It had been intended that a General Assembly of IFAAST should be held at this time but, no doubt due to limitations on overseas travel, there was not a quorum, so that an Executive Meeting was held instead. The main points which emerged were as follows:
At the conclusion of the meeting the President, Professor Bruce McKellar of ANZAAS stood down and handed over to Doctor S. C. Pakrashi of ISCA.
In accordance with the previous understanding China is to fill the position of Vice-President, and the CAST representative was asked to carry this message back to the CAST governing body so that their nominee can be appointed.
After a two-day stopover in Hong Kong I had a crack of dawn start on the 19th to get to the airport to catch the flight to Shanghai - no problems until I arrived there. I had been given no information about the arrangements in Shanghai, but I was a little surprised when I arrived to find no one to meet me and no instructions either; not even the name of the hotel! I stood in a prominent place looking lost, and eventually someone arrived and I was once more in the grip of the system. On joining the traffic I understood my guides' explanation that it was the cause of the delay in their arrival to meet me. HK traffic is heavy but well regulated; in Shanghai it can best be described as controlled chaos - turns by vehicles in either direction from the centre are to be expected, but to these are added some extreme variations by bicyclists and pedestrians alike; zig-zag crossings are more usual than direct ones. I was told that the rule is "do not watch the driver of an oncoming vehicle since he will assume that you have seen him and that you will take avoiding action"; the result is that a driver sounds the horn quite regularly and has many near misses.
After a safe arrival at the Shanghai Hotel and meeting up with the other delegates, we had the first of our many Chinese meals. I divide these into three classes - a modest meal, cafeteria style, at which you line up and make a quick selection of, say, five dishes; a normal meal at which one is presented with about ten different hors d'oeuvres from which to select whilst the, from seven to ten, main courses are prepared. Then there is the banquet which varies from the normal in that the range of hors d'oeuvres is greater and the number of main courses runs from, say, eight to twelve. We had only one modest meal and on all other days we seemed to have one normal meal and one banquet. In both Shanghai and Wuhan meals were uniformly excellent with a great deal of variety - soups, beef, pork, chicken, duck, fish and vegetables of all descriptions and special delicacies such as turtle and fresh water eel - invariably delicious!
In the afternoon we went to the Yuyuan Gardens which are typical of the Chinese classical style and which are a favourite spot for recreation - they were quite crowded. Then to the Shanghai International Business Centre to meet the chief executives of the Shanghai Science Festival, thence to dinner and back to the Official Opening Ceremony of the Shanghai Science Festival 95. This was a gala occasion hosted by two well-known TV personalities before about 600 people. Apart from the welcoming speeches by the Chair of the Shanghai Association for Science & Technology (SAST) and the President of the China Association for Science & Technology (CAST) there were live and computer presentations. We later received an edited video of the proceedings.
That SAST is well organised and thriving cannot be doubted; they have comprehensive documentation and a wide range of exhibits for the Festival, and are lucky to have the whole of an old French School as their Headquarters. We were told that SAST had over one million members who were gathered into nine sub-districts, each of which had special tasks for the year and were subject to performance audit.
On the 20th the IFAAST Executive began its deliberations and, apart from a short lunch break, these continued throughout the day; the discussions were fruitful, and are recorded in the minutes. Breaking late in the afternoon we were shown the latter stages of a competition between children from the Shanghai District, from other provinces and from some overseas countries, notably Poland and Japan. We witnessed a rocket launching competition which generated great enthusiasm among the participants and spectators alike, and we were shown one room in which there were about 150 computers for the children to use in another part of the competition. This was followed by a dinner hosted by the Chiefs of SAST.
On the 21st we returned to the Shanghai Science Hall (SAST HQ) to join in a seminar to discuss "The Popularisation ofScience & Technology"; each of the IFAAST delegations presented highlights of their activities and answered questions from the floor or commented on the statements made. This continued after lunch and proved of great benefit to all participants. Following this we visited the Jade Buddha Temple, which had been saved from destruction during the cultural revolution, and had dinner before attending an outstanding acrobatic show and returning to our hotel.
Because of the traffic and the need to visit some widely separated Sub-Districts on the 22nd we were provided with an escort of two police cars. This speeded up our progress and introduced us to some hitherto unexpected aspects of Shanghai traffic etiquette; briefly stated, this seems to be "If you can get away with it - go for it!" This rule is observed by both the police and the others, and provides exciting opportunities.
In these Sub-Districts we saw how they popularised science in their particular specialisation. In Changfeng they concentrated on standard methods using computers, exhibitions and contests. On the footpath outside the hall there was a small band and a choir to attract the crowd, there were some fifteen computers with operators engaged in a competition, and there were instructors to guide and answer questions from the spectators.
In Caoan they concentrate on fire prevention, fire fighting and rescue; young people attend ten training sessions at the Fire Station and we were given a demonstration of their skills. They were most enthusiastic and proficient.
At our next destination we were shown some of the exhibits in the flower/planting show; there were a number of attractive 'bonzai' exhibits and we were told that, as a result of the extensive greenmg practised in the Sub-District, the life span of members living there had been increased. We also saw some very exotic examples of food presentation in which, for example, carrots had been carved to produce flowers, and cucumbers to produce frogs. Another feature was the extensive use of blackboards illustrating aspects of science and displayed prominently throughout the Sub-District.
At lunch time we were divided into three small parties and given lunch by three selected local families in the District. I went to a small three-person-family apartment as one among ten, and a most convivial time was had by all. There was some shoe-horning needed when a three-person TV crew arrived to take film of the hostess in the kitchen and the rest of us at our meal.
Once again under the protection (?) of our red lights we sped to our next meeting at the hospital in the Huaihai Sub-District. Here it was explained that in this Sub-District they concentrated on aspects of health promotion. Representatives from small groups within the Sub-District attend the hospital and were given training in the less complex medical skills - treatment of cuts, burns and the like, as well as early treatment of critical cases pending the arrival of an ambulance or doctor. The representatives were expected to pass on this information. In addition to the teaching help the hospital has established a close link with the community and, for example, provides facilities for mothers and babies to be together and for fathers to join them also. We then had dinner.
The next day, the 23rd, was essentially a travel day; on leaving our hotel we went on a sight-seeing journey around Shanghai to see the Nanpu cable-stayed bridge and the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. Unfortunately due to delays we were not able to inspect these, but could only drive past. Then we had lunch and flew to Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province.
Arriving late in the afternoon we went straight to the Lejia Hotel on the campus of the Wuhan University, and attended a dinner hosted by the Hubei Association for Science & Technology (HAST).
The first engagement on the 24th was another symposium, this time on the campus and attended by over 200 people. All the delegations made presentations and there were many questions from the floor and much discussion.
We then left Wuhan University and lunched at a guest house which was formerly where Chairman Mao stayed when in Hubei. After lunch we checked in at the Jiang Ying Hotel, and then set out to visit the Yellow Crane Tower and the Quiyuan Temple, which contains about 500 Buddha statues, before having dinner in the town.
On the last day, an early start, even before the crack of dawn, was needed to get me to the airport for take off to Hong Kong en route back to Australia. A most memorable visit!
Don Tier
In addition, the positions of office-bearers were regularised, and consideration was given to the funding of IFAAST, as follows: