Return to China, 2008 -- Part V: Back to Kunming
August 12 (Tuesday): We say goodbye to our friends in beautiful
Lugu Lake and drive fifteen hours back to Kunming -- relatively uneventful except
for some heavy fog, a few small landslides, one major security check, a lunch
stop at the "silver town" of Xing Hua and lessons for Li Jia and Amy
in how to swear in English. In Kunming our rooms are ready at the five star
Empark Grand Hotel.
We start our new day slowly, watching the Olympics on TV then
join Fei Bao and Li Jia for a hot-pot fish lunch -- Guangdon Fish with dip dish
and soy sauce, peppers and bamboo shoots, bacon slabs, fish balls, vegetables
and finish with the hot pot broth.
After lunch Gregg goes back to Fei Bao's office for a CCTV interview and strategy
talk about the glass slides Centennial Exhibition in 2009. Kim and Devin go
with Chun Yan (Fei Bao's graphic designer) to visit the Minority Village. The
Minority Village is a Disney Epcot Center-type tourist park which currently
represents thirteen of Yunnan's 25 ethnic minority groups -- such as the Naxi,
Yi and Bai peoples (the goal is to have mini-villages of each of the 25 minority
groups). There are 55 minority groups in China, Yunnan being the most culturally
diverse province in China. The Han Chinese are the majority group in China making
up some 92 percent of the population and 62 percent of the population in Yunnan.
As you will see from the following photographs, the Minority Village should
be high on any Kunming visitor's itinerary.
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In the evening we drove west into the countryside for dinner at an old Buddhist
temple. In 2004 we had gone here for dinner and the drive took an hour and a
half. Due to the improved roads, the trip this time took only thirty minutes.
This old abandoned temple was purchased ten years ago by Fei Bao's friend Liu
Kun and he converted it into his very rustic home with open-air center courtyard.
We forgot to take our camera!
We start the new day with a visit to West Mountain, crossing
Lake Dianchi on a small viaduct, and winding our way up to the Huating Temple.
After our long journey west to the Burma Road, we're now back to Dr. Millett's
Kunming home territory (Dr. Millett is Gregg's father, Kim's grandfather, and
Devin's great-grandfather). In 1945 Dr. Millett took a photograph of the Huating
Temple (left) and in 2004 Dr. Millett's great-granddaughter, Krystal, took the
photograph on the right.
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On up the mountain, climbing the six-hundred year old stairs
carved into the mountain by the Buddhist monks, you get a good view of the northwest
shoreline of Lake Dianchi -- 1945 photographs on the left; recent photograph
on the right. Note the progress! -- brand new highway, smoke and one report
said that it will take fifty billion dollars and fifty years to bring the lake
back to it's 1945 condition. On the peninsula you see a large white building
-- in 1945 it was the Yunnan Provincial governor's mansion turned over to the
US Army as a convalescent hospital under the command of Dr. Millett; now it
is a government officials' retreat center.
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We hurry back to Kunming to join Mrs. Wu and her family for a farewell lunch.
As a young girl Mrs. Wu was peeking from behind a curtain watching a "hairy
armed" American soldier taking a photograph of her father. In 2004 she
attended the first exhibition of Dr. Millett's 1945 photographs and saw the
portrait of her father hanging on the museum wall. She burst into tears and
then fainted. Medical assistance and a bevy of photogaphers were immediately
on the scene; she recovered quickly and made the front page of the Kunming Daily
the next day. As a result the Millett and Wu families have formed a five-generational
relationship -- that is as soon as Dr. Millett has a great, great grandchild!
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At our elegant lunch are Mrs. Wu and her sons, daughters, grand
children and one great-grandson.
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Three generations of the Millett family and four generations
of the Wu family.
After our lunch, Mrs. Wu and most of the family head back to their restaurant/home,
but Mrs. Wu's grandson, Yang Xin, and her great grandson, along with our guide,
Chun Yan, taxi to the west side of Kunming to visit the Yuan Xiao Cen Museum.
We have heard that Dr. Millett's photographs are on display there and we are
not disappointed. Below -- the museum, a walkway to the tea-house on the lake,
a sculpture depicting friendship and thanks between WWII U.S. soldiers and Chinese
people, the main gallery with some of the exquisite paintings of Yuan Xiao Cen,
and finally, the gallery of Dr. Millett's 1945 photographs.
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We admire the photographs and share stories of our families;
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enjoy the company of the Yuan Xiao Cen Museum managers, Zhang
Pei, Zhang Guang Wu and Yuan Xiao;
and hang out for a while enjoying the museum works of art and
beautiful grounds.
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At this point our guide and friend, Chun Yan ("Angela"),
had to say goodbye and gave us all warm hugs and a present -- a book of her
father-in law's paintings (one of which is below). His name is Yitao Liu and
he is regarded as one of China's top 100 artists!
Now we're running late, and to help us out, Yuan Xiao borrows
Director Zhang's car and drives us to the Flying Tiger Restaurant for our farewell
dinner with Jin Fei Bao's family and a few close friends. Pictured below are
Fei Bao's Mom and Dad, the three brothers and a friend, Fei Bao's sister, brother
Fei Biao's children, Fei Biao's wife and two friends and Fei Bao's son and Devin.
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It's Friday, August 15th, and we're off to the airport,
a flight to Beijing, and then back to the USA. The Kunming Daily Newspaper reported
our trip:
100-year-old photos of China arrived in Kunming
From the other side of the continent, more than 250 colored
lantern slides are expected to be firstly exhibited in Kunming.
Gregg Millett, in the name of Cultural Exchange Ambassador of
Schenectady City, U.S.A., has been hosted by his old friend Jin Fei Bao. Gregg
brought personal letters from the Mayor of Schenectady, New York and the Director
of the Schenectady Museum to Mayor Zhang Zulin as well digital images of 250
colored lantern slides.
By their efforts, the Mayor of Schenectady, the Director of
the Schenectady Museum, and the Edison Exploratorium have agreed to send the
digitized images of the old lantern slides to China for cultural exchange programs.
Jin Fei Bao said the time for the exhibition is not confirmed, but the first
place to exhibit will surely be Kunming.
As donator of the old photos of Kunming, this is Gregg's fourth
time of his being in Kunming, and on this visit he brought his daughter and
grandson. Apart from being the cultural exchange ambassador, he has explored
many places in Yunnan where his father used to stay during World War II including
a drive on the Burma Road in western Yunnan.
Gregg also made and wore T-Shirts with Mr. Wu’s photo.
Below are three digital images of the beautiful colored glass
slides at the Schenectady Museum taken by Harry Ostrander in 1911.
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And back in the USA, on August 18th, we receive this
e-mail from Jin Fei Bao:
Dear Gregg:
Although you have gone back to USA, I feel that your visions
are still in China. Sometimes when I go to work, I have illusions that you are
travelling in Western Hills or the Flower & Birds Market. If I hadn't received
your email, I will probably keep having such illusions.
This China trip is rather significant---a historical breakthrough
and great impact to push the exchange between Schenectady and Kunming. And you
had become an ambassdor from a tourist to China originally. It is legendary,
and indicates your sincere friendship for China. The Millett Family's friendship
for China has been passing on for the coming generations, like the Olympic torch,
which will never go out, since it is burning in our hearts.
For Kim and Devin, we are happy for them because they had seen
the "bridge of friendship" their grandfather and great-grandfather
had established, and it is along this "bridge" that they came to China.
It seems that the link between you and me is bond by colored
pictures which is about China 60 years or 100 years ago. Like fate the pictures
cross space and time telling the legendary stories of history, including our
legendary friendship.
I believe when you come back to China next time, what you bring
will be a "Centennial Vision, Colorful China". Welcome back to China
next year!
Best Regards, Fei Bao
The photographs in this journal have been taken by Krystal
Millett-Garrison (2004, 2005, 2006) and Kim Millett-Ashley (2008).
THE END, or shall we say, "TO BE CONTINUED"
-- The Legacy of Dr. Clinton C. Millett.
Click to go back to Part
IV