for mutual understanding and for people-to-people exchanges between China and Canada. This is a wonderful way to celebrate 40 years of diplomatic relations and to look to the future.

We began our first day, June 30, with a visit to Fudan University, one of the most prestigious universities in China. Over 250 of the university’s students and professors took part. The young people not only listened attentively and politely, but also enthusiastically asked questions and showed real interest in Canada’s uniqueness, our charter of rights and freedoms, the status of women, cultural and ethnic diversity, my own story, the importance of twinning our universities for greater circulation of ideas, and projects to be carried out in close collaboration.  

Jean-Daniel, accompanied by delegates from the arts and cultural sector, met with contemporary and emerging artists at three Shanghai galleries. Their concerns are quite similar to our own, with the difference that the art market here is exploding as a result of burgeoning demand from prosperous new collectors. 

Urban development is the central theme of EXPO 2010 SHANGHAI. How can we live better in our cities? How can we combat dehumanization in our urban centres, the spread and explosion of which is a global phenomenon? How can we make our cities living environments in which citizens and families remain the central concern, the focus of development, spaces and architectural plans? How can we stand up to the challenges posed by increasingly stringent and homogeneous standards and criteria? How can keep our souls and preserve the spirit, history, memory and human dimensions of our cities? Must we yield at any cost to the phenomenon of high-rise buildings that isolate and disconnect us from the ground, from the earth? How can we manage and process all the waste produced by our cities? These were the exciting questions discussed by a number of Chinese and Canadian architects, proponents, investors and urban planners we brought together at the Vancouver Pavilion. This pavilion promotes wood as a noble, reliable and sustainable material, in contrast with concrete, and, in it, the beams of cedar from British Columbia produce a lovely aroma and keep us cool while the heat beats down outside. Right before that, we toured the Montreal Pavilion, which tells the amazing story of the revitalization of the social and community fabric of the St-Michel neighbourhood, built around a former quarry-turned-public-landfill now transformed into a large, viable green space.  Moreover, the biogases produced by the innovatively buried waste are ingeniously converted into clean energy. The Shanghai World Expo, which is welcoming millions of visitors, boasts very modern and futuristic architectural marvels, but it is also a wonderful meeting place and space for reflection, ideas and greater awareness of the major issues and challenges of the day. It is spread over several kilometres in the heart of a city to which all the superlatives apply, a city of massive population growth, a forest of dizzying skyscrapers, each building competing to surpass the next in height, engineering, light effects, shapes, lines and colours that defy the imagination. And everywhere life strives to triumph, to make itself seen with clothing hanging on lines to dry at windows and on balconies. People’s private lives and the day-to-day life of the city are revealed, and it is a moving sight.

I will long remember this July 1, this unique Canada Day in Shanghai, where our Aboriginal artists from the West, Acadian artists from the Maritimes, Cirque du Soleil acrobats, rockers from the Rockies and soul musicians from Ontario really set the tone and brought to China our rhythms, languages, accents, perspectives and hearts.

Awaiting us is Guangzhou, in the province of Guangdong, birthplace of a large majority of our Canadians of Chinese origin (1,300,000). To come: 26 years of co-operation among hospitals, health specialists, Chinese and Canadians; capital investments and the presence of companies in Canada; supporting greater awareness and recognition of migrant workers’ rights.

To be continued...