Canadian Friend Tsin Wan Receives Title of Friendship Ambassador等

In recognition of his efforts to enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the Canadian and Chinese people, the CPAFFC has decided to confer upon Mr. Tsin Wan the title of Friendship Ambassador. On September 8, 2006, CPAFFC Vice President Li Xiaolin presented the medal and certificate to him.

Born in 1918 in Shanghai, Mr. Tsin Wan was graduated BA from Shanghai Jiao-tong University and MBA at Wharton School，University of Pennsylvania. He later adopted the profession of photography and received the title of Master of Photographic Art from Professional Photographers Association of Canada. He used photography as a platform of cultural exchange between Canada and China. Many of his photographs on China were adopted by Canadian publishing houses and religious organizations. He opened photo exhibitions for six Canadian professional photographers and in 2006 published the book Canada-China Relations: A Photographic History, 1971---2005.

In 1976, Mr. Tsin Wan and some other friends of China jointly founded the Canada-China Friendship Society of Ottawa, and once served as its president. He was president of the Federation of Canada-China Friendship Associations from 1992 to 1994. Committing himself to the friendly exchanges between the peoples of China and Canada, Mr. Tsin Wan organized mutual visits as well as performances and exhibitions for many groups of both countries.

Besides, Mr. Tsin Wan made great contributions to the welfare of Chinese people by donating medical equipment to the earthquake-stricken areas in Tangshan and raising money for the Chinese Flood Relief Fund.

Juergen Wilke of Germany Receives Title of Friendship Ambassador

Lu Hongwei

On the evening of October 23, 2006, CPAFFC President Chen Haosu in Beijing conferred the honorary title of Friendship Ambassador upon Mr. Juergen Wilke, deputy director of the Institute of International Cooperation and director of the Chinese Affairs Division of Hanns Seidel Foundation of Germany. Mr. Wilke is the 58th foreign friend to receive such honour.

The 65-year-old Mr. Wilke has played an important role in Hanns Seidel Foundation’s cooperation with China over the past 22 years since he took charge of the work in 1984. The Foundation is active in over 50 countries in the world. The fact that it always gives priority to its projects in China is inseparable from the untiring efforts made by Mr. Wilke. He has won financial support from the German Government for the projects in China, ensuring the smooth operation of them. Many Chinese staffers of these projects have gone to Germany for on-the-job training.

The German side’s management and operation of and fund allocation to the vocational training projects in China and conducting extensive cooperation in the political and social fields are main areas of Mr. Wilke’s work. He knows people well and puts them to work where they can bring their expertise into full play. He is very strict in his selection of German experts to work in China and often reminds them to respect the Chinese side in their work so as to build up mutual trust and friendship. Even when the relations between the two countries became difficult and other German institutions stopped their cooperation with China, at the suggestion of Mr. Wilke, Hanns Seidel Foundation never suspended cooperation with China.

Mr. Wilke pays close attention to China’s rural development while helping set up vocational education centres and institutes of management in the country. At his proposal, Hanns Seidel Foundation established an agricultural training centre in Nanzhanglou Village of Pingdu, Shandong Province. The project received high praises from the departments concerned of China and Germany. It attracted a stream of visitors from various parts of China to learn from its experience, thus, played an exemplary role and contributed to China’s construction of new countryside.

It was at his suggestion that Hanns Seidel Foundation shifted the focus of its work to China’s underdeveloped western region. In his mind the economically backward areas need more help. The Foundation has subsidized over a hundred students with financial difficulties in the western region to complete their university studies through the Chinese Friendship Foundation for Peace and Development. Mr. Wilke himself also offered financial assistance in his own name.

Mr. Wilke was conferred upon the title of Honorary Citizen of Shandong by the Shandong Provincial People’s Government in 1996 and the West Lake Friendship Award by Zhejiang Province in 2005.

Mr. Wilke will soon retire, but his cause and his thoughts will remain in China. We are sure that he will, as always, follow closely the development of China and help German-Chinese cooperationl scale new height.