Paris - The Story Behind Pagoda Paris

Pagoda Paris is now a private gallery

Many of the apartment blocks in Paris were designed by Baron Georges Eugene Haussmann, who had a hand in gentrifying the city, building public works like water and sewers, train stations, and boulevards. The limestone apartment buildings are uniform in size and had standard layouts.

That makes this curious Chinese-style building near Parc Monceau stick out even more. 

The wooden gate and green tiled roof

Not only is it red in colour, but has a jade green tiled roof with mythical animals perched on top, and carved wooden window frames.

It's called Pagoda Paris and was the home and gallery of Chinese antiques dealer Ching Tsai Loo (1880-1957). The building was originally a townhouse and then Loo bought it in 1925 and had it refurbished.

It's now a private museum, and I contacted Pagoda Paris to see if we could arrange a time to visit, but were told it was closed for renovations.

While Loo is known for introducing western collectors to Chinese and Asian art, his reputation was later mired in controversy because of how he illegally obtained these items, some of which were considered state treasures.

Here's the quick bio: Loo is originally from Huzhou, 300km west of Shanghai. He was orphaned at the age of 10 and as a teenager went to Nanxun, where he worked for a successful merchant named Zhang Baoshan. Zhang's son, Zhang Renjie was appointed to the Chinese embassy in France and Loo followed him to Paris in 1902. Few Chinese were living there at the time.

Zhang's family had a Chinese goods import company, and he would obtain Chinese antiques to sell; he would later return to China and financially support Chiang Kai-shek.

Loo was a controversial collector and dealer

When Loo first arrived, he wore traditional Chinese robes and a queue, but soon transformed, wearing western clothes and short hair. He called himself Cheng Tsai Loo and opened his own antiques shop, and cultivated relationships with Caucasian sinologists.

The fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911 led to weak supervision of antiquities which made it relatively easy for Loo to procure items. He developed a chain of middlemen who would help him find things he might buy, sourced from impoverished families, imperial tombs and monasteries. Loo soon developed a reputation for selling out China to Europeans and Americans for his own profit.

World War I stopped the flow of Chinese goods to Europe, but not to the United States, where collectors and museums were keen on Chinese art and antiques. Loo discovered Americans were interested in Chinese antiques when he went to New York and opened a gallery there in 1915. 

However, the boom ended with the stock market crash in 1929, but things began to ramp up again in 1941 as there were more experts in Chinese art and history. His clients included the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Freer Gallery, Fogg Museum, the Rockefellers, and Eli Lilly, the pharmaceutical executive. 

He bought this building in 1925

But once the Communists took over China in 1949, Loo was cut off from his sources, and some of his associates were arrested, and his nephew, who was his agent in China, fled to Hong Kong. Eventually Loo had to liquidate his stock. He tried to salvage his integrity, by stating that if those objects were not removed from the country, they would have been destroyed. 

After Loo died at the age of 77 in 1957, Pagoda Paris fell into disrepair, and it wasn't until 2010 when a private French investor bought it and turned it into a gallery and events space. Loo was survived by his French wife and four daughters. 

Picture of the Day: Kanzan Cherry Blossoms

They look like deep pink popcorn on trees

Cherry blossom season isn't over yet in Vancouver!

A second wave of cherry trees are blooming now, featuring kanzan cherry blossoms that are a deeper pink in colour and appear in bunches, like popcorn popping up on the branches.  

Cherry blossoms continue to bloom

This type of tree was developed in the Edo period in Japan as a result of many hybrids. It is a deciduous tree that grows well in cold regions, making it popular in Europe and North America.

Each year I learn a bit more about cherry blossoms and have a greater appreciation for them! 

Canadians Keeping Their Elbows Up

Canadians are showing their true colours this year

Ever since Donald Trump tossed out the possibility of Canada becoming the 51st state, Canadians have fought back with their "Elbows Up" mentality and there's now a lot of data proving that.

Travel is the biggest sign in Canada shunning the United States. When it comes to Canadians traveling across the border by car, there is a whopping 34 percent drop in August compared to the same month last year. That's the eighth consecutive month of declines apart from the Covid-19 pandemic period.

Many are upset by Trump's calls for the 51st state

There is also a lot fewer Canadians traveling by air to the US too. In August, the number of Canadians returning from the US by plane fell 25.4 percent compared to the same month last year too.

Canadians used to love traveling to Las Vegas for entertainment, gambling, and food, but not so much anymore.

Flair Airlines saw the biggest plunge of 62 percent of Canadian passengers, while Air Canada's was 33 percent, and WestJet 31 percent. As a result the airlines have shuffled their planes and are using smaller ones going to Vegas these days.

Instead Canadians are traveling to Europe, the Caribbean, South America, and Japan. This year Air Canada added 28 international routes to satisfy demand.

Meanwhile when it comes to books written by Canadian authors, Indigo reports a 25 percent jump in sales compared to last year, and the CBC has seen a 34 percent increase in people checking out Gem, its streaming platform.

Even Historica, which promotes Canadian history through programs like Heritage Minutes has seen a noticeable uptick in the number of people checking out the Canadian Encyclopedia with more than 14 million views this year.

It's great to see how Canadians are determined to do as much as they can to keep their elbows up!

B.C. Ferries Political Kerfuffle

B.C. Ferries put out a tender for new vessels to be built

B.C. Ferries was in a lot of hot water for its vessels breaking down, causing not only delays but cancellations of sailings, leaving passengers stranded or waiting for hours... and hours... and hours.

It finally got a loan from the federal government to purchase new ferries and put out a tender to build four of them.

Earlier this month B.C. Ferries announced China Merchants Industry Weihai Shipyards had won the contract to build the four vessels, overseen by B.C. Ferries staff, while the sensitive IT equipment will be procured from Canada and installed by B.C. Ferries' personnel. 

Freeland asks why China is building the ferries

No Canadian companies bid for the job.

But that didn't stop politicians from loudly complaining.

First up was BC Transport Minister Mike Farnsworth, then his boss Premier David Eby, and then federal transport minister Chrystia Freeland weighed in as well, wondering why a Chinese company -- state-owned no less -- was building these ferries considering China has imposed "unjustified tariffs" on Canada.

She wrote a letter to Farnsworth expressing her "great consternation and disappointment" with the ferry operator.

"I am dismayed that B.C. Ferries would select a Chinese state-owned shipyard to build new ferries in the current geopolitical context," Freeland wrote.

"I am surprised that B.C. Ferries does not appear to have been mandated to require an appropriate level of Canadian content in the procurement or the involvement of the Canadian marine industry."

B.C. Ferries says no Canadian firms put in a bid

May we remind the politicians that there were no Canadian shipbuilding companies that put in a bid. None. Nada. Zip. 

And if B.C. Ferries had looked to Europe, it would have cost many times more.

B.C. Ferries defended its choice. 

Jeff Groot, executive director of communications with B.C. Ferries, said Weihai Shipyards was chosen following a rigorous and transparent procurement process.

"It was the strongest bid by a significant margin," he said in a statement.

He added Canadian companies have acquired around 100 vessels built at Chinese shipyards over the last decade.

Touche.

"Globally, only a few shipyards have the capacity to deliver complex passenger ferries on the timelines and budgets required."

With the tight budget B.C. Ferries has and the fact that it desperately needs new vessels as soon as possible, this is the best solution. In the meantime, by all means build up the Canadian shipbuilding industry, but really, it's hard to compete with China when it comes to price.

1,000 Days in Solitary Confinement

Lai's son Sebastien has been traveling around to rally support

One thousand days in jail. Most of us have no idea what that is like, but that is how long Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying has been behind bars. 

He was supposed to go on trial earlier this week for his alleged offences against national security and sedition, but it has been now further postponed to December 18. This original trial was supposed to start December 1, 2022, then to December 13 of the same year, then to September this year and now December.

By that point he will have been in solitary confinement for three years before the trial has even begun.

Lai has been in jail since December 2022

Meanwhile his son Sebastien has been touring around trying to drum up support. He has pleaded in Britain for government officials to take up Lai's case as he is a British citizen, but to no avail; they have rebuffed his requests for meetings.

Sebastien Lai has attended various journalism conferences in Europe talking about his father and the need to defend freedom of the press. For this he has received sympathetic ears from editors and journalists, but not many understand the complex situation in Hong Kong and the changes that have happened there.

At 28-years-old, Sebastien Lai is doing his best to publicise his father's case, but has now raised fears of his father's health.

"I don't want to see my father die in jail. He's 75, he's in prison, he does risk just dying. It is very worrying," he said.

Lai's son has seen pictures of his father taken by an Associated Press photographer, when the Hong Kong businessman was led out by guards to have his daily exercise in the maximum-security prison.

Sebastien worried about his father's health

"Some part of me was happy because he's still the same... [but] it also reminded me of his age," Sebastien Lai said. "You never know what's going to happen tomorrow at that age."

However, his father is known to have a strong sense of conviction and belief in God. 

One only wonders how he manages to pass the time and retain his sanity...

Fact of the Day: US$108M for Klimt Painting

Gustav Klimt's last completed painting before he died in 1918

Some Hongkongers still have deep, deep pockets to splurge in the hundreds of millions at an art auction.

One of the last paintings by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt was sold to a Hong Kong collector for £85.3 million (US$108.4 million), making it the most expensive artwork ever sold in Europe.

Entitled Dame mit Facher (Lady with a Fan) sold to a Hong Kong client after a 10-minute bidding war between four people at Sotheby's in London.

The sale price far exceeded the presale estimate of £65 million (US$80 million).

The painting was the last portrait Klimt completed before he died in 1918. It shows an unidentified woman against a resplendent China-influenced backdrop of a phoenix, peacock and lotus blossoms.

It was last sold in 1994 for US$11.6 million at auction in New York.

Talk about a beautiful investment after 29 years...

For the rest of us plebeians how long before we get to see this painting again?

Canada Bans Tik Tok on Govt Phones

Canada follows the EU and US in Tik Tok ban

The Canadian government has followed the United States in removing and blocking the video-sharing platform Tik Tok from all government-issued smartphones due to security reasons from February 28.

In an email sent to Global Affairs employees said the Chief Information Officer made the decision following a review which found that Tik Tok's data collection methods could lead to cyber attacks.

"The Government of Canada continuously works to ensure the cyber security of our networks by identifying threats and vulnerabilities, including those on social media platforms," the email said.

Parent company ByteDance stores data in China

"The government will continue to monitor the situation and will work with partners to keep the information on our systems and networks secure."

But why would anyone install Tik Tok on a government-issued phone in the first place? How many would have done so?

If anything Tik Tok is a time suck -- getting viewers to watch endless 30-second videos about a whole range of subjects, mostly mindless. And it is this monitoring of users' watching habits and their information is the data that Tik Tok's parent company ByteDance wants, and that it is stored in China.

Nevertheless hopefully this will be a wake-up call to people using Tik Tok to understand they have no control over where their information is extracted from and kept, and perhaps they should think twice about having Tik Tok on their phones.

Canada is following the European Commission and European Council, several American state governments, and most US federal government employees in barring the app on government-issued phones.

Trudeau says this ban could be the first step

While the US Congress is debating a bill which would ban Tik Tok across the country, Prime Minster Justin Trudeau hasn't said whether Canada would do the same.

"This may be the first step, it may be the only step we need to take, but every step of the way we're going to be making sure we're keeping Canadians safe," he said. 

"Certainly, I suspect that as government takes the significant step of telling all federal employees they can no longer use Tik Tok on their work phones, many Canadians... will reflect on the security of their own data and perhaps make choices in consequence."

So does this mean Trudeau is finally coming around to possibility of Chinese interference in Canada and that it must be stopped in every possible way?

Uninspiring Climate Change Protest

Two activists threw maple syrup on painting, then glued to wall

Young climate activists seem to think they are getting attention for their cause by doing something outrageous, like throwing food at art, but now that it's been done several times, it's losing its shock value.

And now the publicity stunt has crossed from Europe to Canada, specifically Vancouver.

This afternoon two young activists went to the Vancouver Art Gallery and threw maple syrup (gee, how Canadian) on Emily Carr's 1934 painting, Stumps and Sky. Then like their predecessors, the activists glued their hands to the wall.

Vancouver Art Gallery condemned the vandalism

One of their accomplices took a picture of them as proof they did it.

The activists from the group Stop Fracking Around had a list of demands that included ending the Coastal GasLink pipeline and Trans Mountain pipeline.

"I think any amount of publicity we can get as an organisation is worth it because the climate crisis is the most pressing crisis of our time," said Emily Kelsall, one of the activists who threw the maple syrup on the painting.

"The government instead of acting responsibly, is building fossil fuel infrastructure, they're doing the exact opposite of what science and ethics is saying we need to be doing. So anything we can do in our power, even if it's something like throwing maple syrup at a painting, if that gets attention, then yes, it's worth it."

The VAG called the police who investigated the vandalism but did not arrest the pair of activists. 

Carr's painting was protected behind glass so it was not damaged; nevertheless the VAG was not pleased.

Carr's 1934 painting, Stumps and Sky

"The Vancouver Art Gallery condemns acts of vandalism towards the works of cultural significance in our care, or in any museum. A central part of our mission is to make safer spaces for communication and ideas," said Anthony Kiendl, director and CEO of the VAG. 

"As a non-profit charity, we are an institution of memory and care for future generations. We do support the free expression of ideas, but not at the expense of suppressing the ideas and artistic expression of others, or otherwise inhibiting people from access to those ideas," 

Well, the deed is done and the gallery is lucky they did not target a painting that was not protected.

But why are they choosing to target art galleries? How are they related to the climate change crisis? 

And the stunt was shocking the first time, but now that it's been done a few times it's become annoying.

Time for these young activists to regroup and rethink another target. Cultural institutions have had enough and they should not be at the receiving end of these stunts.