Gurhkas, UK and HK

In Britain, the High Court is to begin hearing a test case brought by veteran Gurkhas from Nepal who've been refused permission to live in Britain. All foreign soldiers who've served Britain for at least four years are entitled to settle in the country, except Gurkhas who retired before 1997. They have to apply individually, and at least 1,000 have been refused - many on the grounds that their ties to Britain weren't strong enough.

Just makes me angry to hear the above news. It's so true that the British are so racist. Australians, Canadians and New Zealanders (and South Africans) too used to enjoy privileges that others in the Empire did not. These Gurhkas and also the presence of the large Indian / Pakistani community in Hong Kong were due to the fact that Hong Kong was part of the Empire. As HK returned to China, it was understandable if Gurkhas, Indians and the Pakistanis did not want to be part of this "new" country.

The UK should not forsake the Hong Kong - Chinese but even if they choose to forsake the HK- Chinese, they should respect these from the Sub-continent who came to HK just because of the British, not because of the Chinese. On the other hand, HK authority to welcome them to stay, if they choose to. China has always been multi-ethnic, as they claim. So why not having Indians, Pakistanis and Nepalese as official minority nationalities in China?

Shichien - a jolly good landscape architect

Could anyone believe that it has been TWENTY years, TWO DECADES since I started my post-grad studies at U of Edinburgh???
I was aspiring to be a landscape architect... a bit disillusioned with becoming a town planner, wanting to do more designing...
There I met Shichien Huang, a fellow student from Taiwan, Architecture graduate from 成功大學 - 2o years ago. At the top floor of Minto House, 20 Chambers Street, Department of Architecture, EH1 1JZ.... (I still remember the PostCode...!)

After working in Taichung for some years, she continued her career in the other China (Mainland), got married to a lucky man in Beijing and started a family there.

She came back to TW to visit her family (and really for the 20th anniversary of graduating from Cheng Kung University) and we met up one day to visit a wooden sculpture museum in Sanyi, County Miaoli.

She has now an adorable son, 7 years old.

I still remember one time, when she was mentioned by Dr Byrom (the director for the Landscape Architecture Programme at U of Edin) in her absence to a guest lecturer, the comment was: "Shichien [pronounced in a French way with the CH sounding like SH-- what a beautiful name - she must be jolly interesting person." Indeed, Shichien is jolly interesting and has been a jolly good friend all these years.

Random thoughts

Words of wisdom from friends for my recent "breakdown":
"Wishing you renewal and re-integration of yourself this year! breakdown is to buildup, like TRANSFORMER";
"Rather than being a master for others, being a master of others is to master oneself."