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On March 30, “The Chinese Feelings Across the Pacific—The Century Exhibition of the Old Photos Treasured by the Canadians” was open in the Lu Xun Museum in Beijing. The exhibition lasted for one week. At the exhibition some old photos taken in the early 20th century were on display, showing James G. Endicott, envoy of world peace, together with Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai; the family of O. L. Kilborn, one of the founders of West China Union University, together with Chinese women with bound feet: O. L. Kilborn treating the wounded soldiers during the Revolution of 1911; Leslie Earl Willmott in Chinese tunic suit and his wife reluctant to bid farewell to China, as well as photos of Ashley Woodward Lindesay, founder of Chinas modern dentistry; dental expert Dr. Harrison J. Mullett; Walter Small, who once served as chief architectural engineer of West China Union University; Dr. William Edward Smith and professor of biology Frank Dickinson. These photos showed their life and work in China. There were also quite a number of precious photos taken by Albert French Lutley, a professor of West China Union University who loved photography very much, when he visited the ethnic minority area in the western mountainous area of Chengdu and traveled along the Yangtze River in 1937.

All these photos were provided by Canadian friends who were born in China. Calligrapher Zhang Biao and research workers Xiang Suzhen and Zhang Yingming in Chengdu got these precious photos in the modern Chinese history from over 100 Canadian old people who were born in Sichuan. With the support of Sichuan University and the China Society for Peoples Friendship Studies, the exhibition of these photos was held, which let us see the forgotten years and the long-standing friendship between the Chinese and Canadian people.

In the early 20th century some Canadians who worked in Chengdu set up a Canadian School to solve the problem of their childrens education. The school didnt close until 1950. The children who once studied in the school now have all reached old age. They had an indissoluble bond with Chengdu for they were born, grew up, got education and raised their families there. They and their descendants lived and worked in China for decades. Two or three generations of these families served in China. They carried out education, practiced medicine and did scientific researches, sharing weal and woe with the Chinese people. When they saw China ridden with calamities and the people in dire poverty, they felt that their destiny was closely linked with that of the Chinese people. Some helped us during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation. Though later they with their children returned to Canada in succession, the passing of the years cant wipe out these old peoples attachment to China. They have never forgotten China and regard China as their second home place. Every mid-October these old people who are now scattering in various places of Canada and the United States will drive or go in wheelchairs accompanied by their sons or daughters to an unattractive Chinese restaurant in Toronto to have a get-together. While enjoying Chinese dishes, they took out old photos and slides of Chengdu and things related to Sichuan collected by their families for about a hundred years and talked about their ever-lasting attachment to Sichuan. Their stories have moved many Chinese. In 1997, Xiang Suzhen flew to Canada to visit them and took part in their get-together. When the old people and their offspring saw her who came from Chengdu, they treated her affectionately as their own daughter and showed her the photos and souvenirs they collected and gave her slides replicas of some photos. Hence there came this photo exhibition.

Eight Canadian friends specially came to China to attend the opening ceremony of the exhibition, namely Don Willmott, son of Leslie Earl Willmott; Glenn Wilmott, son of Don Willmott; Steve Endicott, son of James G. Endicott; Steve Douglus, son-in-law of Steve Endicott; Marion Walmsley Walker, granddaughter of O. L. Kilborn, one of the founders of West China Union University; Debbie Kirton, daughter of Marion Walmsley Walker; Elizabeth Roberts Leach, daughter of Albert French Lutley, professor of West China Union University and Jessica Leach, granddaughter of Elizabeth Roberts Leach.They expressed their gratitude to the Chinese people for holding the exhibition and gave warm and moving speeches at the opening ceremony. Isabel Crook, retired professor of Beijing Foreign Studies University and her two sons Michael and Paul Crook who were born in Beijing also attended the opening ceremony.

The Canadian friends also visited Chengdu where they relived the old experience of their families.

When Leslie Earl Willmotts second son Bill Willmott and his wife Diano learnt that the exhibition had been successfully held, they were very happy and sent us a letter of gratitude. Bill Willmott is former president of the New Zealand-China Friendship Society and has received the honorary title of Friendship Ambassador conferred by the CPAFFC. He brings New Zealand friends to visit China every year and would lead a 19-member delegation to China in May this year.