Memories of China

Isabel Crook passed away

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

RIP

Longtime Beijing resident Isabel Crook passed away on 20 August 2023 at the age of 107.
She was a truly remarkable lady whom I met several times. Despite her age she remained very active. The last time I met her was on 18 February 2023, the big birthday party for Mark Levine, attended by many of his friends. Isabel Crook and her two sons were the star guests, see the post here.

With Isabel and Michael Crook 20 August 2016

I also met her in 2016, as mentioned in the post “Spotlight on Mark Levine”. With pictures from 2014 (Hilton event) and 2016 (Beijing Foreign Studies University), including Isabel and Michael Crook.
Another key event was on 20 August 2019 when I attended the launch of the movie featuring Isabel Crook, in The Bookworm, with a performance by Mark Levine. Fu Han did a remarkable job!

I was with Michael Crook (in the middle, white jacket) on the float during the parade of 1 October 2009.

All over the media

See here some of the media announcements.

China Daily
20 August 2023 – Pioneering educator, researcher Isabel Crook dies at 107 in Beijing
By Zou Shuo in China Daily

Isabel Crook

Canadian educator and anthropologist Isabel Crook, who pioneered English language teaching in New China and was a recipient of the Friendship Medal, China’s highest honor for foreigners, died on Sunday in Beijing at the age of 107.
Crook, who lived and worked in China for more than 90 years, witnessed and participated in the development of China’s foreign language education, according to a eulogy released by Beijing Foreign Studies University, where she taught English for more than 70 years.

In New York Times
26 August 2023 – Isabel Crook, 107, Dies; Her Life in China Spanned a Century of Change
Read the full article here.
A noted educator and anthropologist, she spent almost her entire life in China, where she was a committed friend of the Communist government.
Isabel Crook, a China-born daughter of Canadian missionaries who became one of her adopted country’s most celebrated foreign residents, beloved as an educator, anthropologist and articulate advocate for the Communist state, died on Sunday in Beijing. She was 107.
Her son Carl Crook said the cause of death, in a hospital, was pneumonia.
Mrs. Crook was among the last of a generation of Westerners born to missionaries in China in the decades before the Japanese invasion, World War II and the subsequent Communist revolution.
See the PDF: 230826 NYTIsabelCrook.

In theBeijinger:
Remembering Isabel Crook, Canadian Expat and Educator, 1915-2023
22 August 2023 – Irene Li – theBeijinger
Canadian educator, anthropologist, Friendship Medal recipient, and longtime Beijing resident Isabel Crook passed away on Aug 20 at the age of 107.
Born to missionary parents in Chengdu in 1915, Crook earned her master’s degree from the University of Toronto in 1938, before returning to China for anthropological study.
See the PDF: 230822 theBeijingerIsabelCrook

Movie featuring Isabel Crook

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Presentation of the movie

On the evening of 20 August 2019 I attended the launch of the movie featuring Isabel Crook, in The Bookworm.
Yes, that was a long time ago, since then the landmark The Bookworm was closed, a great loss for Beijing. Seems the authorities don’t care.
In the meantime Isabel Crook has left us, the reason for digging up this event. Later I will soon write more.

The evening was organized by the podcast “How China Works”, with hosts Brendan Davis and Li Yingying.
Many of my friends attended. Mark Levine, Fu Han’s partner of “In Side Out” of course was there and gave a performance.I recently wrote about his birthday party, in a previous post.
The star of the evening was of course Isabel Crook herself.

Fu Han’s movie featuring Isabel Crook

Fu Han did a really great job and we were all impressed by the movie.
You can watch it on the Chinese server here (no VPN).

From those abroad I uploaded on Vimeo (need VPN in China).
“Great many thanks to Fu Han for this great movie about Isabel Crook who passed away this August 2023”.
Watch it here.

Gilbert was on CCTV4

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Finally done

After months of waiting, days of shooting, meetings, and scanning old pictures, Gilbert was on CCTV4, with his friend Raja.
“China Edge” featured “I have been in China for 40 years”. The CCTV TV premiere was broadcast on CCTV-4 at 22:00 on Sunday 28 May 2023. Here is the CCTV program link. Click on the link to watch the nearly 30 minutes documentary. Look for the image with the Bird’s Nest. Or directly use this link, needs time to load.
A more easy link is here, where you simply click the play button.

We started working on it in late September 2022, we had extensive shooting on 29 October 2022 in my home, on 7 November 2022 near the Bird’s Nest and the Athletes Alley and during the Old China Hands lunch on 8 November 2022.

The documentary was too short to tell all my stories. CCTV4 plans to use more of the footage in the future.
All in all they did a great job. While I have the full video in my desktop it was exciting to watch it live on TV Sunday evening.

See some screenshots!

Shooting at home

On 29 October 2022 the large CCTV4 crew invaded my home office, turning everything upside down. One needs a lot of patience with those TV people.

Main parts were the interview and shooting me going through my mountain of old picture albums.

The Bird’s Nest

On 7 November 2022 we spent an awful time near the Bird’s Nest. The crew had some “creative ideas” (no, NOT mine!) to build some kind of bird’s nest with twigs they found on the ground. I felt like back in kindergarten…

The same day we went to see the Athletes’ Alley of Olivier Strebelle in the Olympic Park, that will be the topic of a separate post. Too many memories of that statue and for me a bit of a sad ending.

Beijing Workers Stadium story1

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

The old and the new

The Beijing Workers Stadium story1 (“the gongti area”) is the first of a series of articles about this famous Beijing landmark, its history, what the future holds and the progress of construction.
I posted several earlier articles since 2020:

Gongti strip to disappear – 10 August 2020
The gongti strip to disappear, along with all bars, discos, restaurants and shops in the Workers Stadium area. Some historical facts and data. I announced the dramatic changes for my beloved Gongti Strip, the dramatic disappearance of many beloved nightlife spots, some history of the Workers Stadium like the WHAM concert!

New Beijing Workers Stadium – 23 August 2020
Few seem to be aware we will have a new Beijing Workers Stadium, expected to be delivered by December 2022. See here the first details of what to expect!

Beijing Gongti demolition – 23 September 2020
A latest update on the closing of Legend Beer, Thai Laburnum and others in the Gongti area. A last look of Legend Beer.

2020 is a tough year – 7 October 2020
A tough year for many businesses in Beijing, too many to mention. Some are the victim of the wave of destruction, for the other it is the impact of COVID-19.
Sadly since then it got much much worse. The old “Gongti Strip” is now dead. Sad.

The old stadium

As posted earlier, the whole area around gongti has lost so many nice restaurants and bars. Legend, The Den, and also Tairyo (Korean style) from where you had a nice view on the old stadium.

See some pictures of the old stadium. The statues have been removed and stored at the west gate of the Worker’s Gymnasium, they will be put back later.

The demolition of the stadium and many surrounding buildings is now pretty much done

See the dates of the progress.

The history of concerts and other events

I reported earlier about the WHAM concert.
Here a compilation of press articles about the many concerts, the interview with me and background of WHAM. See the official program.

I was also at the concert of Bob Dylan – Workers Gymnasium, April 6, 2011.
Not mentioned here is the impressive AIDA opera staged in the Stadium on 28 September 2003, see here:

I need to write about that, found back the pics.

CRI Interview in French

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

In our office meeting room

On 8 November 2021 CRI Interview in French in my office, with the journalist Zhang Xiyan who had prepared a list of questions for me, see here: 211108 CRIquestions
The topic was my 40 years in China.

The interview online on 28 November 2021, in French

Média: service radio, CGTN français, or CRI (China Radio International)Gilbert Van Kerckhove, dont l’arrivée en Chine a coïncidé avec le début de la politique de réforme et d’ouverture, a, durant cette période, mis en œuvre le projet d’un centrale électrique dans la province du Henan, au centre de la Chine. Il a ensuite créé le bureau d’Alstom pour la région de l’est de la Chine à Shanghai.
http://french.cri.cn/interview/list/714/20211128/733991.html

Voici le contenu: 211128 CRIinterview

Un extrait des 36 minutes:

“Originaire de Gand en Belgique, Gilbert Van Kerckhove est titulaire d’un master en Ingénierie électronique. Sa première visite en Chine remonte à 1980. Il a travaillé pendant plus des 40 ans en Chine, principalement à Beijing. Mais l’ingénieur belge a aussi travaillé quelque peu à Hong Kong et à Shanghai.

Gilbert Van Kerckhove, dont l’arrivée en Chine a coïncidé avec le début de la politique de réforme et d’ouverture, a, durant cette période, mis en œuvre le projet d’un centrale électrique dans la province du Henan, au centre de la Chine. Il a ensuite créé le bureau d’Alstom pour la région de l’est de la Chine à Shanghai. C’est aussi lui qui a sollicité et obtenu la construction avec succès de la ligne 3 du métro de Shanghai et de Shanghai Jinmao Tower. Toutes ces réalisations lui ont valu le Prix Magnolia, une distinction qui récompense les étrangers qui ont contribué au développement de la municipalité de Shanghai.

Il était impliqué dans les Jeux Olympiques 2008 de Beijing. Durant la préparation de ce rendez-vous sportif mondial, Gilbert Van Kerckhove a travaillé au sein de plusieurs départements du gouvernement de Beijing. Fin connaisseur de la Chine, il est fondateur d’une société de conseil en matière de gestion. Sa société propose des conseils stratégiques aux entreprises tant chinoises qu’étrangères.”