Pei

UCLA will announce its largest construction project ever today when it unveils plans to replace its earthquake-damaged medical center with a complex designed under the direction of world-renowned architect I.M. Pei. The $1.1-billion project of more than 1.

Even though its oft-postponed opening could still be as long as a year off, the new $1-billion Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center on Monday welcomed hundreds of doctors, nurses, donors and patrons for a look-see at the I.M. Pei-designed hospital. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former Gov.

Many first novels are the equivalent of working a passage; dues paid variously to childhood, books read, a graduate writing program and the going literary fashions--in hopes of arriving at a voice of one's own. A few are like opening the eyes for the first time, seeing things new and trying to figure out names to give them. "Salaryman" belongs to that second kind.

The first five names on the American Institute of Architects' list of significant U.S. cities for innovation and design are hardly surprising: Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Boston and Washington, D.C. It's the sixth city that leaps out from the list: Columbus, Ind. Not Columbus, the capital of Ohio, or Columbus, Ga., known for Ft. Benning. But the Columbus in Indiana, a town of 35,000 perched at the southern edge of the prairie 40 miles south of Indianapolis.

If the walls of his buildings could speak, they might well have dictated "I.M. Pei: Mandarin of Modernism." Michael Cannell's biography of the New York architect is the textual equivalent of his polished and seamless buildings. Unfortunately, these very qualities work against the book.

Charlottetown, Canada Rain whacked the roof of our van and leaked inside the doors, soaking the back seats. We wiped the fog from the windows and peered outside. Gusts of wind arched the trees over a highway littered with leaves and fallen branches. We were catching the remnant of Hurricane Gustav. Or rather it was catching us. My husband, Lauren, and I were among 20 cyclists on an eight-day Elderhostel biking tour of Prince Edward Island in eastern Canada's Maritime Provinces.

Think of Chinese chicken salad, California-style--shreds of chicken, sticky-sweet sauce and crisp rice stick noodles tossed together and embellished with sesame seeds and sprigs of cilantro. Now consider Chinese chicken salad, Beijing-style--paper-thin slices of chicken, tangy with mustard and a sauce that contains only a few grains of sugar.

Shi Pei Pu, a Chinese operatic soprano who along with his French lover was convicted of espionage and whose complicated affair inspired the Tony Award-winning Broadway play "M. Butterfly" and the movie of the same title, has died. He was 70. Shi died Tuesday in Paris. An aide confirmed Shi's death to Agence France-Presse.

The tallest building in the West, the financially struggling U.S. Bank Tower in downtown Los Angeles, is being sold to Singapore investors for $367.5 million. At 72 stories, the circular structure has commanded the city skyline since it was completed in 1989 and is one of the best-known office buildings in the country. It was previously named Library Tower and also First Interstate World Center. The skyscraper designed by the New York firm of star architect I.M. Pei is the tallest building in L.A. - but not the most popular with tenants.

In her first year on the air, Cheng Pei Pei covered such topics as interracial marriage, plastic surgery, spousal abuse, Hollywood stereotyping and gay and lesbian issues. A typical talk show? Not really. For one thing, "Pei Pei's Time" is telecast in Mandarin. For another, the discussions were about how those issues affect the Chinese community, making it a breakthrough show in a culture not known for full disclosure.