Edward Kajdański – dyplomata, dziennikarz, pisarz i malarz

Abstract

Edward Kajdanski – diplomat, journalist, writer, and painter In this article, the Authors present the life and achievements of Edward Kajdanski as a diplomat, journalist, writer, and painter. Edward Kajdanski was born in Harbin, in north Manchuria, November 26, 1925. Place of birth determined his later life, designated spheres of interests, gave a solid education and brought a very rich experience. His father was an engineer Edward Kajdanski, who died in 1936, and mother – Helena (maiden name Bielow) – half Italian, half Russian. Edward Kajdanski received thorough education in the Henryk Sienkiewicz Polish Gymnasium in Harbin, and after graduation, first he worked in a sugar factory ‘Aszyche’ from January 1944, and began his studies at the Faculty of Electromechanics at North Manchurian University, which in August 1945, after the entry of the Red Army, changed the name into University of Harbin. After this change, Edward Kajdanski studied at the Faculty of Architecture. In addition, for two years he attended evening pharmacy classes at the Red Cross Medical Technical School in Harbin. In 1950 he graduated from the University of Harbin and because of the outbreak of the Korean War left Harbin. In 1951, he arrived in Gdynia and started working in Gdansk Brewery. His extensive knowledge, knowledge of Chinese, English and Russian caused that Mr. Kajdanski never complained about the lack of employment. He worked in commercial enterprises, but very quickly he was noticed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who directed him to work in the Office of the Commercial Counsellor in Beijing (1963–1967). In the years 1979–1982 he was the consul and the head of the Consulate General in Guangzhou. He returned permanently to Poland in 1982, and settled down in Gdansk. In addition to the professional activity Edward Kajdanski also worked as a scientist, disseminating knowledge about the Middle Kingdom in Poland, which resulted in hundreds of articles, as well as scientific and popular science books on China. The most attention he devoted to the achievements of Polish Jesuit missionary Michael Boym. In the work of Edward Kajdanski, as important as the writing, is painting, which is multi-dimensional and thematically diversified. Among his works there are both reconstructions of Michael Boym’s maps and herbs, the works dating back to the old Chinese painting, reconstructions of frescoes and copies of paintings on silk, as well as illustrations he created for his books. The important part of the paintings is referring to the style zhongcai, or ‘painting of heavy, intense colors’. His extremely rich national activities has been valued on many national and international exhibitions.For his merits for the Polish-Chinese relations, especially in the field of mutual knowledge of cultures and historical research contacts, Mr. Kajdanski was awarded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the honor distinction ‘Bene Merito’.