Get in Touch

My mother was brought up in Mumbai and had a Chinese classmate in her school by the name of Yee Chian during the 1958-60 in Ratan Bhai Powdee School.

My mother wanted to get in touch with her and wondering if you'll had any way to get in touch.

 Kind Regards ,

 Savio Letiao
saviochamp@yahoo.com

Our Bonsai Man

Calcutta  Saturday  8 August 2015 ,  page 24

Bonsai man back in city

•  A Chinese born and brought up in Calcutta.

•     An IIT engineer who turned into a gardener.

•     A London resident who advised Prince Charles on how to set up a Japanese garden.

 Peter Chan wears many hats.

On Friday, he was teaching a group of Calcutta ladies and a few men how to prune plants.

The 75-year-old electrical engineer from IIT Kharagpur, who owns the Herons Bonsai, Britain's premier bonsai nursery in Surrey, travelled to England in 1963 and about two decades later converted his "hobby into a business".

"In those days people knew little about bonsai. Then at one point my career stagnated... so I said I'll change to something else," Chan said. He graduated from the IIT in 1962.

He advised Prince Charles on how to set up a Japanese garden. "I used to advise him more than 20 years ago... how to set up a Japanese garden.... I visited him twice."

On Friday, the former energy policy adviser in the British government's department of energy applied his technical training to what he felt was a "mathematical problem".

 Peter Chan at the workshop. Pic by Bishwarup Dutta

"When you look at a plant, it's like a mathematical problem and you have to find a solution," he said during a break in pruning plants at an Alipore Road address.

Chan studied at Calcutta Boys' School from 1946 to 1956, when the entire school had "only 300 students", and then science at St. Xavier's College at the intermediate level.

He followed in his father's footsteps and did engineering. "But I didn't enjoy engineering, that's why I got out of it. But I am grateful for the training IIT gave me because it trains the mind to analyse and do things. Once you get the training you can do anything."

Chan is passing through the city on his way to Kharagpur where his alma mater would present him with the most distinguished alumnus award for 2015.

NGO Jyotirmai's bonsai chapter invited him and member Parul Swarup hosted his two-hour workshop at her Alipore Road home.

Speaking about the city, Chan said: "I always like to come to Calcutta because it's my place of my birth... I have a special fondness for Calcutta."

 

Guinness World Record

China breaks Guinness World record for largest Umbrella

 A giant umbrella of around 23 meters in diameter and 14.4 meters in height made by a Chinese firm on Monday set a new Guinness World Record for the world's largest umbrella , breaking record set in India in 2010 . The umbrella weighing 5.7 tonnes (5,700 kg) and covers an area of 418 square meters .

Previous world record was held by an umbrella with 17.06 meters(56 ft) diameter and 10.97 meters(36 ft) height in India in 2010 . It weighed 2,200 kg . It was made by Max New York Life Insurance (India) and was unveiled at Ishanya Mall at Pune, India, on August 14, 2010. 

Taipei World Trade Center

TWTC KOLKATA 2015 NEWS LETTER VOLUME 9

 Taipei World Trade Center, Kolkata Office
Apeejay House, Block " C", Ground Floor,
15, Park Street Kolkata-16.
Tel: +91-33-4004-2796/97.
Fax: +91-33-4004-2798.
Email: kolkata@taitra.org.tw

IIT’s Award

Peter Chan -  IIT KHARAGPUR Distinguished Alumnus Award 2015

Peter Chan was born and brought up in Calcutta (1940 - 1963) .They were three generations in Calcutta - Grandfather and his two brothers started a carpentry factory in Calcutta in the early 1900s , with office in Chandni Chowk and factory in Chingrihatta Rd, Tangra. Thay made furniture and wooden railway carriages till about the early 60s .

Attended Calcutta Boys School and St Xaviers College and then went on to IIT Kharagpur to study Electrical Engg. 1958-62 .

Was the West Bengal Cycling champion 1960-63 and was one of five or six Chinese who studied at IIT.

This year Peter Chan was awarded the IIT’s Distinguished Alumnus Award for 2015 and have been asked to attend the Convocation in Kharagpur to receive

this award.

Peter shall be arriving Kolkata on 7th August - stay in Kharagpur 8th & 9th August and have the morning and afternoon of 10th Aug in Kolkata

Peter Chan is a self-taught Bonsai artist.  He moved to the UK in 1963 and started experimenting with bonsai in 1967 when ceramics was his main hobby. Trained originally as a professional Electrical Engineer, he worked in the UK Electricity industry and also as Energy Policy adviser in the UK Department of Energy for just over twenty years. He gave up his 9-5 job in1986 to turn his hobby of bonsai into a business venture. Today, his nursery ‘Herons Bonsai’ is the UK’s premier bonsai nursery.

Peter is known throughout the world by the many books he has written. His first book –‘Bonsai, the Art of Growing and Keeping Miniature Trees’ was published in 1985 and is still in print. His other books include ‘Bonsai Masterclass’, ‘Choosing and Growing Bonsai’ and the Readers Digest book –‘Bonsai Masterclass’. Many of his books have been translated into seven or more languages. Innumerable bonsai enthusiasts world-wide have been introduced to the art of bonsai through one or more of his books. He has also written a Japanese Garden book as he is also a Japanese garden designer and maker.

On his eight acre nursery, he grows most of the bonsai that the company sells. Maples and other deciduous trees are among his favourite species.

Herons Bonsai