Chinese Display Building Materials, Art at Show : Armand Hammer Urges Exchange of Ideas in Introducing Minister in Charge of Trade Exhibit

Dr. Armand Hammer, that venerable good-will ambassador who is also chairman of Occidental Petroleum, spread a little good will in downtown Los Angeles last week and made an appeal to the American building industry during the opening of what was called “the first Chinese trade exhibition in the United States.”

Titled “China Building Materials & Architectural Decorative Arts,” the exhibition will be held from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. today, and Monday through Friday through Nov. 14 at the Design Center of Los Angeles at 433 S. Spring St.

Hammer and Lin Han Xiong, minister of the State Administration of Building Materials Industry of the People’s Republic of China, greeted about 400 guests at the opening, where Craig Lawson, a representative of Mayor Tom Bradley, presented a proclamation designating Oct. 27 as China Trade Day in Los Angeles.

Hammer told the group, “I am glad to be invited to this historic event. . . . Today, you will see here many Chinese building materials and products shipped from China for the American public to see and appreciate for the first time.

“I hope that the American building industry will show in China what we have that may improve their living standards. The opportunity for our two countries to cooperate in this field is enormous.”

The exhibition features hand-painted tiles, mosaic glass, samples of marble and granite, fiberglass carpet and other textiles and construction materials as well as tapestries, porcelain carvings, cloisonne, paintings, reproductions of ancient pottery, mahogany and marble furnishings, and embroideries.

It is sponsored by the China National Building Equipment Materials Import & Export Corp. of the People’s Republic of China and was organized by World China Trade Inc., a Beverly Hills-based company that is planning to break ground in December on a $30-million, 500,000-square-foot mixed-use real estate development in Peking, according to Carole Sumner Krechman, the organization’s president.

World China Trade is one of three American sponsors for the exhibition. The others are Price Pfister Inc., a manufacturer of faucets and valves, and Familian Corp., representing numerous manufacturers and distributors of major appliances, plumbing, pipe and solar products.

Two seminars will be given by World China Trade in conjunction with the exhibition. The first, on Wednesday, will be sponsored by the Building Industry Assn. of Southern California. The second, on Thursday, will be sponsored by the International Assn. of Interior Designers. Both will be held at the Design Center at 7:30 p.m. More details may be obtained from World China Trade at 273 S. Almont Drive, Beverly Hills.