Delegation Visit with the Chinese Archives Society

Beijing, China
October 13, 2008


Representing the Chinese Archives Society (CAS):
Mr. Feng Hewang, President of CAS
Mr. Sun Senlin, Secretary of CAS
Ms. Huo Lihua, Deputy Secretary of CAS
Mr. Qiu Xiaowe, Vice Director of Archives Science and Technology Research Center
Ms. Wang Jian, Professor from School of Information Resource Management (SIRM) at Renmin University of China
Mr. Fang Ming, Vice Director of Archives Education Center
Mr. Fu Hua, Vice Chief Editor of the Chinese Archives Newspaper

Overview of the Chinese Archives Society

The Chinese Archives Society (CAS) is a registered legal organization that represents all archivists in China. CAS acts as the bridge between the Communist Party, the government, and archivists. It is an important vehicle for education. It was established in November 1981 and resides under the leadership of the China Association of Science and Technology and the Civil Administration Department. CAS abides by all laws, morals, and ethics and promotes a democratic society and scientific research. [Note that the term "scientific" as used here is meant to convey a disciplined approach to the profession, following standards and best practices.] It is focused on the scientific development of archives and the modernization of the profession in China. They help archives to modernize. The society is affiliated with the government’s National Archives Bureau.

CAS has 12 areas of activity, including:
1. Promote academic development of the profession (including an annual meeting with Japanese archivists);
2. Promote the scientific development of the profession;
3. Develop a management system for digital files;
4. Promote involvement in policymaking;
5. Publish findings in papers and in a professional journal;
6. Continuing education of its members;
7. Recognize those professionals who have made outstanding contributions;
8. Provide consultation on facilities and technologies;
9. Provide research services for entrusted and related allied agencies for specific programs;
10. Promote the exchange of scientific ideas;
11. Ensure the rights of members; and
12. Carry out activities on behalf of its members.

The CAS membership: 7,412 individual members (with professional and educational prerequisites [includes students?]); plus group members (agencies and organizations).
Total: 101,000 members.

CAS has seven associated professional committees, including:
• Academic
• Filing & Compiling
• Filing, Cataloging & Appraising
• AV technology
• Management of Automation Technology; and
• Corporate Files

CAS publications include an Archives Study Journal that is distributed throughout China. Other journals are published bimonthly. The CAS website is located at www.wdjj.cn.

Each Global Archives Management delegate received a copy of "China Archives News," published July 18, 2008. This issue of the paper is published in English and carries a banner that reads, "The Only Archival Newspaper in the World – Founded in Beijing on January 9, 1995." Stories covered in the paper include coverage of the International Congress on Archives in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia [it is possible that this issue of the paper was developed for distribution at the ICA Congress]; efforts to document the Olympic Games in Beijing; information on China's hierarchical system for archival work, starting with the central government; Chinese electronic records management efforts; the impact of the Sichuan Province earthquake on archives and archivists, and their response to it; and the Chinese archival education system.

The CAS is an academic and non-governmental organization based on volunteers. CAS representatives expressed the hope that communications between their organization and the Society of American Archivists can be continued and strengthened.

Overview of Society of American Archivists (SAA)

Ms. Elizabeth Adkins, former SAA President and leader of the delegation, provided an overview of the Society of American Archivists.

SAA was established in 1936. It’s the oldest and largest association of archivists in North America. We thought we might be the largest in the world until we learned about the Chinese Archives Society.

SAA has two major membership categories: individual and institutional. Individual members include regular, associate and student members. Institutional members are organizations. Associate members are individual members who are not from the United States – and are entitled to a discount. Regular members have more membership benefits. SAA has approximately 5,200 members, of which 4,600 are individuals, and 600 are institutional members.

The mission of SAA is to facilitate education and learning within the archives community. This is accomplished through major programs: publications, educational offerings, and an annual conference. Anyone can join, including non-archivists. SAA publishes a professional journal, The American Archivist, twice per year, and a newsletter called Archival Outlook, once every two months.

SAA primarily accomplishes its work through volunteers on committees and task forces. It has a paid staff of about a dozen people who work in SAA’s Chicago office to manage the education program and the publications program, organize the annual meeting, and provide member services. It is independent (not associated with the government) – it’s grown in a more ad hoc manner.

SAA has an elected body (the Council) that governs SAA, with officers and representatives who chart the strategic direction of SAA. A few years ago, the SAA Council made an assessment of the current state of profession in North America, and what might be done to develop and support it. The Council developed three top strategic priorities:
- Technology: dealing with electronic records and the corresponding implications
- Diversity: ensuring that the profession reflects the diversity of society as a whole
- Public awareness and advocacy: raising understanding and acting as an advocate for issues of professional importance

Elizabeth brought a handout that describes work that has addressed these three top priorities, as well as a printout from SAA’s website with the URL (http://www.archivists.org), so additional information about the organization can be accessed. She also provided copies of an SAA recruitment brochure with information on how to join the organization.

Elizabeth talked about SAA's efforts to launch American Archives Month. Since October of 2007, SAA has led efforts to consolidate what had formerly been ad hoc and regional celebrations of Archives Week or Archives Day (usually during the month of October). SAA has distributed American Archives Month public relations kits to each of its members, as a way to help members promote their collections and their programs. They have also provided information on American Archives Month activities on SAA's website. Elizabeth distributed copies of the latest American Archives Month public relations kits.

Every year at the SAA Annual meeting we offer presidential addresses, highlighting some of the most important issues facing archivists in the United States. Elizabeth provided copies of her address from August 2007 talking about diversity, as well as the address from August 2008 by Mark Greene, our immediate past president. His address is on the topic of what it means to be an archivist and what our values should be.

Elizabeth provided one final handout on the topic of access to archives in the U.S., from a Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission seminar in Tokyo last about access to archives. SAA sponsored the seminar, and SAA leaders participated in it.

Presentation by Mr. Fu Hua

He has toured archives in the United States twice and has read about the profession in the U.S. He has learned about the contrasts in the profession in both countries. The administration in China is more centralized than in the U.S. Various government agencies maintain their own archives and archivists with their own repositories with two to ten employees each.

They are using the same standards among the various government agencies, creating less need for the transfer of records in China. Sometimes two local agencies may share the same repository.

After learning about the U.S. administration of archives, reforms were proposed in China, but not all were implemented. The Code of Freedom of Information archives law is an example of one such reform; it was initiated in 1987. The law states that records may be accessed 30 years after they are created. Regular citizens who follow certain procedures may now access records. There are record centers now where the public may conduct research.

There are many archives established by businesses, organizations, and public enterprises. Some conduct research about specific subject areas or histories of their institutions.

Presentation by Mr. Qiu Xiaowei

Three stages in the organization of archival information resources in China:
1. During the 1980s, they managed files with the assistance of computers.
2. Archives Pre-Informationization Stage (1990s – 2000): they learned from U.S. counterparts to establish standards.
3. Third stage: establishment of digital archives, integrated management of electronic records. Conversion of records into digital forms for public access.

They are in the process of collecting more resources on archival information and integrating them with existing paper resources. They are developing archival theory in China. There are 11 five-year plans for the national archives. They are working to provide more access to and sharing of information.

Archival information is an essential information component for a nation. He provided the example of local farmers needing access to county archival records, which increased their income ten-fold. There are some who still believe archival records belong to government agencies and have no place for public use.

Many records have been digitized and can now be accessed from the Internet. Efforts are being made to ensure open access to information.

The government is now providing more active financial support for archival management. They are working to integrate their current databases, and to digitize files and collections to allow more open access. They are facing new challenges in creating and managing electronic files, and are trying to learn more from professional counterparts.

Central construction of e-government must be accomplished by application of strict archival management guidelines. They must equip their archivists to be prepared to address challenges of digitization. They hope to work on more open access to archival users. Limited equipment and facilities inhibit user access. They want to conquer the problem of unequal access to information to promote a more harmonious society. There are barriers between different departments in sharing information. From the U.S., they learned to survey individual user needs.

Presentation by Wang Jian

Dr. Wang is a member of the International Council on Archives (ICA), and is involved with archival education. From 2005 through 2006 she was a guest lecturer at the University of Michigan School of Information. She is involved in research on electronic records. Electronic records laws are just emerging in China, e.g. electronic signatures.

Three national standards for appraisal and management of electronic records have been developed since 2005. They are currently in the process of implementing these standards nationwide. CAS is working on a joint project with the University of China on optimizing electronic records; the findings will be reported to the national government. Several Chinese archivists are currently involved in the development of ISO electronic records standards. They are interested in the U.S. Presidential Records Act, and the U.S. national strategy to preserve electronic records (Electronic Records Archives).

Presentation by Mr. Fang Ming

There are many challenges for archival education in colleges and within local government agencies. A total of 29 institutions provide professional training in China, from bachelor degrees to doctoral levels.

The professional training of archivists is receiving greater attention. The major responsibility of the National Archives Bureau is to maintain educational standards. The officials above the province level and those at the central national level receive their education at the central bureau. At the provincial level there are 26 centers for education. All the training centers for provincial records are for archivists of their areas. There is currently tremendous stress in training due to the huge population of China, which produces huge quantities of governmental records.

There are more than 1 million people working in archives in China. There is not great stability in the archives workforce; there is a high turnover. Most workers are women. The training is both continuing education and on-the-job. There is a need to widen the educational horizons of the beginning workers. There is a greater need for basic training in preservation. Training for digital records is a hot training topic. They need to develop different management approaches for varying record formats, e.g. images. The task of making lectures attractive and interesting is challenging. Online training has been initiated as well.

Under the leadership of CAS some experienced instructors provide online training, which helps those who are unable to get away from regular duties. Now in China they have an equivalent of a Masters Degree diploma. They are corresponding with the East Asia branch of ICA for cooperation in education. It is their hope for mutual training of U.S. and Chinese archivists.

Questions and Answers

Q. I’m interested in obtaining a copy of the government legislation of statutes of archives for application to Hong Kong, where no legislation exists.
A. www.zgdazxw.com.cn – specific column contains statutes and regulation.

Q. In the U.S., we have multiple organizations around the management of information. There is a different focus between archives [historical documents] vs. records management – creating a different challenge for us. Electronic information has helped mitigate this problem. By “archives,” do you mean all historical documents and records management?
A. The terms includes both.

Q. Procter & Gamble has been in China for the past twenty years and is considering starting a local archives program. Are you familiar with any other companies or corporations in China that have started archival programs? Do they belong to any professional associations?
A. Many. CAS includes corporate members. Corporate archives can apply for different types of services. Both private and public companies can be included.

Question for Elizabeth Adkins:
CAS was founded 45 years after SAA – our professionals tend to be younger. CAS staff are all paid. We may be facing changes due to world economic situation. The U.S., given its smaller population, has a higher ratio membership. At the same time, SAA covers all of North America. SAA has a larger staff – what is the source of their salary?

A. Every member must pay dues. SAA obtains revenue from dues, publication sales, professional workshops, and annual conference fees.

The first SAA paid staff member started 30 years ago. Positions are very demanding, and still cannot meet all the needs and goals of the Society. The top staff position at SAA is the Executive Director. The salaries for the SAA staff positions have been compared with other corresponding organizations through information obtained from the American Society for Association Executives. SAA's salaries tend to be proportionally smaller. We are lucky to have a dedicated and hard-working professional staff.

Time gets away so quickly that I have been struggling to compile my notes. However, I wanted to get something down before I forgot what all my jottings meant! Below is a compilation of my diary notes. Please let me know if I have utterly misrepresented something or (worse) misspelled a name.

People to People Program
Global Archives Management Tour
Beijing and Shanghai
October 2008

Daily Diary
By D. Claudia Thompson

Twenty two American archivists and five guests spent a week visiting our Chinese counterparts in Beijing and Shanghai as part of a People-to-People program. Our delegation was headed by Elizabeth Adkins, former president of the Society of American Archivists.
We landed in Beijing Sunday, October 12, after a long plane trip that took us over North Korea with a stop in Seoul to refuel and a change of planes in Hong Kong, where a few members of our group, who had traveled separately, joined us. We also met our national guide, Hou Liping (Wendy). At the Hotel Kunlun we had our first encounter with 5 star accommodations (huge buffet breakfasts and a private safe in every room) and our first taste of Chinese-style dining (fifteen entrees jostling for space on one lazy susan). I am rooming with Kathy Marquis. Kathy went out in the evening to walk around the hotel and the Liang Ma River. I was grateful just to crawl into bed.
Day 1 (Monday, October 13): We were informed it was a “clear” day, which meant it wasn’t raining. The horizon was badly obscured by smog, however. Our bus took us to the China Archives Press building, where we met with some representatives of the Society of Chinese Archivists. The “China Archives News” bills itself as the only archival newspaper in the world and the Society of Chinese Archivists is the largest archival professional organization in the world.. Still we found a lot of common ground. Chinese archivists are concerned about electronic records management, archival training, and lack of respect and understanding from their employers, all issues we could relate to. In this building I also first encountered the Chinese washroom and “squat” toilet, which requires good knees and strong thighs. We also met Wang Jian (Jenny), a professor at Renmin University. Jenny offered to take us out in the evening, and about ten of us met her for dinner and a walk along Qianmen Street, a restored section of old Beijing. Because this excursion required us to take taxis, I had my first close look at the fearless Chinese pedestrians, who stand between lanes of moving traffic. This practice would be safer if the Chinese motorists stayed in the marked lanes.
Day 2 (Tuesday, October 14): Our morning was spent sightseeing in Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City with our local guide, Liu Ping (Olivia). The Forbidden City is a complex of buildings surrounded by a wall. The compound was once the residence of the Chinese emperors and their court. In Tiananmen Square we first encountered the ubiquitous souvenir vendors who besieged us at nearly every public spot. They sold postcards, watches, Mao-themed anything, silk purses, parasols, and a dozen other things. All prices were infinitely negotiable, and some of us paid much more than others for the same merchandise. In the afternoon we visited the Beijing City Archives, where we met the director, vice director, cataloging manager, and reference manager. We discussed digitization and websites and visited their beautiful public reading room. Our dinner was held at the Yayuncun Quanjude Beijing Roast Duck Restaurant, which featured roast duck and grilled scorpions. Lee Stout and I enjoyed four scorpions each!
Day 3 (Wednesday, October 15): In the morning our bus took us a little ways into the country to visit the Great Wall at the Juyongguan Pass. In the parking lot where the numerous buses unloaded their tourists from all over the world, a Chinese family pulled me into their family group to take a picture with them. Contrary to my expectations, walking the wall entailed more climbing of stairs than strolling between battlements. Those of us who had been feeling overfed and under-exercised soon forgot any such complaints! After lunch we toured a cloisonné factory and went shopping at the Da Yi (Friendship) government store. Here, we were told, quality was guaranteed and there would be no need to negotiate. Not true! Many of us found that if we hesitated over a purchase, the price would start to slip. In the afternoon we met with the faculty and students of the School of Information Resource Management at Renmin University. Here we met Jenny again, and here Wendy’s skills as a translator were most severely tested by such archival jargon as “EAD” and discussions of records management vs. archives (a division of concept the Chinese do not share). In the evening a group of us went to a the Liyuan Theatre for a performance of traditional Beijing Opera, which proved to be a great treat involving more comedy and juggling than singing.
Day 4 (Thursday, October 16): This day was spent traveling from Beijing to Shanghai. The flight was short (under two hours). After arrival we went to dinner, followed by a wonderful acrobatic show at the Shanghai Art Theatre, escorted by our new local guide Li Ke (Eric). Later we settled in at Le Royal Meridien Hotel near the People’s Park.
Day 5 (Friday, October 17): In the morning we went to the Shanghai Municipal Archives on the Bund and were given a tour of the stacks and conservation areas of the facility. The Shanghai Municipal Archives serves a population of 22 million and the Beijing archives a population of 18 million, so these municipal archives are comparable to any state archives in the United States. We also toured a large exhibit which used documentary resources to interpret the history of Shanghai for the city’s school children and general public. After lunch we visited the Shanghai Museum and met briefly with one of the curators. After the meeting we wandered the multiple galleries of the museum, which featured four thousand years of Chinese art and artifacts. In the evening Kathy Marquis and I walked along the Nanjing Road pedestrian mall beside the hotel. Street vendors tried to sell us robo-toys that lit up.
Day 6 (Saturday, October 18): With the weekend our professional meetings came to an end. In the morning we went to the Shanghai Jade Buddha Temple. The temple was a complex of buildings, very crowded with both tourists and worshipers. The culmination of many beautiful things was a magnificent Buddha statue of white jade, life size or greater. Our next stop was a silk factory, where we admired the amazing labor put into hand-weaving the silk carpets and hangings and learned how to distinguish the qualities of silk weaving by the number of thread per inch. After lunch we visited the Yu Garden, originally a private estate, and shopped in Shanghai’s Old Town, where we honed our bargaining skills further. After a long day of walking, we were glad to visit the old Astor House Hotel for a traditional Chinese foot massage, which, it turned out, extended to the legs and even the shoulders.
Day 7 (Sunday October 19): After breakfast the bus took us to the Bund. This is the famous business district of colonial Shanghai facing the Huangpu River. The Astor House Hotel was here. On Sunday morning we walked along the pedestrian street on the waterfront, threading our way between street vendors (many selling kites) and Chinese families enjoying the day together. The weather was especially hot and muggy but clear. At about 11 we re-boarded the bus and traveled to the Caoyang residential area community center, where we had tea and admired the facilities for children and retirees. Chinese men retire at 55 and Chinese women retire at 50, we were told. We then split into three groups, each of which lunched in the home of a different family in the area. Like our restaurant lunches, the family lunch consisted of numerous dishes arrayed on a lazy susan. We could not possibly eat all of it. The apartment was small but very modern and comfortable. The couple that lived there was retired. In the afternoon we were free to amuse ourselves, so I sent for a walk in the People’s Park. As I was coming out I met two young people in their twenties who wanted to practice their English with me. The young man introduced himself as Alex and the young woman as Michelle. In English classes, all students are assigned an English name, which they use when they are learning English, so they gave me these, which I could remember. Michelle admired my long hair and asked if I was a dancer (I said no). Alex said they were going to a Kong Fu tea shop to see the tea ceremony. Would I like to come? I agreed to go with them. We walked a few blocks to a tea shop in a mall. As with the foot massage, we were shown to a private room, where a young woman made a number of different sorts of tea for us, explaining how it should be made, how we should hold our cups, and how to drink. Alex sat beside me and translated, occasionally exclaiming about how much I reminded him of his mother (thank you so much, Alex). Because I paid for the ceremony, Michelle presented me with a beautiful set of tea cups that had been offered for sale to us. In the evening the group met for a farewell dinner at A Yat’s restaurant near the Bund. Many of us took the occasion to wear some of our purchases in the silk stores of Shanghai.

Extension Tour
Xi’an and Kunming

Day 8 (Monday, October 20): Today most of the group left to return home, but six of us had signed up for the extension tour to Xi’an and Kunming. Our group left the hotel later (about 10 AM). Eric took us to the airport in a van, gave us our tickets, and sent us off. The flight was a little delayed, but we landed in Xi’an about 3 PM and met our new guide, Hu Xin (Kevin), who is a native of Xi’an. We also met Karen Nelson, from a People to People jurisprudence tour, who was joining us for the extension. We visited the Wild Goose Pagoda, where thousands of sacred Buddhist texts are stored. A few of us hunted anxiously through the dusk before we found the Buddha statue that we were told we should rub on the tummy for luck. Dinner was at the Han Tang restaurant. Finally we checked into the Hyatt Regency, where I am rooming with Helen Wong Smith from Hawaii. Xi’an is further inland and higher in altitude than Beijing or Shanghai. Its city walls are largely intact. Our hotel was located only a little distance from one of the gates.
Day 9 (Tuesday, October 21): After breakfast at the hotel we boarded a bus for the Shaanxi History Museum. Although not as varied as the Shanghai Museum, the Shaanxi Museum contained many artifacts from one of the most historic areas of China, including examples of some of the terracotta warriors of Xi Huang-ti, first emperor of a united China. Later in the morning we went to a jade carving factory, where we watched some carvers at work and learned how to gauge the quality of jade. We learned that jade comes in many colors besides green, can only be cut by diamonds, an is most prized for its translucence. We also had an opportunity to shop. Shortly after noon we departed for the site of Xi Huang-ti’s tomb and the museum of the terracotta warriors, which lies some distance outside of the town. On arrival we had lunch before going into Pit #1, where warriors, horses, and chariots can be seen in their original positions. Once more we encountered large crowds of Chinese and other Asian tourists. Pit #2, in another building a short walk away, contained a still active archaeological site where terracotta figures still lie in broken fragments or half dug out of the ground. Pit #3 was very little excavated but included displays of some of the most intact figures found so far. Before leaving we visited the on-site museum. In the evening we attended a performance at the Shaanxi Grand Opera House of music and dance and had dinner at a dim sum restaurant.
Day 10 (Wednesday, October 22): At 8:30 we departed from the hotel in Xi’an Xi’an was significantly cooler than Beijing or Shanghai and was foggy throughout our stay, although we were again lucky to avoid rain. Arrive at Kunming about 1 PM. Although China’s landmass stretches over what would normally be four time zones, Beijing time is legislated throughout the country, so we had lots of daylight ahead of us. Met our new local guide, Hu Jian Hong (Stephen) and checked in at Horizon Hotel. We then re-boarded the bus for a trip a little way outside Kunming to the Golden Temple, a Taoist sanctuary from the 17th century with walls covered by copper rather than gold. Outside the temple we encountered man with a Bactrian camel who allowed tourists to mount and take pictures for 10 yuan. Dianne and Helen and Dee and I all climbed on, one by one, for the short ride on the camel’s back. In this temple, too, active worship was carried on among tourists who were only there to look. One Chinese family stopped us to take a picture of Lee and their little boy together. In the evening we went to a show called “Dynamic Yunnan.” Yunnan is the province where Kunming is located. It is on the border of China in the southwest and is home to many ethnic minorities. Stephen told us that there are fifty-eight ethnic minorities in China, although the dominant Han people make up 96% of China’s total. The show was intended to celebrate the cultures of Yunnan’s minorities and featured singing, dancing, and colorful costumes. It’s subtitle, “A Grand Primitive Song & Dance Medley,” made me wonder how our own ethnic minorities would like being called primitive.
Day 11 (Thursday, October 23): Helen left us today. Since her flight for Hawaii took off in the early afternoon, she could not accompany us on our tour of the Stone Forest. The rest of us departed for the Stone Forest by bus at 8:30 and arrived about 10. The Stone Forest is a natural formation of limestone formed into pillars by submersion on an ancient seabed. Portions of the area have been floored with walkways, and vendors with local handicrafts of the Yunnan peoples compete for the attention of the usual crowds of tourists. Since the area is extensive, our guide hired a golf cart for us. Our driver was a young woman wearing a traditional Yi costume and headdress. There were many such drivers, all wearing the colorful costumes. We walked where the floor was level and drove over some narrow roads to see more and took many pictures. After lunch at a restaurant in the area, we were bused to Sani Village. This was a town in the hills where Han and Yi people both live. We walked through the village, attracting some attention by our strange appearance. Most of the houses were covered in golden corn cobs. We were told it was an indication of a good harvest. We noted that the houses, which were crowded close together, had electricity and televisions, but the farming we had seen in the area was carried on by human and animal power. Nearly every door was protected by colorful paper pictures of heavenly guardians. On the way back we stopped at another silk factory, which specialized in making silk bed comforters. Our last dinner was held at the Horizon Hotel in a revolving restaurant on the top floor.
Day 12 (Friday, October 24): We rose at 6:30. Traffic was bad to the airport. We were delayed by highway closure. No signs had been posted, so vehicles had no warning that the highway was closed until they encountered the construction. Then they were forced to turn around and go back into the oncoming traffic. Incredible chaos. Stephen was quite blunt in condemnation of the local government. He clearly regarded this as a typical example of its incompetence. Nevertheless, we got to the airport on time for our flight to Hong Kong. Laetitia did not accompany us. She stayed behind to tour the area further on her own, so our group was reduced to five. We left Hong Kong at about noon. After a twelve hour flight, we landed in Los Angeles at 11:30 am (local time) the same day. So I had the experience of being in two places at the same time. At LAX our little group broke up to pursue different ways home. I went to the Travel Lodge to spend the night, so I could face the flight to Denver, and the drive to Laramie, somewhat refreshed.

Comparing China Visits – 1997 and 2008, Lee Stout

In 1997, my wife Dee and I were able to spend a week in Beijing as tourists. This 2008 archival trip expanded our appreciation of China and also provided a new professional dimension to our experiences. Given all the TV coverage of the Beijing Olympics, and the excitement of our trip, I thought it might be of interest to reflect on a few areas of comparison we saw over the eleven years between our trips.

Bicycles - Cars

In 1997, there were tens of thousands of bicycles on the roads in Beijing, and relatively few private cars. In fact, the mass of cyclists trying to share the road with pedestrians, trucks and buses made us sure then that we would see at least one fatality a day. Surprisingly, with careful observation, we noticed the pecking order of vehicles yielding to one another to ensure a constant flow of traffic with few if any problems. In 2008, there are vastly greater numbers of private cars, traffic jams, and expressways (some with toll booths – unheard of in 1997). In Shanghai, there were divided lanes for the bikes, separated by fences which certainly appeared to help with safety. The car has also reached an important level as a social marker. One of our guides told us a young man’s marriage prospects were very limited without owning either a car or an apartment! Even the smallest city we visited – Kunming with about three million people – had fewer cars, but large numbers of electric scooters instead of an extensive bicycle fleet.

Construction and Growth

Of course, our 1997 visit was limited to one city, while this time we saw four (including Xi’an and Kunming on the extension), but the story was similar in all four. Everywhere we looked there were cranes and construction in progress. New buildings, roads, apartments, houses, stores, etc., were seen everywhere. Most of us had heard of the clearing away of old one-story hutongs in Beijing to make room for new buildings and Olympic venues, but the progress continues. In ’97, we saw a lot of relatively new buildings, but now growth seems to be in overdrive. I asked one of our guides about it. He remarked that America has had decades of peace in which to grow, while China has only been at it for twenty years or so, they have a lot of catching up to do, hence all the activity.

Tourism

In ’97, the Beijing attractions, the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, etc., were busy, but not crowded as they were on this trip. The major difference we noticed this time was the presence of Chinese tour groups. Before, the Chinese we saw were largely locals, out on a Saturday afternoon excursion, much like city-dwellers anywhere spending a day off in the park. This time we saw large numbers of tour buses with Chinese groups seeing the sights. Some may have been overseas Chinese, but most I suspect were from other parts of China – further evidence of a growing middle class with disposable income and the time for leisure to appreciate their history.

Vendors

On our previous trip, the street vendors were more or less confined to the tourist attractions and there, to their own stalls. Now, at least in Beijing and Shanghai, they seemed to be everywhere. It was hard to walk outside the hotels without being approached repeatedly. This difference seems to parallel the greater presence of modern retail stores and western brands. In ’97, we were struck by the presence of McDonald’s and KFC restaurants in Beijing, this time it was the Ferrari, Porsche, and Maserati showrooms in Shanghai. Virtually any upscale western brand we can find at home now has stores in China. Stopping in a Starbucks or Häagen-Dazs ice cream shop now was the taste of home that a Big Mac and a Coke provided eleven years ago.

I’m sure there are many other examples, but overall the growth, modernization, and westernization was dramatic to us. China has always been a proud country, but it shows now more than ever.

Global Archives Management Delegation to China: Introduction by Elizabeth W. Adkins, CA

It was my pleasure and honor to lead a delegation of archivists to China in October. A group of 27 of us traveled together October 10-20, 2008, visiting Beijing and Shanghai, and learning about the archives profession in China. The trip was organized under the People to People Citizen Ambassador Programs. People to People was founded in 1956 by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower in an effort to better promote cultural understanding through the efforts of individuals. For more information about the organization, see http://www.ambassadorprograms.org.

We had 22 delegates and 5 guests participating in the trip:

Elizabeth W. Adkins, CA (that's me! -- Manager, Global Archives and Audiovisual Assets)
Fred D. Adkins Jr. (my husband, who helped me with logistical support for our delegation visits)
Alison E. Bridger (Senior Manuscripts Cataloger, Folger Shakespeare Library)
Dianne L. Brown, CA (Corporate Archivist, Procter & Gamble)
Mo-Ching Cheung (Assistant University Archivist, University of Hong Kong)
Diane L. Dimkoff (Director, Customer Services Division, Access Programs, National Archives and Records Administration)
Mary Evans (Guest of Max Evans)
Max J. Evans (Director, History Department, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
Stacy Belcher Gould (University Archivist, University of Hong Kong)
Eric J. Hartmann (Assistant Archivist, Catholic Archives of Texas)
Kathleen F. "Kit" Leary (Archivist, Oregon Shakespeare Festival)
Nurit Lifshitz, CA (Archivist, California Institute of Technology)
Kathleen Marquis (Adult Services Librarian, Albany Public Library, Laramie, Wyoming)
David F. McCartney (University Archivist, University of Iowa)
Kathryn E. Pereira (Chief Records Analyst, Joseph Cardinal Bernadin Archives & Records Center, Archdiocese of Chicago)
James Petersen (Guest of David McCartney)
Patricia Poskie-Thiel (Guest of Mark Thiel)
Kenneth Schlesinger (Chief Librarian, Lehman College, City University of New York)
Patricia A. Scott, CA (Archivist, Pennsylvania College of Technology)
Helen W. Smith, CA (Librarian/Archivist, University of Hawaii at Hilo)
Dee Stout (Guest of Leon Stout)
Leon J. Stout (Retired Archivist, State College, Pennsylvania)
Mark G. Thiel, CA (Archivist, Marquette University)
D. Claudia Thompson (Associate Archivist, University of Wyoming)
Cynthia Treanor (Guest of John Treanor)
John J. Treanor (Vice Chancellor, Joseph Cardinal Bernadin Archives & Records Center, Archdiocese of Chicago)
Laetitia Yeandle (Retired Archivist, Adamstown, Maryland)

The delegates participated in visits with our Chinese archival counterparts from various host institutions, while the guests visited some of the local sites. All 27 of us were able to enjoy certain sightseeing highlights. These highlights included Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall at Beijing; and the Shanghai Museum, the Jade Buddha Temple, and a silk rug factory in Shanghai. On our last day in the country we had the opportunity to visit with local families who generously shared wonderful home-prepared meals with us.

The Society of American Archivists (SAA) office helped us prepare gifts for our hosts. These included copies of The American Archivist, Archival Outlook, SAA-published books, and copies of American Archives Month public relations kits. Each host institution also received a complimentary institutional membership in SAA for the next year.

In Beijing we met with the Society of Chinese Archives (which has more than 7,000 individual members), the Beijing Municipal Archives, and the School of Information Resource Management at Renmin University of China. At Shanghai we visited the Shanghai Municipal Archives and the Shanghai Museum, where we were debriefed on the vast and impressive museum collections by the museum's education director.

The Beijing Municipal Archives and the Shanghai Municipal Archives are the equivalent of large state archives in the United States, since the two cities are among four self-governing municipalities in China, separate from the 23 provinces and five autonomous regions. We were very impressed with the scale and quality of the operations at both of these repositories.

One of our delegates, Max Evans, has launched this blog so that we can share with each other and with others what we have learned from this trip, and our desire to learn more.

The time we spent with our Chinese archival colleagues was all too brief. We were delighted by the thoughtfulness and hospitality extended to us, and look forward to an ongoing email exchange with those we met. We all enjoyed ourselves tremendously, and many of us left vowing to return.