Long street friendship
Embassy of the PRC, located on the Sparrow Mountains, "Corner of Moscow" You can’t call anywhere. The huge area occupies second place in the world in the area – 10 hectares among the Embassy Territories! The first place belongs to the embassy of the former USSR in Beijing – 11 hectares – this kind of record got into the book Guinness. The wide gesture of the exchange of territories was performed at the height of the Great Friendship between the two countries. Where did the difference in hectare, whether the Soviet government turned out to be a field, or China loved us to hectare more – remains a mystery.
The facades of the buildings of the embassy, built in the late 50s, are boring and inexpressive as early "Khrushchevki", But still warmer and humane later. The spaces surrounding these statements, in Chinese are amazing: intricately planned park intersectable by pedestrian walkways, an artificial curly pond with scurrying ponds, a lonely swaying boat and a gazebo in water, cozy cleans with marble tables and seats, thinly cut in small elephants suddenly discovering from behind the colonnade trees of the back side of one of the buildings.
Everywhere deserted, faint and not exhausted – the feeling of some kind of official definition of all this topography for walking and secluded reflections.
Internal buildings are also affected by their immensity and desert: 100 people work in countless corridors and halls, including attendants (about 10 people). And what was the same in these emergence of the Echomolls after the gap of Soviet-Chinese diplomatic relations, when only a few people remained here – it is difficult to imagine.
Relationships and conversations between the inhabitants of the embassy, be it builders or diplomats, are full of almost forgotten provincial benevolence and spirit of a healthy labor collective.
There is a little embassies in Moscow, where only last year has been introduced a 5-day working week. Chinese representatives get a two-month vacation once every three years. Therefore, our heading and begins with the Embassy of the PRC – all the other in the summer work in vacation regimes. Schools at the embassy for economic reasons are not, so the children of employees remain in China. The situation is complicated by the fact that the wives and husbands of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommends to go along with their half, topped with diplomatic status. Men next to another country for their Embassy wives is paid a monthly allowance of about 200 US dollars.
In photographs of 1915 in "Capital and manor" – Family of the Chinese Messenger posing in national costumes and hairstyles. Nowadays, the national costume is put on only women during large official techniques in honor of the main Chinese holidays: August 1 – the day of the creation of the People’s Army and October 1 – the Day of Education of the PRC.
The hall in which guests are accepted in these holidays – huge, incredibly tall, pompous, with two lateral gentle-green colonnades decorated with golden floral ornaments. This is the most nationally painted place from everything you can see in the Chinese Embassy. In the number of rooms here is a clear redundancy: reception halls, banquet, sports, meeting rooms, cinema-concert, dance.
Small receiving room – two rooms of 35 meters each each, the wall between them is missing, but one is located at a higher level, and it fall into it, rising in several steps. Both rooms are furnished with many light green sofas and seats, on the backs and armrests of which are white lace napkins, and on the seats – round inclusively orange pillow. There are four servants in the rooms, the glasses of which are neatly arranged by the objects of Chinese applied art with a clear chance of 50s: vases and aids, made in the painstaking technique of the seducing enamel, cups, caskets, figures from porcelain, bone and from some mysterious Materials. Waligers of bouquets of artificial flowers, in which the Chinese needleful refinement has no trace. Huge, in the whole wall, windows tightly tamer.
Dance hall – the main place of recreation of the Embassy employees, where they gather together every Friday in the evenings. Low room in 40 square meters with bare walls and two thick columns in the middle, on which two TVs and a pair of amplifiers rushed. In the corner of the microphone. On the ceiling of pieces of five multi-colored lanterns, turning on and switched in tact of music. Sad New Year Mishur hangs from the lanterns. Here dancing, arrange competitions in karaoke.
The Chinese are very serious. Since, in accordance with Chinese philosophy, everything in the world is created from the opposites, then life consists of rest and work. Who does not know how to relax, he does not know how and work. The embassy organized its diplomatic club. Many are engaged in sports – the benefits of territory allow. There are cycling paths, tennis courts, volleyball, basketball. Mr. Ambassador himself – Passionate tennis lover and often suits meetings on the courts with colleagues from other embassies. Several people are constantly going to play Bridge and Chinese National Cards. And, of course, collective filmms and concerts – things ordinary for the embassy. In June, for example, a wonderful Shanghai Children’s Choir gave a concert here, who passed through Moscow to tour Yugoslavia.
With the Chinese Embassy, there is no source of culture, which is, for example, at the German Embassy, unfortunately, for this not enough funds. And without such a center, large-scale cultural programs and initiatives in Russia are difficult to organize. And yet the first sprouts of cultural initiatives appear. In May of this year, the CNR Embassy Department together with the Perm Culture Department, the local friendship society with China and the local history museum opened a two-month exhibition of modern Chinese folk artificial arts in Perm. Tableware, Veter, Figures of people and animals from horns, bones, stone, watts – just over 300 exhibits from the funds of the Chinese Embassy in Russia.
And the education department of the embassy is associated with Moscow schools, where Chinese is studied: the secondary boarding school of the board 11 and the Lyceum b 1535, where the Center for the Study of the Chinese language is organized. Last year, the embassy presented the Institute of Asian and Africa, a complete set of equipment for the Lingopon Cabinet with Chinese Language Training Programs.
The Chinese in general and the staff of the embassy in particular are very love to Moscow. Especially they appreciate three "M": Museums (Kremlin, Victory Memorial on Poklonnaya Mount), Metro and – Dairy products, which, according to Chinese diplomats, natural and high quality. There are messengers and theaters. The limit of their theater dreams is a big theater where each of them seeks to get at least once during the work in Russia.
In the field of cultural exchange – Russian in China is much more than in Russia of the Chinese. Recently, the best creative teams of Russia were visited there: the ensemble of Moiseeva, the Choir named Pyatnitsky, the song ensemble and dance of the Russian army, the Russian State Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Leonid Kogan. According to incomplete statistics, the number of tour groups, the direction of countries to each other in 1995, has reached 39, and in its composition included 863 people (from Russia to China – 27 groups, 687 people, from China to Russia – 12 groups, 176 people).
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of China in Russia, Mr. Li Fenglin
Born in 1935 in Manchuria, while the Japanese colonies. In school, he studied the Japanese language as a native.
In 1953 he finished ahead of Institute of Foreign Languages in Beijing. He was sent to the Moscow State University graduate school, where he studied for three years.
Since 1958, in the diplomatic service, he has passed all stages of the diplomatic career.
In total, he worked in the former Soviet Union 20 years. From 1991 he worked in the Chinese Embassy in Romania. In June 1995, he sent as ambassador to Russia.
Married, wife – Commercial Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Ukraine, the adult son – journalist. Avid tennis.
Counselor for Cultural Affairs Professor Cheng Hai
He was born in 1935. He graduated from the Physics Department of Leningrad University. He taught at the Beijing Institute of Agriculture at the Faculty of Food Industry.
In 1994 he started to work at the Chinese Embassy in Moscow adviser on cultural affairs.
Married, two adult daughters. Free time spent in the pool.
Chinese Embassy in Moscow: street. Friendship, 6. Phone: (095) 143 1544 Consular Section: 143 1543 Office of Culture: 938 2024
