In order to welcome the centennial birthday of the party, the Information Office of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government and the Xinmin Evening News Agency jointly planned and carefully produced the "Centennial Party - Foreigners Telling Stories" 100-episode media series products for half a year.
100 foreigners in Shanghai, telling what they have seen and felt about living and working in China and Shanghai, the 85th issue invited Benjamin from the United States.
Name: Benjamin Travis Wood
Chinese name: Benjamin
Nationality: United States
Occupation: Chairman and founder of Woodjapata Design Consulting (Shanghai) Co., Ltd
Participate in the Xintiandi renovation project with a sense of responsibility
Benjamin's home in Shanghai is located in the Xintiandi area. Standing in front of the living room window, you can see the Taiping Lake surrounded by green trees, a large memorial hall of the Communist Party of China, this famous red venue is crowded with tourists every day.
The architect, from the United States, has spent 35 years in his career so far, more than half of which has been in China. Benjamin has many works in China, the most famous of which is the Xintiandi project. In 1998, Benjamin came to Shanghai for the Xintiandi renovation project, and he was honored to be the main designer of the renovation project that year.
Benjamin recalled, "I had a colleague who grew up in China and told me about the history of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and I learned that this was an important milestone in China's history. So I was in awe and made sure that everything I did when I designed it was done was just right. ”
"I know the importance of what I'm doing, and we want to protect the buildings here. I felt a great sense of responsibility. Benjamin said.
Xintiandi has now become a well-known landmark in Shanghai, and the newly built Memorial Hall of the Communist Party of China was officially opened to the public on the eve of the party's centennial birthday.
Benjamin said that although he was not involved in the specific design of a major memorial in the Communist Party of China, as a member of the design team of the Xintiandi renovation project, he also suggested to the government how to make the site of the first congress more beautiful between the two blocks of Xintiandi.
Whenever he thinks about this, he is very proud.
Strolling around the Shanghai neighborhoods has more to discover
Because of his profession, Benjamin was filled with a natural interest in architecture, and slowly, he fell in love with strolling in the city. When he first came to Shanghai, Benjamin rented a Shikumen house on Yongkang Road. "Every day when I go to work, I walk from Yongkang Road to Xintiandi. I used to turn along this street to another. One day, I found the former residence of Sun Yat-sen, so I went inside, and a few months later, I found the Zhou Mansion again and immediately went inside to visit. ”
Benjamin was also fascinated by the neighborhood where the two celebrity memorials were located, "You won't find a similar place in New York, not Los Angeles, not San Francisco, not Tokyo, only Shanghai!" I never tire of walking around Shanghai. ”
The longer he lived in Shanghai, the more Benjamin felt that it was a very livable city, "the number of parks is increasing, and the original Expo park is now almost a big park." There are many places along the Huangpu River where you can ride a bicycle. It also feels great to walk in Shanghai, better than driving. When you are driving, you must be highly focused and pay attention to the road ahead. But when walking you can look around and admire the buildings, especially when you're in Pudong, with the sun going down and all the lights on the Bund, there's nothing better to look like. ”
"Xintiandi is the best proof of China's progress"
"People all over the world want to be happy, but not everyone can. I know that life in China is doing well right now, and most Americans don't know that. Witnessing the changes in China over the years, Benjamin was quite touched, "Every day, when I walk through Xintiandi, I will see people enjoying a good life. As long as you come here, you will understand how much progress China has made in the past few decades. This is a process of continuous struggle, and Xintiandi is the best proof. ”
Benjamin has carefully studied "Xi Jinping on Governing the Country", "President Xi Jinping has repeatedly mentioned 'people-centered'. Once I saw the English version of "Xi Jinping on Governing the Country" in the airport bookstore, I bought it on the spot. When I got home, I read all three volumes, and these books helped me learn more about China. ”
Opening the first volume, Benjamin was fascinated by its content, "The content is about President Xi Jinping's early experience, when he was in a very poor province, I think he understood what it meant to be poor, and that's when he decided to help as many people as possible out of poverty." This book gives us a real insight into why President Xi Jinping thinks it's so important to lift people out of poverty. ”
The other two volumes, written after he became the leader of the Chinese Communist Party, also address the importance of the people. It's not about power, it's about people – how to get people to live a better life. ”
In this way, this American used his observations to understand the Chinese Communist Party, and then to understand today's China.