Across the Pacific: Two "little daughters" meet again after 20 years

China News Service, Suzhou, September 27th, Title: Across the Pacific: Two "little daughters" reunited after 20 years

China News Service reporter Zhong Sheng

Bei Shian still remembers the scene when he first came to China: in front of a newly completed building, people were rejoicing and the sound of firecrackers and fireworks continued. "I was only 9 years old at the time and didn't understand everything around me. I just pulled my grandfather's sleeves in the noise and kept asking: 'Why are we here and how long will it take to end?'. Now I know how significant this incident is to Suzhou and our family." Bei Shi'an said nostalgically.

This building is the main building of the Suzhou Museum. It was designed by Bei Shi'an's grandfather, the Chinese architect Ieoh Ming Pei, whose ancestral home is in Suzhou. He called it the "little daughter". From the 24th to the 25th, the international academic symposium "The Future of Museums with Multidisciplinary Integration" was held at the Suzhou Museum to commemorate the 20th anniversary of its opening. Pei's son Pei Lizhong, granddaughter Bei Shi'an and other members of the Pei family were invited to attend. After 20 years, the two "little daughters" of the Bei family met again.

What does 20 years mean? Bei Lizhong gave the answer: "Twenty years can make a toddler grow into a young man in his own right, and it is also enough for a building to truly become part of a city. Over the years, the Suzhou Museum has become more than just a dancing bamboo shadow and rockery in the courtyard, but a place where stories happen every day."

This "place where stories happen every day" is I.M. Pei's "little contribution to his hometown" and the link he left between his family and his hometown. When designing the Suzhou Museum, I.M. Pei specifically proposed grafting the wisteria branches planted by Wen Zhengming in the Humble Administrator's Garden in the Ming Dynasty into the museum as a continuation of the past. He once said: "When you have good roots, you can transplant branches, and connect new and usable things to the old roots, and the tradition will come alive."

While wandering around the Suzhou Museum, Bei Shi'an recalled what her grandfather said: "I have always known where I came from. The Bei family has been in Suzhou for six hundred years, and I have feelings for Suzhou." This feeling was also passed down to Bei Shi'an. She recalled: "My grandfather always called Suzhou 'my heart.' I have known that Suzhou is my hometown and the place where my family comes from since I was a child."

Coming to the Suzhou Museum again, Bei Shi'an has grown from the little girl who was "making trouble to go home" to a historical scholar. Looking at the endless flow of people in the museum, she said: "My grandfather would not know how many tourists came to the Suzhou Museum today just to see his 'little daughter'. This is also where our family's emotions and sense of belonging come together, helping us to integrate into the context of our hometown again. Suzhou is my proud hometown, and I plan to come back more frequently in the future to connect me more closely with it." (End)