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lifeCHINA DAILY CHINADAILY.COM.CN/LIFE WEEKEND EDITION | SATURDAY, AUGUST 11, 2012 | PAGE 19 what’snew China design exhibition Olympians are forever Th e Ministry of Culture and Shen- zhen municipal government recently announced a plan to hold China Design Exhibition 2012. Th e exhibition, to be held in December The story of Eric Liddell is celebrated in the fi lm Chariots of Fire and in a new book on the in Shenzhen, will be divided into four segments namely product design, graphic design, space design and crossover design. athlete by a resident of Tianjin who knew him well. reports in Tianjin. Th e product design segment will focus Wang Kaihao on the integration of Chinese design and manufacturing. It is aimed at exploring an eff ective path to upgrade Chinese creativ- u Wenji, 86, is half-blind. Stamford Bridge, Chelsea Football ity. Space design segment will use models But when he heard the Club’s home ground, shortly aft er he and videos to demonstrate more than 50 theme music from the returned to China. He still sporadi- space classifi cations such as community, 1981 British movie Chari- cally competed aft er being a teacher transport and shopping space. Y Graphic design segment features the ots of Fire, in which Eric at TACC. subjects of image, magazine and character Liddell is one of the two athlete pro- Minyuan is where he took part in designs, while crossover design discusses tagonists, during the Opening Cere- his last formal competition and won how design work infl uences the entire mony of the London Olympic Games his last gold medal, in 1929. He also society. on TV, the Tianjin resident says he trained Chinese athlete Wu Bixian, a Th e exhibition invites nationwide entries. almost burst into tears. high jumper who later participated “I watched the movie three times in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. Tragic thriller in row when I fi rst got the videotape,” Liddell busily shuttled between Crime he says. “He (Liddell) always leans TACC and the countryside in Xiao- thriller Lethal back his head when crossing the fi n- zhang, Hebei province, as he also held Hostage released a ishing line. Th at scene is still vivid in a position there at a church hospital. trailer in my mind.” Yu regrets that Liddell was never his Beijing on Yu spent 15 years writing a biogra- teacher, though he did occasionally Aug 7. Th e phy of Liddell, which was published substitute for absent teachers. fi lm, starring in 2009. He has fi nished a revised ver- “I still remember the fi rst English veteran actor Sun Honglei sion of the book, which he hopes will class he taught us. It was about how and young be published this year as a celebration to tell time in English,” Yu switches actress Wang of Liddell’s 110th birthday. from his Tianjin dialect to a British Luodan, claims to be the Chinese version Liddell, gold medallist in the men’s accent English recalling the content of Leon: Th e Professional. 400m at the 1924 Paris Olympic in that class. Th e movie traces how Sun, a ganglord, is trapped in rivalry with his avengers and his Games, was born to a Scottish mis- “His English was simple but very relationship with a girl he kidnapped. sionary family in Tianjin in 1902, and humorous,” Yu says. “But he was very Producer Ning Hao, also a renowned left China at the age of 5. He returned serious when protecting students’ director, believes tragic drama is a genre to his birthplace in 1925, when he rights. He once quarreled with the rarely seen on the mainland screens and began to teach at the Tientsin (old headmaster to ask for more subsi- will defi nitely attract audiences. Directed by rising fi lmmaker Cheng Er, Yu Wenji says his memory of Eric Liddell hasn’t faded even as he ages. WANG KAIHAO / CHINA DAILY spelling of Tianjin) Anglo-Chinese dies for students not from wealthy the fi lm will premiere on Aug 17. College (TACC) serving the Lon- families.” don Missionary Society. His Chinese However, after Japan attacked get it published by the end of 2012. name is Li Airui. Pearl Harbor, Yu never saw Liddell He also plans an English version of TACC was built in 1902 as a col- again. the book. lege. It was one of the fi rst schools Th e school was occupied by Japa- “I don’t want fame or money,” he established by foreign missionaries nese troops and Liddell was detained says. “I am 86. I just want to show in Tianjin, and was changed into a in Weihsien (old spelling of Weix- I don’t want fame or that Liddell is a good example of high school in 1930. ian, today’s Weifang, Shandong money, I am 86. I just want someone who can erase misunder- In 1938, the 12-year-old Yu was at province) Internment Camp, which to show that standings between China and West- elementary school, loved singing and imprisoned more than 2,000 West- ‘ ern countries.” Diva in love ‘Liddell is a good example occasionally went to a church nearby erners living in China, including 300 He is delighted to see people pay- Hong Kong singer Joey Young plays a to join the choir. children. of someone who can erase ing more attention to Liddell during diva, which she is in real life, in her latest “Liddell played tennis on the week- “He had the chance to leave for misunderstandings be- the current Olympic Games, but he big screen work. ends. I was the last one to leave the Canada with his pregnant wife and also hopes it is not a fad. Simply titled Diva, the fi lm follows a tween China and singer whose life changes dramatically church one day and he stopped me to two children, but he refused to leave TACC buildings were destroyed Western countries.” when she meets a blind massage therapist. ask if I wanted to be his ball boy.” his brothers in church behind. I guess in the devastating Tangshan earth- Mainland heartthrob Hu Ge plays the Yu took the job, and helped Liddell that must have been a tough decision YU WENJI quake of 1976. Aft er several renova- therapist, who develops a romantic rela- for one year. Liddell often chatted for him,” Yu says. ON HIS BOOK ABOUT BRITISH OLYMPIAN tions, Minyuan Stadium is also being tionship with Young’s role. with him when taking a rest by the Liddell continued teaching class ERIC LIDDELL (LEFT) demolished. Th e only other building Th e fi lm uses some backstage scenes of Young’s concerts, which were never tennis court. and organizing games in the camp. related to Liddell that is still standing revealed to the public before. Diva will pre- “He told me people were born on Norman Cliff, a British Christian is the hospital where he was born. miere on Aug 16. the same starting line, but the results at the camp, later wrote a memoir club to cover his living expenses at Canadian from a Hong Kong-based Jin Pengyu, a cityscape and archi- were diff erent, so people needed tal- declaring: “(Liddell is) the finest college, as his family’s business failed. foundation in memory of Eric Lid- tecture expert in Tianjin, who is Ecological camp ent and high expectations for the Christian gentleman it has been my When US troops left China, his com- dell. Mitchell was 9 when he was helping promote Yu’s book, says the China Education TV, National Geo- future so as not to let down the pleasure to meet. In all the time in the manders were satisfi ed with his job imprisoned at Weihsien Internment municipal government plans to build graphic Channel and Yunnan TV celebrat- healthy body given by God.” camp, I never heard him say a bad and wanted him to go to the US. Camp. a sports museum in 2013, which will ed the opening of a summer camp they Yu says this amiable former cham- word about anybody.” “Th ey even promised US citizen- “He offered me a photocopy of introduce Liddell’s story. Yu says he is initiated together in Beijing on Aug 7. pion gave him several English text- Although Japan off ered a prison- ship, but I refused. I told them, `I am Liddell’s death certificate at the happy to provide materials. Th e camp aims to awaken the public’s ecological awareness. Brady Barr, a cel- books and encouraged him to study er-of-war exchange plan aft er early Chinese’,” Yu says. camp,” Yu says. “It was supposed to Yu also formerly had a brain ebrated reptile zoologist and fi eld anchor hard, inspiring him to pass the diffi - 1944, three times, allowing about However, this experience and his have been destroyed by the Japanese tumor like Liddell. His life was saved for the National Geographic Channel, cult TACC entrance exam. Fourteen 200 internees to be released, Liddell family background caused Yu a lot of when they retreated.” aft er an operation in 1999. He later guides the tour. people from three generations of Yu’s would not leave. Th ough on the Brit- trouble during the “cultural revolu- Mitchell told him a Christian Japa- got baptized, decades aft er attend- More than 10 participants will go into family studied there. The big and ish government list he gave up his tion” (1966-76). He was an ordinary nese soldier secretly preserved the ing missionary school, to mark his the tropical forests of Xishuangbanna, in Yunnan province, on a journey to discover wealthy family then ran a store sell- place to children.