Embracing the Interconnected World

Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC is one of the most visited monuments in the United States. On the right is a photo I took of the wall a few years ago. With its deceptively simple design of V shaped two walls of black granite and each wall inscribed with the names of the nearly 60,000 men and women who gave their lives, or are missing in action in the Vietnam war, the memorial is visited by an estimated six millions visitors each year. On the other side of the world, standing right in the middle of the Tiananmen Square in the center of Beijing is the iconic Monument to the People's Heroes (cover photo) which was completed in 1958 to commemorated all those war hero’s since 1840 opium war for China’s national independence. What might surprise you is the connection between the two iconic monuments in the two capital cities, or more accurately the connection between the two designers. 

The Monument in Beijing was designed by a team led by Liang Sicheng and his wife Lin Huiyin (林徽音) who personally designed the floral wreath patterns at the base of the Monument to the People's Heroes. Almost a hundred years ago in 1924, Lin and Liang both enrolled at my alma mater University of Pennsylvania, where Liang attended the School of Architecture while Lin worked as a part-time assistant in the architectural department. Although they both wanted to attend the School of Architecture, Lin was not admitted because she was a woman. She therefore enrolled in the School of Fine Arts.

Upon returning to China, Lin Huiying became known to be the first female architect in modern China and her husband Liang the famed "Father of Modern Chinese Architecture”, both of whom being professors at Tsinghua University. Liang and Lin began restoration work on cultural heritage sites of China, a passion which she would pursue to the end of her life in 1955 due to tuberculosis. The Penn Gazette recently ran an article about the couple and their life story.

Meanwhile in the United States, a non-profit organization was established for a memorial to veterans of the Vietnam War on April 27, 1979, four years after the fall of Saigon. When the winning design, among 1421 designs submitted, was announced in 1981, it was by a 21 year old young American artist Maya Lin, an undergraduate at Yale University. The memorial was completed in October 1982 and dedicated in November 1982. In 2016, Maya Lin was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. What people may not know is that Maya Lin is the niece of Lin Huiyin. 

Although they were a generation apart and lived thousands of miles away in two different eras, the family connection provides an interesting episode of how the world is intertwined and interconnected, not just politically or economically but also culturally at a human level. The connectedness makes the world an interesting and better place.

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