In the 90-square-meter apartment of the South Building with a history of more than 60 years in the family area of Beijing Foreign Studies University, it is very lively. Elizabeth wore a big red sweater to greet one visitor after another. It was her 102 birthday.

Elizabeth, one of China's most famous international friends, has bright angel blue eyes and smiles at everyone. She ate a birthday cake of 102, as well as her favorite Chengdu Palace Peach Crisp. This centenarian who can go upstairs and put on his shoes by himself might go out and dance Ba Duan Jin if it weren't for his birthday. ...

This Canadian old man who witnessed China's 100-year history has become a legend in this long history-

Canadian Elizabeth, a famous international friend of China, 19 15 was born in the family of a Canadian missionary. Her mother is Rao Meimei, director of the Department of Education at Xi Sheikh University in Yuan Hua.

She is a Canadian producer, anthropologist, educator, and the pioneer of English teaching garden in New China.

She once participated in the rural construction experiment in Xinglongchang, Sichuan, and interviewed and investigated the land reform in the liberated areas of North China with her husband David Crook.

From 1948, Elizabeth and her husband participated in the establishment of the Foreign Affairs School. Since then, she has stayed in this campus now called Beijing Foreign Studies University for nearly 70 years. ...

Chinese memory

Age of international friends in Canada 102

I have been in China for a long time, and I like to eat Sichuan-style pork and dance Ba Duan Jin.

The South Building of Beijing Foreign Studies University Family Courtyard is a gray four-story building. The home where Elizabeth has lived for more than 60 years is an old apartment on the third floor.

The room is just like the furnishings of ordinary old people's homes in China. Simple and slightly crowded, with a modern tape recorder and DVD player, it seems to announce the age of this house. Only the old photos and English books on the bookshelf can tell the identity of the owner. Elizabeth, a Canadian producer who firmly believes in productism, hangs a portrait of Mao Zedong in the living room.

Elizabeth, who ushered in 102 birthday, was in a good mood. She wore a big red sweater and smiled at people who came to celebrate her birthday. She cut the birthday cake herself and ate a small piece. Although her face is wrinkled, her eyes are bright and simple like a girl. 12-year-old dog "ice porridge" circles around Elizabeth. Elizabeth touched it intimately and joked, "This is not a puppy, it is an old dog."

Elizabeth's three sons also gathered in Beijing to celebrate her mother's birthday. The eldest son Ke Lu is from America, the second son Ke Makai has been with his mother in Beijing, and the youngest son Ke Honggang has just returned from England. Coupled with Ke Makai's daughter with two twin children, this apartment is probably the most lively moment of the year.

Elizabeth, who was in a good mood, also ate two pieces of palace peach cakes specially brought by her friends from Chengdu, which was her favorite taste of salt and pepper. Usually, even if it is ordinary cooking, my aunt will put a little more pepper. This is a taste developed by Elizabeth who lives in Sichuan. She even chewed pepper one by one. Besides, she also likes to eat Sichuan-style pork, which is her favorite. "Sichuan food is my favorite." Elizabeth spoke slowly but clearly.

Elizabeth also has two older sisters who live as long as her, living in Canada and England respectively. One sister just celebrated100th birthday, and the other is 95 years old. The three sisters were also born in Chengdu.

Elizabeth's longevity may be due to her persistent residence in the Family Courtyard of Beijing Foreign Studies University. There are old friends and sisters in the yard who she has known for more than 60 years. "I live in a company and can meet my colleagues often." This is what Elizabeth thinks is the secret of longevity. Even if she is 102 years old, she will definitely get up before 8 o'clock every morning and eat Chinese food every noon. She dresses and wears shoes by herself, and holds the railing up and down the stairs every day instead of artificial hands.

Every day, Elizabeth goes out for a walk at a fixed time. She and her old sisters will dance Ba Duan Jin together and dance a cheerful square dance with the music. Although Elizabeth has blue eyes and a high nose, she doesn't stand out in the dancing crowd.

Elizabeth's husband David died at the age of 90. When David was alive, Elizabeth would play music at home and dance a romantic waltz duet with David. Elizabeth has never danced a duet since she left. The tape recorder and DVD player that used to play music are still under the photo of David in the living room, as if waiting for the waltz to play again.

Perhaps because this old house left too many memories and feelings, Beijing Foreign Studies University wanted to change Elizabeth to a new building, or let her participate in the "housing reform" and move to an updated commercial house, but Elizabeth said that she did not want to live in this old building.

China's Rural Complex

Record the process of land reform with her husband.

Eating and living with villagers, "Sichuan food is the best"

Every year, on Elizabeth's birthday, in addition to visits from leaders of Beijing Foreign Studies University and the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, the family always receives greeting calls from Shilidian, Shidong Township, Wu 'an City, Hebei Province. On her 102 birthday, it was no exception.

1947 65438+In February, David and Elizabeth came to Shilidian as international observers to observe and interview the whole process of land reform review under the leadership of China * * * Production Party. They lived in Shilidian for six months, which truly recorded an important stage of China's new-democratic revolution. Since then, he has written many books, such as Shilidian: A Village Revolution in China, which made westerners truly understand the land reform movement in China.

/kloc-Elizabeth, 0/02 years old, has poor eyesight and is now asked by her sons not to read books or newspapers as much as possible. The bookshelf even says "Avoid eye fatigue". Do what? Small or? "Don't study" is such a big warning, but when she heard the news from the rural area of China where she was thinking, her eyes naturally lit up.

Elizabeth used to be familiar with Hebei dialect and Sichuan dialect, but now she speaks less Chinese and more English. She recalled that when she was doing a rural survey in the countryside decades ago, she once ate and lived with local villagers in Xinglongchang, Lixian, Sichuan and Shilidian. "When we eat China rice, we also eat it. The cakes they make are particularly delicious. If it is not a foreign dish, it is more delicious than China rice. " In Elizabeth's eyes, Sichuan food is the most delicious in her mind.

Elizabeth was born in Chengdu and studied in a Canadian school. When she was a child, she was asked by her mother to learn Chinese. It was in the 1920s, and Elizabeth's foreign friends said that it was no good learning Chinese, because she might leave China one day. However, after studying Chinese, Elizabeth returned to China to do rural investigation, although she obtained a master's degree in child psychology from the University of Toronto.

20 13 Zhonghua Book Company published a book named Xinglong Chang: A Survey of Farmers' Life in Sichuan during the Anti-Japanese War. This book was written by Elizabeth and Yu Xiji, a female scholar in China. It was based on the information she had done in Xinglongchang for more than a year. They wore straw sandals and walked in the country. In the end, they became old acquaintances full of goodwill and had nothing to do with the government at that time.

This is probably the first community survey conducted by western women and China collaborators in modern China.

After keeping these materials for decades, Elizabeth retired from Beijing Foreign Studies University and returned to her original identity as an anthropologist from a foreign language teacher. She returned to Xinglongchang again to continue her research, and finally formed a thick research book. Elizabeth was 98 years old when the book was published.

China Fate

Rooted in China for six generations

Huaxi Former Residence and Bailu Town, Chengdu, You Ji

66-year-old Ke Makai, like his two brothers, was born and raised in Beijing. The three brothers have deep and typical western faces, but one mouth is a standard Beijing film, which is the way of authentic old Beijing speaking.

"We are from Beijing." Born and educated in Beijing, even his name has China characteristics. Ke Makai told the Red Star journalist that his name means the triumph of Marxism, and his brother Ke Lu was influenced by How Steel was Tempered because his mother liked Lu Xun. If overseas Chinese are "American-born Chinese" with yellow skin, Ke Makai belongs to another "American-born Chinese" with foreign faces but completely China thinking.

Elizabeth and her children have taken root in China since Elizabeth's parents and grandmother. After careful calculation, including his own daughter and two twin granddaughters, this family has been in China for six generations.

Ke Lu works in America and does Sino-American trade. Ke Honggang worked in the BBC for 30 years before he retired, and his programs were also related to China. Kyle Kay himself taught English at home and Chinese abroad, and founded the earliest international school in Beijing. Whether the three brothers live in China or not, their work is inseparable from China.

After graduating from Peking University Medical College, Ke Chenshuang, the youngest son of Ke Makai, went to Chengdu West China University of Medical Sciences for several years to study burn plastic surgery where his great-grandmother worked and was born. Ke Makai's daughter Wen stayed in a kindergarten in Beijing as a foreign language teacher.

Why stay in China may be a question that Kyle Kay is often asked. He thinks this is a choice, just like the choice made by his parents in those days. Ke Makai, who has dual citizenship of Britain and Canada, often goes to London. In his eyes, London seems to have changed little in these decades, while China has changed a lot in these decades. When he was a child, he took classes in a house with cushions, and later he became a brick house, then a building, and then many tall buildings.

Ke Makai often meets another curious question-where are their families from? Ke Makai clearly remembers what his father David, a British Jew, once said when he was asked this question in an interview with Israeli television. His father said at that time: China people are in China, and British people are in England. Different cultures don't need to be excluded, but they need to be integrated. Therefore, the family will celebrate the Spring Festival, Christmas and Valentine's Day in China. Breakfast is western food and lunch is Chinese food.

Considering that he is from Beijing, Ke Makai has been to Sichuan every year for the past two years. The former residence of Elizabeth's mother, Building No.3 16 14, Renmin South Road, Huaxi, Chengdu, was listed as a historical building protection in Chengdu last year. Every time Kyle Kay goes to Chengdu, he will live in Huaxi Dam, where he can see his former residence. He planned to take his twin granddaughters to Chengdu to see their motherland when they grew up.

This may be something called homesickness buried in the bones. Ke Makai still remembers the place called Bailu Town, Pengzhou, Chengdu. When Elizabeth was a girl, every summer, she would go to Bailu Town for the summer with her parents.

Next time, it may be two lovely great-granddaughters, Bingbing and Zhou Zhou, who are about the same age as Elizabeth at the beginning. They will continue the magical fate of this foreign family in China.