“The school supports you.”
The Principal, being a busy person, only offered a few words of encouragement to Xia Xiaolan before leaving the office. She pondered the weight of these words.
Soon, the Department Head showed her exactly what school support meant.
“Student Xiaolan, I heard you submitted a letter of complaint and protest to the American AIA Association?”
“Department Head, is there a problem…”
The Department Head suddenly stood up, appearing intimidating, “Of course, there’s a problem, a significant one! In such matters, how could you not wait for the school? With just your protest, will AIA take it seriously?”
It needed Huaqing University’s official seal, filed under the school’s name, condemning AIA’s arrogance and errors… If there were genuine doubts about the work’s copyright, shouldn’t both parties have been questioned? They only interviewed the American architect Lisa and concluded that the theater renovation plan was Lisa’s work.
Hah, with such procedures, how could anyone be convinced? The Department Head himself was completely unconvinced!
Xia Xiaolan’s eyes brightened at his words:
“You’ve given me a new perspective. I could even take AIA to court – their crude judgment has damaged my reputation-“
The Department Head stared at her, “You absolutely cannot do that!”
Ah, students will be students, how could they handle matters this way?
While it felt satisfying to be direct, it would completely push AIA to Lisa and Monde’s side.
Opposing the entire association – even if AIA was wrong, they would stubbornly maintain their judgment. Suing only Lisa was the correct approach, treating Lisa and Monde as one group, separate from AIA. While AIA might stand with them now, when circumstances change and AIA sees room for maneuver, they won’t stubbornly insist they were right.
Xia Xiaolan naturally understood this but pretended not to, wanting to give the Department Head a sense of achievement.
The Department Head, filled with accomplishment, produced a protest letter bearing the school’s official seal:
“The school will have someone deliver this to AIA. It has my signature and signatures from other department teachers. Everyone is willing to publicly affirm your professional talent and vouch for your professional ethics – you couldn’t possibly have stolen Lisa’s work!”
The school was protesting on her behalf?
And all the department teachers had signed?
These teachers trusted her immensely – if she truly had been someone who stole another’s work, all these teachers who vouched for her would lose face.
“Rest assured, I won’t lose the lawsuit!”
Xia Xiaolan truly felt what “school support” meant. Her eyes grew warm, and the Department Head, as if feeling the impact wasn’t sufficient, further informed her:
“I heard from Elder Mao that you want to independently complete a museum project with AIA witnesses throughout. That’s a good idea, but the project is in Yunan Province. You’d waste time traveling back and forth instead of focusing on design. The department has specially approved your leave – if AIA sends people to China, you won’t need to attend classes during the museum project period. Focus on doing this project well!”
Isn’t book learning meant for practical application?
Saying that Xia Xiaolan had completed the Huaqing Architecture Department’s five-year undergraduate curriculum wasn’t an exaggeration.
Naturally, understanding knowledge doesn’t mean students can skip classes. The school wouldn’t normally support such discipline-breaking behavior… But Xia Xiaolan’s case was exceptional, especially approved!
Xia Xiaolan was genuinely overjoyed.
“Are you serious?”
Using weekends to travel between Jingcheng and Pengcheng had become Xia Xiaolan’s routine.
She was a student and needed to behave like one, following school discipline. If she thought earning money and achieving some success meant she could disregard school rules, why attend university at all?
Throughout, Xia Xiaolan preferred exhausting herself to balance academics and career.
Given her current student status, her career often yielded to academics. For instance, when ‘Luohu Tiancheng’ opened for sales, since it wasn’t on a weekend, she could only go to Pengcheng afterward-
In this situation, the department’s support in allowing her to temporarily skip classes was truly substantial!
Xia Xiaolan could hardly believe it and questioned it. The Department Head emphasized:
“Not attending classes doesn’t mean you don’t have to study. You can’t miss final exams, and you can’t fail. If you fail any subject, this special treatment is immediately revoked!”
“Thank you, I understand.”
Though the Department Head appeared lenient before experts like Mao Kangshan, that was out of respect for seniors. On matters of principle, the Department Head wouldn’t compromise.
Even with Ning Yanfan watching, the Department Head spoke without hesitation.
“Professor Ning, I’ve said everything necessary. Do you have anything to add?”
Ning Yanfan nodded. The old gentleman had a better temperament than Mao Kangshan – North Ning, South Mao – one quick-tempered, one patient:
“On behalf of the Chinese Architecture Association, I’m here to convey the association’s stance – we are outraged by Young Xia’s situation. Beyond outrage, we must find solutions. As Executive Director of the Chinese Architecture Association, I will personally call AIA headquarters. Until they correct their erroneous judgment, this matter won’t end!”
This was a collision between associations.
The Chinese Architecture Association’s international reputation wasn’t as prestigious as AIA’s.
AIA’s reputation stemmed from years of awarding AIA Gold Medals… Comparatively, the Chinese Architecture Association was newer and, for various reasons, had always operated internally. Only recently did they begin organizing design competitions like the international architectural circle. Naturally, the scope was limited to Chinese architectural circles, lacking conditions for international awards.
Fundamentally, it was the nation’s insufficient strength that prevented various industries from international connections.
Creating international awards was challenging, involving evaluation costs, prize money… Like the Pritzker Prize, winners receive $100,000, funded by the Pritzker family’s wealth.
And the Pritzker Prize isn’t even the highest-paying architectural award globally.
How could they compete in influence?
It wasn’t that Chinese architects were inferior, nor that the Chinese Architecture Association didn’t understand the importance of connecting with the global architectural circle. For a long time, Chinese people focused on basic necessities. The country needed resources everywhere – how could they allocate precious foreign exchange to such matters?
Such constraints existed not only in China’s architectural circle but elsewhere for many years.
Those in academics and research couldn’t access cutting-edge knowledge or update international journal materials promptly – what could they do? They were indeed behind, only able to repeat others’ successful experiments – ultimately, China’s situation was economic limitation, plus foreign technological blockade.
Architecture wasn’t even a high-tech industry – could the Chinese Architecture Association succeed against AIA?
Xia Xiaolan didn’t know.
Perhaps Ning Yanfan wasn’t certain either.
But now Xia Xiaolan had no better alternatives. As she told Eric, someone had to take certain actions, and she was that pioneer at the forefront. Fortunately, she wasn’t fighting alone!