When we got out from the subway, through modern Eaton Centre, a group of Romanesque Revival style buildings lit up our eyes. It is so charming, towering magnificence, classic and royal. It is the Old City Hall which is surrounded with skyscraper. It is so different and special. The clock tower records hundreds of years history of Toronto. It is constructed of sandstone, grey stone, and brown stone[1]. What confused me is that people had an original budget of $600,000 in 1889 but it cost more than $2.5 million at completion. It is more similar to China. Nowadays a great deal of blame from folks attaches to many Chinese local governments for tending to go in for government house in a large scale and exterior glorify.
On the square in front of City Hall, there are many animal(pig, dog, cock) sculpture heads in the shallow pool, more like those in the Chinese Emperor's Summer Palace. Some of us were attracted by them and taken many pictures until they found they lost the line. As we departed as a group, I promised Joseph to bring up the rear. So I was the last one. Fortunately, Joseph realized this problem and returned when we became anxious. We followed him and continued our tour.
City Hall is a group of modern buildings. The main part is twist arc towers hugging a white disk-like council chamber. The east tower is taller than the west one. The City Hall is nicknamed "The Eye of the Government" because it resembles a large eye in a plan view[2].
I visited inside of the the Eye. Someone told me it was like a mushroom growing from the ground. But I tended to think it as a welling fountain - my own version. The moral of clear and cold water spouting from the well represents ideas and thoughts bursting out from Councillors' brain storming. I also visited the library entrance, which is the top 1 or 2 libraries in the world on the first floor. I visited other places. I am impressed by three things. One was Mayor's reception office. It is impossible in China. I saw all the Councillors and Mayor Ford in a group picture. I regretted that I didn't meet any one of them that day. There was an oil painting of old Toronto. What if I lived in the time described by the oil painting? Another one was a mystical bronzing bottle. Everyone could write something and put it into the bottle. It would not be opened until 2050. The third one is the Business Information, Registration & Consultations office. The purpose of this organization is encouraging people to start their own businesses. I know there are many organizations or offices to help people begin their businesses or careers. Our government focuses on people's needs. The government does really the right things.
When we went out, I found another advertisement - "Your city never sleeps. Call or click 24/7. toronto.ca/311". It reminded me of similar famous Chinese quotation "Service the people from heart and soul," which was more abstract. But I preferred the previous one because the first one was more romantic and concrete.
Another difference between Canada and China is that people can have a picnic in front of City Hall in Canada; In China, nobody can picnic in front of a government office, let alone enter and visit inside. Furthermore, to keep the streets neat, city management will confiscate everything if you have a small business on the roadside. There were some conflicts between them and small business man sometime. Nowadays the conflicts tend to become more and bigger. I think government should focus more on people's livelihood over prestige projects.
I gathered some useful information about Canada and also learned some different and similar things between China and Canada. It was interesting but really worth thinking over.
References:
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_City_Hall_(Toronto)
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_City_Hall
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