2019年CRI 加拿大人类学家、中国的老朋友庆祝103岁生日（在线收听）

Hundreds of people, including her family, former students and old friends, gathered in Beijing Foreign Studies University on Saturday to celebrate Isabel Crook's 103rd birthday.

"I just like to say I'm very happy about these birthday greetings being given to me. That's very friendly and warm, and... (they are) good friends."

Isabel Crook was born in 1915 to Canadian missionary parents in Sichuan Province.

She began as a Methodist Canadian Christian in China but became a communist in 1942.

Over the decades, she did her life's work in the country, ranging from education to anthropology.

Zhang Jianguo, director of the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, also attended the birthday ceremony and brought Isabel a special birthday gift from the Chinese government – the award of "The Most Influential Foreign Expat during 40 Years of China's Reform and Opening up", to commend her commitment and dedication.

A documentary featuring Isabel's life story also premiered during Saturday's celebration. It was filmed at Bailuding in the city of Pengzhou, Sichuan Province, where Isabel was born and raised.

Gong Changhua, Deputy Mayor of the city, says he and his collegues were deeply touched by Isabel's story so they decided to make a documentary about her life.

"At first, we were just very curious why a foreigner would choose to live in such a small town, so we came to Beijing to visit Isabel and learnt a lot of her stories, which impressed us a lot. We didn't expect a small town like Bailu could have such profound influence on her whole life. We should pass on her stories with this documentary."

Gong adds that he also climbed the mountain where Isabel used to live and took detailed notes on people's lives and living conditions as an anthropologist.

Fu Han, director of the documentary, is also Isabel's personal friend for nearly a decade. She says she made up her mind to produce the documentary after Isabel accidentally had a fall.

"I have known Isabel for almost a decade and she has been in good health all these years. However, she accidentally had a fall last summer and had five stitches for her head wound. I found that she spoke slower and her memories are fading gradually. So I think I should take the responsibility to produce a documentary to tell her life story."

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Isabel and her husband taught at the Beijing Foreign Studies University, then named the Beijing Foreign Languages Institute, the leading foreign language university in China and known as the "cradle of diplomats". She retired in 1980.

"The Most Influential Foreign Expat during 40 Years of China's Reform and Opening up" award was announced earlier this year in Shenzhen. A total of 40 foreign expats are on the list.

For CRI, this is Huang Yue.

包括伊莎白·柯鲁克的家人、以前的学生、老朋友等100多人周六齐聚北京外国语大学，共同庆祝她103岁的生日。

“我想说，很高兴能有这么多人来庆祝我的生日。他们都很友善热情，都是我的好朋友。”

伊莎白·柯鲁克1915年出生在四川省，她的父母是加拿大的传教士。

她一开始是卫理公会加拿大基督徒，但后来在1942年加入共产党。

过去的几十年里，她一直在乡村生活和工作，从事的事业从教育到人类学。

外国专家局局长张建国也出席了伊莎白的生日会，并且带来了中国政府的特别礼物——“中国改革开放40周年最具影响力的外国专家”奖项，以此表彰她做出的贡献。

周六的生日会上，一部关于伊莎白一生的纪录片也首次放映。这是一部在四川省彭州市白鹿顶拍摄的纪录片，这里正是她出生长大的地方。

彭州市副市长龚昌华表示，他和同事们被伊莎白的事迹深深打动，决定拍摄一部关于她一生的纪录片。

“一开始我们非常好奇为什么一个外国人会选择在我们这样一个小城市生活，所以我们来到北京，拜访伊莎白以了解她的故事, 这给我们留下了深刻的印象。我们没想到像白鹿镇这样的地方能够对她的一生产生这么大的影响。我们应该通过纪录片的形式让更多人知道她的故事。”

他还补充说，自已也登上了伊莎白以前住过的那座山，她作为人类学家，在那里记录了人们起居生活的点点滴滴。

傅涵是这部纪录片的导演，也是伊莎白的十年老友。她说自已是在伊莎白一次意外摔倒之后决定制作这部纪录片的。

“我跟伊莎白奶奶的友谊已经很长时间了，近十年的友谊，这么多年她身体一直很好。然而去年夏天她意外摔倒，头部受伤缝了5针。从那以后，我发现她说话変慢了，记忆力也下降了。我认为我有责任拍摄一部纪录片来讲述她的一生。”

中华人民共和国成立之后，伊莎白和她的丈夫在北京外国语大学任教，该大学当时名为北京外国语学院，这里也被称为“外交官的摇篮”。伊莎白于1980年退休。

今年早些时候，“改革开放40周年最具影响力的外国专家”奖在深圳颁发。共有40名外国专家获此殊荣。

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