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VANCOUVER AS I SEE IT
by Michael Bullock
In 1968, when I received an invitation to join the faculty of the Creative Writing Department of the University of British Columbia, the name Vancouver meant almost nothing to me. I looked it up in the Encyclopedia Britannica, where I read that "Stanley Park is the largest urban park in the world";. I immediately cabled my acceptance of the invitation. This first reaction proved thoroughly well-founded. Not only is Stanley Park an extensive and very varied expanse of unspoilt nature, the whole city is permeated by nature in the shape of parks, woodland - in the shape of what were the University Endowment Lands and are now called the Pacific Spirit Park, to which I dedicated a whole volume of poems - botanical gardens such as the Nitobe Garden, the Botanical Garden and the Asian Garden on the University campus, Jericho Park, and the VanDusen Gardens in the city and, in Chinatown, the Dr Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Park and Garden. Moreover all the streets are tree-lined, including many blossoming trees such as cherry and plum trees, which in spring give the city an almost overwhelming beauty. All the trees in Vancouver's streets are protected by law, so that no one can damage them in any way. Their value to the city is fully recognized by the municipal authorities, which I find extremely reassuring. Since the suburbs contain a great number of single-family houses, each with its own garden, the profusion of flowers at all seasons except winter is a striking feature of the city.
Vancouver is penetrated by English Bay, an arm of the ocean that bisects it into the south shore, where Vancouver proper, including the University campus and the parks and gardens I have mentioned are sittuated, and the north shore, comprising West Vancouver, including Lighthouse Park, which rivals Stanley Park on a smaller scale, North Vancouver and behind them the Coast Mountains which, through most of the year, are snow-capped.
If I have spent so much time describing the natural beauties of Vancouver, at the risk of sounding like a travel brochure, it is because these natural beauties have inspired so much of my poetry, including Poems on Green Paper which is dedicated to the University Endowment Lands, where and about which most of them are written, and Vancouver Moods, which encompass all the places I have mentioned. I was always something of a nature poet, but since coming to Vancouver this tendency has been constantly strengthened. In this respect I feel that I owe a great debt to Vancouver.
After its natural beauties the second outstanding feature of Vancouver is its cosmopolitanism. It has been said that no one who lives in Vancouver needs to travel, since every part of the world is represented here. This is literally true. One feature of this cosmopolitanism, and one which I personally particularly appreciate, is the vast number of inexpensive restaurants serving the food peculiar to every imaginable region of the world. Most are probably Chinese, representing every part of China, Indian, again representing every region of that country, and Japanese. My belief that they exist in that numerical order is not based on any scientific survey and may merely represent my own preferences.
It is, however, certain that the Chinese are the most numerous ethnic group after Europeans. This is much to my liking since a great many of my books have been translated into Chinese and far more copies are sold in China than anywhere else, including Canada. I have been told, not necessarily reliably, that I was a Chinese poet in a previous incarnation. It is, in any case, a fact that I have always been drawn to Chinese culture and that my poetry has great affinities with Chinese poetry especially in its attitude to nature. My links with the Chinese community in Vancouver are close and are certainly a factor in my decision to remain here after my retirement more than twenty years ago. There is a bustling Chinatown where my Chinese friends do much of their shopping and where some of them go to purchase Chinese medications. It is, I believe, one of the largest and most fascinating Chinatowns in the world. There is also a large Indian, mostly Punjabi, population and an Indiatown, which is noteworthy, apart from Indian restaurants, for the countless shops selling dazzlingly colourful saris. Prior to the internment of the Japanese during the Second World War there was also a flourishing Japantown and a considerable Japanese fishing fleet. Only vestiges of Japantown remain, but I am glad to say that Japanese restaurants are ubiquitous!
I have said nothing yet about culture, not because it takes a back seat in Vancouver, but because it is much the same as everywhere else. There are countless art galleries, including the Vancouver Art Gallery, numerous theatres and movie theatres, a plethora of bookshops and an excellent Public Library with branches all over the city. For me personally the main interest of the Public Library is as a venue for my frequent poetry readings. As far as borrowing books is concerned I rely mainly on the outstanding University Library. The University, of course, makes an inestimable contribution to the cultural life of the city, especially since the building of the Chan Center for the Performing Arts, and the opening of the downtown campus. Prior to my retirement and the death of my dear friend Dr. Peter Loeffler UBC could be said to have had two direct links with Switzerland. Peter Loeffler, a Swiss poet, dramaturge and writer on the theatre was a professor in the Theater Department. I myself was the official English translator of Max Frisch and the translator of many other Swiss authors. Unlike any other city I can think of outside China Vancouver has a major Chinese cultural center and Museum, alongside the Dr. Sun-Yat Sen Classical Chinese Park and Garden, which are also without parallel in any other city outside China and one of the most poetically inspiring places in Vancouver.
No discussions of Vancouver would be complete without a reference to its climate. The popular image of Canada is one of cold and snow most of the year. This a true picture of most of Canada, but certainly not of Vancouver, frequently referred to in the rest of Canada as Lotusland. Thanks to a warm current off the coast Vancouver rarely experiences snow or really cold temperatures. Its climate is rather similar, and for much the same reason, as that of south Cornwall in England. Indeed, snow is so rare that when it does fall it causes chaos and the resentful feeling that it has no right to fall in Vancouver. At least that is how I feel. Vancouver must be one of the few cities in the world where you can swim in the ocean and a couple of hours later be skiing in the mountains.
When the time came for me to retire in 1983, there were only three cities I considered: Vancouver, my native London, and Hong Kong, the latter because of my frequent visits to give readings and lectures at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Hong Kong dropped out of contention when it was taken over by China and, according to the reports I received, lost much of its charm. The choice between Vancouver and London was more difficult to resolve - but here I am, still in Vancouver.
In 1968, when I received an invitation to join the faculty of the Creative Writing Department of the University of British Columbia, the name Vancouver meant almost nothing to me. I looked it up in the Encyclopedia Britannica, where I read that "Stanley Park is the largest urban park in the world";. I immediately cabled my acceptance of the invitation. This first reaction proved thoroughly well-founded. Not only is Stanley Park an extensive and very varied expanse of unspoilt nature, the whole city is permeated by nature in the shape of parks, woodland - in the shape of what were the University Endowment Lands and are now called the Pacific Spirit Park, to which I dedicated a whole volume of poems - botanical gardens such as the Nitobe Garden, the Botanical Garden and the Asian Garden on the University campus, Jericho Park, and the VanDusen Gardens in the city and, in Chinatown, the Dr Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Park and Garden. Moreover all the streets are tree-lined, including many blossoming trees such as cherry and plum trees, which in spring give the city an almost overwhelming beauty. All the trees in Vancouver's streets are protected by law, so that no one can damage them in any way. Their value to the city is fully recognized by the municipal authorities, which I find extremely reassuring. Since the suburbs contain a great number of single-family houses, each with its own garden, the profusion of flowers at all seasons except winter is a striking feature of the city.
Vancouver is penetrated by English Bay, an arm of the ocean that bisects it into the south shore, where Vancouver proper, including the University campus and the parks and gardens I have mentioned are sittuated, and the north shore, comprising West Vancouver, including Lighthouse Park, which rivals Stanley Park on a smaller scale, North Vancouver and behind them the Coast Mountains which, through most of the year, are snow-capped.
If I have spent so much time describing the natural beauties of Vancouver, at the risk of sounding like a travel brochure, it is because these natural beauties have inspired so much of my poetry, including Poems on Green Paper which is dedicated to the University Endowment Lands, where and about which most of them are written, and Vancouver Moods, which encompass all the places I have mentioned. I was always something of a nature poet, but since coming to Vancouver this tendency has been constantly strengthened. In this respect I feel that I owe a great debt to Vancouver.
After its natural beauties the second outstanding feature of Vancouver is its cosmopolitanism. It has been said that no one who lives in Vancouver needs to travel, since every part of the world is represented here. This is literally true. One feature of this cosmopolitanism, and one which I personally particularly appreciate, is the vast number of inexpensive restaurants serving the food peculiar to every imaginable region of the world. Most are probably Chinese, representing every part of China, Indian, again representing every region of that country, and Japanese. My belief that they exist in that numerical order is not based on any scientific survey and may merely represent my own preferences.
It is, however, certain that the Chinese are the most numerous ethnic group after Europeans. This is much to my liking since a great many of my books have been translated into Chinese and far more copies are sold in China than anywhere else, including Canada. I have been told, not necessarily reliably, that I was a Chinese poet in a previous incarnation. It is, in any case, a fact that I have always been drawn to Chinese culture and that my poetry has great affinities with Chinese poetry especially in its attitude to nature. My links with the Chinese community in Vancouver are close and are certainly a factor in my decision to remain here after my retirement more than twenty years ago. There is a bustling Chinatown where my Chinese friends do much of their shopping and where some of them go to purchase Chinese medications. It is, I believe, one of the largest and most fascinating Chinatowns in the world. There is also a large Indian, mostly Punjabi, population and an Indiatown, which is noteworthy, apart from Indian restaurants, for the countless shops selling dazzlingly colourful saris. Prior to the internment of the Japanese during the Second World War there was also a flourishing Japantown and a considerable Japanese fishing fleet. Only vestiges of Japantown remain, but I am glad to say that Japanese restaurants are ubiquitous!
I have said nothing yet about culture, not because it takes a back seat in Vancouver, but because it is much the same as everywhere else. There are countless art galleries, including the Vancouver Art Gallery, numerous theatres and movie theatres, a plethora of bookshops and an excellent Public Library with branches all over the city. For me personally the main interest of the Public Library is as a venue for my frequent poetry readings. As far as borrowing books is concerned I rely mainly on the outstanding University Library. The University, of course, makes an inestimable contribution to the cultural life of the city, especially since the building of the Chan Center for the Performing Arts, and the opening of the downtown campus. Prior to my retirement and the death of my dear friend Dr. Peter Loeffler UBC could be said to have had two direct links with Switzerland. Peter Loeffler, a Swiss poet, dramaturge and writer on the theatre was a professor in the Theater Department. I myself was the official English translator of Max Frisch and the translator of many other Swiss authors. Unlike any other city I can think of outside China Vancouver has a major Chinese cultural center and Museum, alongside the Dr. Sun-Yat Sen Classical Chinese Park and Garden, which are also without parallel in any other city outside China and one of the most poetically inspiring places in Vancouver.
No discussions of Vancouver would be complete without a reference to its climate. The popular image of Canada is one of cold and snow most of the year. This a true picture of most of Canada, but certainly not of Vancouver, frequently referred to in the rest of Canada as Lotusland. Thanks to a warm current off the coast Vancouver rarely experiences snow or really cold temperatures. Its climate is rather similar, and for much the same reason, as that of south Cornwall in England. Indeed, snow is so rare that when it does fall it causes chaos and the resentful feeling that it has no right to fall in Vancouver. At least that is how I feel. Vancouver must be one of the few cities in the world where you can swim in the ocean and a couple of hours later be skiing in the mountains.
When the time came for me to retire in 1983, there were only three cities I considered: Vancouver, my native London, and Hong Kong, the latter because of my frequent visits to give readings and lectures at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Hong Kong dropped out of contention when it was taken over by China and, according to the reports I received, lost much of its charm. The choice between Vancouver and London was more difficult to resolve - but here I am, still in Vancouver.
Submitted on August 20, 2008 in By David.
