Foreigners hail historical exhibits at Tianjin museums

Peter John Rogerson, executive principal of Haileybury International School in Tianjin, was nominated to receive the Tianjin Haihe Friendship Award, the highest award given to foreigners working in the city.

Rogerson hails from Melbourne, Australia, a sister city to Tianjin.

"The relationship has lasted 40 years," he said. "I love Tianjin very much; it's a beautiful city that is very good for foreigners because it's modern. It has lots of gardens and beautiful rivers ... It reminds me a lot of Melbourne, which is also on the river.

"I've seen many museums around China, including the small museum of chairman Mao, the museum that memorializes the first congress of the CPC in 1921 and many other museums.

"But the Tianjin Museum and its exhibition have shown where the CPC came from in the last hundred years of history. The exhibits were put in order in one single timeline. It's very interesting."

Rogerson's first visit to China was in 2002, and his official tenure at the international school began two and a half years ago.

He was impressed by the video about Zhou Enlai, which was broadcast in the Memorial of Zhou Enlai and Deng Yingchao.

"The video was a fantastic life record of a very dedicated man. I didn't know so much about your most famous diplomat and what he's like. What a wonderful life. What a wonderful service he did for the country."