French Architect “with Bo Xilai Ties” Arrested in Cambodia

French architect Patrick Henri Devillers has been arrested by Cambodian police, reportedly with the co-operation of Beijing, which is seeking his extradition. Also reportedly, Phnom Penh is in a process of deciding whether to send Devillers to France, or to follow a demand to extradite him to China. According to the BBC’s Chinese website, Devillers is a friend of Bo Xilai‘s family, and a business friend of Bo’s wife Gu Kailai. According to a Le Monde report, Devillers had first met the Bo family in Dalian, just as another foreign Bo/Gu contact, Neil Heywood had.

But their businesses were different, and not interlinked, Deviller was quoted in the Le Monde report, in May this year (i. e. weeks before his arrest).

“What we had in common is that we were married to Chinese women. We knew each other (…). What I can say about him is that he wasn’t in the bluff. He had a great mental nobility, in the English traditions of honor.”

“On avait en commun d’être mariés à des Chinoises. On se connaissait (…). Je peux dire de lui en tout cas qu’il n’était pas du tout dans l’esbroufe. Il avait une grande noblesse d’âme, dans les traditions anglaises de l’honneur.”

Devillers had first arrived in China in 1987, aged about 27, to learn Chinese, according to Le Monde. It was there that he met his wife who studied the classical zither [probably the guzheng – JR], and started a movie project about the Tian An Men movement in 1989, which ended with the massacre.

During the 1990s, much of his work involved working with the Dalian city government’s architecture and urban planning department.

The way Devillers comes across in the Le Monde article suggests that he took a great interest in China’s intellectual history, and particularly in Taoism.

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Related

» Oh, Rule of Law, April 11, 2012

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Updates/Related

» No Extradition without Evidence, Telegraph, June 20, 2012

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Shijiazhuang News Net: a Sketch from Space

From Xinhua, June 18, 2010, via Shijiazhuang News Net, June 19 – links within blockquotes added during translation.

Main link: Literary sketch: Tiankong, my Beautiful Home (神九航天员进驻天宫一号速写,美丽的”天宫”我的家)

The door has opened!

A brand-new but also very familiar room has opened to the gaze of the world: Chinese knots, the brightly-colored wuxing hongqi, beige floors, white bulkheads…

On June 18, 2012, having waited in the boundless cosmos for 215 days, Tiangong-1 welcomes family people the crew hasn’t seen for ages: 45-year-old Jing Haipeng, 43-year-old Liu Wang, and 33-year-old Liu Yang.

It’s only another few minutes, but with such a feel of urgence!

门开了！

一个崭新而又熟悉的空间呈现在世界面前：大红的中国结，鲜艳的五星红旗，米黄的地板，洁白的舱壁……

2012年6月18日，在茫茫太空等待215天后，天宫一号迎来久违的家人：45岁的景海鹏、43岁的刘旺和33岁的刘洋。

短短几分钟，却让人的心情如此迫切！

At yyy tries to open the space laboratory module’s counterbalance valve – a moment that grips everyone. One, two, three minutes… although Jing Haipeng’s shadow can clearly be seen next to the entrance, through the built-in video camera, the valve doesn’t move.

At Beijing Space Control Center, they can hear each others’ breath. At this moment, the sky-blue screen shows the linked-up entities of Tiangong-1 and Shenzhou flying over the African continent, into the direction of the Eurasian continent.

Four minutes, five minutes have passed…

“Shenzhou-9, do you need ground support?” – a calm voice sounds at the control center.

Please wait a moment, an even more calm voice replies. It’s Jing Haipeng’s reply. The 45-year-old travelled space with the Shenzhou-7 four years ago, and his psychological quality is outstanding. It was also then that Jing Haipeng and Zhai Zhigang cooperated closely in leaving Chinese footprints in deep and vast space.

“The valve has moved!” Suddenly, there are whispers at the control center.

At 17:06, as the counterbalance moves, Jing Haipeng moves forward to Tiankong’s entrance no. 1, the door of which moves up!

People can not help but applaud!

从16时58分景海鹏试图打开天宫一号实验舱舱门平衡阀开始，人们的心就紧紧地揪住了。一分钟、两分钟、三分钟……尽管通过天宫一号内置的摄像机可以清楚地看到舱门那边景海鹏的身影，可“固执”的平衡阀就是纹丝不动。

北京航天飞控中心指挥大厅内，安静得可以听到彼此的呼吸声。此时此刻，蔚蓝色的巨幅大屏幕上显示，天宫一号和神舟九号组合体正飞过非洲大陆，向亚欧大陆方向飞去。

4分钟过去了，5分钟过去了……

“神舟九号，是否需要地面支持？”一个冷静的声音在大厅响起。

“请稍等一下。”一个更加冷静的声音传来。这是景海鹏的回复。45岁的他，4年前曾随神舟七号翱翔太空，心理素质优秀。也就是那次飞天，景海鹏与翟志刚密切协同，把中国人的足迹，印在寥廓而深邃的星空。

“平衡阀动了！”突然，大厅里有人轻呼。

17时06分，伴随着平衡阀的完全松开，景海鹏向前推动天宫一号舱门，舱门缓缓地自下向上打开！

人们情不自禁地鼓起掌来！

[…]

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Related

» Spacecraft docks, National Post, June 18, 2012
» China can’t stay Idle, July 13, 2011

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