Personal File
Name： David M. JacobsonChinese Name： Yang DawuNationality： CanadianOccupation： BusinessmanTime in China： 21 yearsDavid M. Jacobson was born in Trinidad，West Indies， grew up in Canada， went to collegein the USA， and is the foreign son-in-law whocame to live with his wife’s family in China.
Like his mother-in-law Gladys Yang before him，he followed his lover to China. In a small courtyardlying in the heart of Beijing， he expresseshis love， runs his company and that enchantingyard， and has determined to spend the rest of hislife there.
13 0 This Canadian， David Jacobson， has the Chinese name of YangDawu. “Dawu” is no doubt a smart transliteration of David. And hiswife is surnamed Yang. So this foreign son-in-law， who lives withhis wife’s family in China， has adopted his wife’s surname. The Englishword “David” is usually transliterated as “Dawei” or “Daiwei”。
“Dawu” is very rare， but full of connotations and very ingenious. Thename of his and his wife’s consulting company is “Saiweng”。 It hasthe flavor of Oriental philosophy. It was originally created by David，which surprises a lot of people.
David has an easy and successful life， whether in career or day today affairs. “Saiweng” has grown into one of the largest informationconsulting companies in Asia. He lives happily in that small courtyard，bought by his wife and father-in-law. He likes to share his happinesswith others and invites his friends and colleagues over to chat idly onthe roof or sit in the yard. You might even find him busy in the kitchenshowing off his cooking skills. His father-in-law is a contemporarycelebrity with whom he has at least one thing in common—drinking.
Both like to spend the days when “Seats are full of guests and cups arenever empty of wine. One weekend we call on the Yang residence. One reason is tosee Yang Xianyi， a famous Chinese translator， well known for histranslation of A Dream of Red Mansions. The other is to see how thisCanadian lives his contented life in China.
Building a Home in a Place Full of PeopleTraversing the scenic spot of Houhai Lake and the noisy LotusMarket and crisscrossing the “hutong” （alleys） of the Houhai district，we suddenly find ourselves in a quiet and secluded spot. The Yangresidence sits in Xiaojinsi Alley （The Alley of the Little Gold Thread）。
One gets the artistic feel here of what Tao Yuanming， the famous Tangpoet （61 8-907）， wrote in his poem Drinking Wine： “I build my homein a place full of people， but hear no clamor of carts and horses. We use the round knocker on the door to summon the residents.
Yang Zhi， Yang Xiangyi’s daughter， opens the door. She grew up inthe residential compound of the Foreign Languages Bureau， so we areall casually acquainted. David has gone out shopping for the food hewill cook in the evening. It seems that we will have some luck eatingsomething delicious.
On entering the living room， we are delighted to see the hale andhearty Yang Xianyi. At the age of 94， he is still clear minded， quickin word， in sum， really incredible. We tell him that the Foreign Lan13guage Bureau has hung the portraits of all the Chinese pioneers whohad been engaged in broadcasting and translations in the lobby of theoffice building. People look on them with reverence. Among them arehe and his deceased wife Gladys Yang. He gives a faint smile but saysnothing. He has undergone many hardships in his life and thus is usedto remaining indifferent to others’ opinions. He once mocked himself，“So clever when young， not so when grown， muddled at mid-life，shameless when old.” This has long been a classic of humor， widelyspread among men of letters.
It is said that the Yang family sold their four-room apartment atChaoyang- yuan several years ago and bought this courtyard with aloan. Although it is not a standard Beijing courtyard house， it is rich inthe flavor of old Beijing. The old-style one-story building faces south.
The grey bricks and tiles are plain. But inside it is well furnished， withmodern facilities， an open kitchen， reinforced glass in the bathroom，floor heating， and the like. They can live a modern and tasteful life inthis old style building， where memories of the past are well preserved.
The place is just like the old owner of the house， a typical old Chineseintellectual with rich knowledge of East and West， with the highestlevel of training， especially in Western culture. “Chinese learning asthe core， Western learning for practical use” is well represented in theconcept of the house.
Passing by the front of the house is a long passage. A large muralof scribbled “paintings” adorns the courtyard walls. One cannot tellwhether it is abstract， impressionist， or fauvist. Anyway， it looks verycolorful， with numerous and jumbled content. Yang Zhi says it was animpulse， the collective composition of colleagues who had come tocongratulate her on moving into the new residence. The most humorousthing is a word in white， “chai” （“tear down”）， drawn at a cornerand encircled， very much like the sign meaning to dismantle， commonlyseen on old buildings in the streets in Beijing. Such a word onthis mural captures the space and time of Beijing. Anyone familiarwith the changes in the city would laugh upon seeing it.
