Thanks iceflower & polyesco!
English Royal House article from October 18th, which was not ready yet, when I wrote post 43:
Sustainable oceans - The Royal House of Norway.
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I've been a bit busy the last two days, but here's the program for the last day, October 19th:
The King and Queen visited the United World College (Changshu, 11:30):
The King and Queen visited the Humble Administrator’s Garden (Suzhou, 15:15):
See photos from both events in this English Royal House article:
Concluded with classical Chinese gardens - The Royal House of Norway.
Quote:
United World College (UWC) is a global education movement that brings together young people from all over the world at 17 upper-secondary schools in 17 countries. The UWC seeks to use education to promote peace and sustainable development, thereby creating meeting places for exchange, experiential learning and self-reflection across national borders.
In Norway there is a UWC campus in Fjaler municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county. Queen Sonja is the patron of the college and has visited it a number of times.
“Imagine what it means when 200 pupils from 95 countries get to know each other and each others’ cultures,” said the Queen after a visit to Fjaler. “This is a fantastic measure that should be introduced more places around the world.”
Today she had the opportunity to visit the UWC in Changshu – the latest addition to the UWC community. The Changshu campus opened in 2015 and has 560 pupils from 99 different countries and regions. Five of the pupils are from Norway.
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And perhaps we should talk a bit about Mark Jiapeng Wang (founder of UWC Changshu and himself a UWC alumnus) and his special relationship with the Queen:
Mark Wang - Wikipedia
Quote:
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Mark Wang was a passenger aboard China Northwest Airlines Flight 2119 from Yinchuan to Beijing on July 23, 1993. His spinal column was severely injured when the aircraft failed to get airborne and crashed into a lake. As a result, he was paralyzed from the waist down. Because of his injuries he was moved to Beijing Rehabilitation and Research Center (BRRC) in September 1993. At the time, BRRC and Sunnaas Hospital in Oslo, Norway had established a cooperation program, and a tour of BRRC's facilities in Beijing was included in Queen Sonja of Norway's royal visit to China. As a patron of Red Cross Nordic United World College (RCNUWC), Queen Sonja donated a scholarship to BRRC which was subsequently awarded to Mark Wang.
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Queen Sonja moved and impressed by Mark (37):
Dronning Sonja rørt og imponert av Mark (37).
Quote:
Mark Wang takker dronning Sonja for at han fikk bygget en videregående skole med 560 elever i Kina. – Jeg er dypt, dypt imponert, sier Sonja.
Translated to: Mark Wang thanks Queen Sonja for that he was able to build a Upper secondary school with 560 students in China. "I'm deeply, deeply impressed," said Sonja.
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Use your own google translations (since there are still some issues with those I usually put up here) to read rest of the article.
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Summary of the visit from me: Well, Their Majesties have been on top form during the entire state visit, not bad, especially considering that the King is a bit frail these days.
And although it looks like His Majesty took up human-rights with the Chinese authorities without having received a GO from the Norwegian government (see post 43), he was praised by politicians from both sides for having done so, including Abid Raja (MP from the republican centered Liberal Party, which is part of the government), who said that ''politicians should learn from the King.''
The Regent-Couple have also been praised by Norwegian/Swedish cross-country skiing experts for talking about that particular sport during their time in China (at the outdoor roller ski event in Beijing on October 15th).
Torbjørn Nordvall (a Swedish one) even believes that ''the presence and support the King and Queen showed, should be rewarded with the great gold medal from the International Ski Federation (FIS).''
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Media coverage: There has been broad coverage on TV2 News Channel and several articles from a number of Norwegian media outlets (to be expected, of course, when the state visit is to China.
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And one more thing, can you imagine the headlines if CP Haakon had taken up human-rights with the Chinese authorities without having received a GO from the Norwegian government? Well, Norwegian media/politicians would have eaten him alive and accused him of interfering in politics. - But when the King does it, he only receives praise.
You know, in the eyes of the media, HM can't do anything wrong anymore, everything he does is turned into something positive.
(Well, this was my 20th post in this thread, I think. - Not bad when I didn't thought I would have time for more than perhaps 10.)
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