Posted: May 17th, 2018 | No Comments »
Walking Tour of Peking University: from a former prince’s mansion to a premier university in China
WHAT: Peking University campus historical walking tour, led by Rosie Levine
WHEN: May 20, Sunday, from 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon
WHERE: Meet at the East Gate of Peking University Subway Station (Exit A) on line 4
RSVP: please email names and mobile numbers of participants by May 18 to communications.ras.bj@gmail.com, and write Beida” in the subject header
HOW MUCH: RMB 30 for RASBJ members, RMB 50 for non-members
MORE ABOUT THE EVENT:
The lush gardens and serene paths of Peking University’s campus resembles the traditional gardens of the nearby Old Summer palace; and yet the campus was originally home to a missionary college, and these “traditional gardens†were designed by an American architect, Henry Murphy. Murphy’s design blends Eastern and Western architectural features in a unique harmony of design. On this walk through the campus, we will explore the former glory of Murphy’s design of Yenching University. After 1952, when Yenching University was shut, Peking University moved into this campus and has called it home to this day. We’ll also discuss the history of the site, a brief overview of higher education in China, and the history of academic exchanges between East and West in China. Some of the characters in this story are:
• Henry Murphy, the Yale-trained architect who so successfully mimicked Chinese garden design.
• John Leighton Stuart, the University President turned Ambassador who was scathingly critiqued by Mao.
• Grace Morrison Boynton, an English teacher at Yenching University who witnessed first-hand the communist takeover in 1949.
• Edgar Snow, famed journalist who helped found the Yenching University Department of Journalism.
• Bing Xin, one of China’s most famous authors who not only graduated from Yenjing University, but also returned to teach.
MORE ABOUT THE TOUR LEADER:
Rosie Levine grew up in Beijing as a child and returned to America at age nine. Striving to understand to her second home led her to specialize in History, Asian Languages & Cultures, and Museum Studies at the University of Michigan. After graduation, Rosie moved back to Beijing where she began researching the history of Beijing. She is now working for the Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center, a Chinese NGO that works to preserve, protect and promote the unique cultural heritage of Beijing, and pursuing an M.A. in Chinese Studies at Yenching Academy (Peking University) to deepen her knowledge of Chinese history. She regularly gives walking tours of Beijing’s hutongs and other historic sites.
Posted: May 16th, 2018 | No Comments »
The documentary on the life of Sir Robert Hart commissioned by the University of Bristol, ‘For China and the World’ explores the forgotten history of Britain in China from the 1850s to the early 1900s through the life of Sir Robert Hart, head of the Chinese Maritime customs for nearly 50 years. Filmed in Shanghai and Hart’s native Northern Ireland, the 30-minute HD film charts the turbulent beginning to China’s “Century of Humiliationâ€.
click here
Posted: May 14th, 2018 | No Comments »
Once more proving the power of the ‘Shanghai’ brand….
Make Mine Mink is a 1960 British comedy with a distinct Ealing feel and a great cast. When Lily (Billie Whitelaw), a maid at Dame Beatrice’s (Athene Seyler) boarding house, steals a mink coat to give to Beatrice, the other residents of the house organize to return the coat and save Lily from arrest. However, the excitement is a great change from their boring lives, and they decide to start stealing coats for charity purposes. Major Rayne (Terry-Thomas) leads the otherwise female group of unlikely thieves — Nanette (Hattie Jacques), Pinkie (Elspeth Duxbury) and Beatrice.
At one point they desperately need a fence to sell their knocked-off furs – they head to a shady east End bar – Shanghai Harry’s – sorry for the dreadful picture, the crim lurking outside lit his fag as the camera panned over the excellent signage!
Outside Shanghai Harry’s
Inside Shanghai Harry’s
Posted: May 11th, 2018 | No Comments »
Stephan R. Platt’s new book on the opium wars is out in the US I think and published in the UK on June 7th….
When Britain declared war on China in 1839, it sealed the fate of what had been, for centuries, the wealthiest and most powerful empire in the world.China was much weaker than was commonly understood and the war set in motion the fall of the Qing dynasty which, in turn, would lead to the rise of nationalism and communism in the twentieth century.
Beginning with the very first efforts by the British government to ‘open’ China to trade, Stephen Platt tells the epic story of the decades leading up to the war and, given the growing uncertainty in current relations between China and the West, shows how the conflict still has important implications for the world today.
Posted: May 10th, 2018 | No Comments »
China: Art, Power and Revolutions, 1950-76 –
Professor Craig Clunas
Museum of London, 14/5/18, 1pm
(broadcast live here)
The establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 gave Chinese artists a government that had explicit policies for the arts, seeing them as an essential part of the creation of ‘new China’. Resources were put into the support of art and artists, opening up new possibilities at the same time as other possibilities that were uncongenial to Communist Party policy were closed down.Â
The consequences of fierce artistic debates could be expulsion from the visible art world and the silencing of some points of view. An increase in party control of the arts, linked with adulation of the Great Leader, led to very widely-reproduced images that played a part in the unprecedented stress and upheaval.
No reservations are required for this lecture. It will be run on a ‘first come, first served’ basis.
Doors will open 30 minutes before the start of the lecture.
Read more here
Posted: May 5th, 2018 | No Comments »
Wednesday, 9th May 2018
7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
RAS Library
Tushanwan Craft School in Shanghai
Speaker: Julie Chun
With the exception of Shanghai history specialists and the curious wayward wanderer, even some of the city’s local residents do not know about the small building inscribed ‘T’ou-se-we Museum’ (also known as Tushanwan  土山湾Museum) on its red façade. The remnants of the former Spanish-styled compound of dormitories, classrooms, and workshops on the sprawling 5.5 hectares is now but a mere shadow which once housed, fed, and taught many destitute young Chinese boys. While rich in history, the quaint and well-kept museum unfortunately possesses only a few actual artefacts produced during the period when the orphanage was instituted in 1864 until its formal closure in 1962. The craft school, which was distinctly tied to the identity of the orphanage, served a crucial social and artistic need in Shanghai for over 90 years during times of both political turmoil and commercial prosperity. By incorporating the evidence of recent scholarship, Art Historian Julie Chun seeks to re-address and re-evaluate the legacy of Xuhui’s understudied history, which continues to remain relatively insular to the world- at-large.
About the speaker
Julie Chun is an independent art historian and lecturer based in Shanghai since 2011. She serves as the Art Convener of the Royal Asiatic Society China in Shanghai, where she delivers monthly lectures at museums and galleries to widen the public’s understanding of artistic objects, past and present. She lectures frequently on art for the various foreign Consulate General offices in Shanghai and as an adjunct professor for The Alliance for Global Education at Shanghai at the University of Finance and Economics. She is a regular contributor to Yishu Journal of Contemporary Chinese Artand is also the Honorary Editor of the Journal Royal Asiatic Society.
Posted: May 4th, 2018 | No Comments »
Dr Craig Clunas discusses Chinese painting and its audiences.
Left:Â Cover of Chinese Painting and Its Audiences, Right: Chen Shizeng, Viewing Picture (1917)
Professor Craig Clunas is a major figure in the field of Art History; specialising in Chinese art and culture from the Ming dynasty to the present day. His current research deals with the transnational history of Chinese art from 1911 to 1976.
In this lecture for Asia House, Professor Clunas will share his brilliant insights into individual Chinese paintings selected from his book, Chinese Painting and Its Audiences, listed as one of “The Best Art Books of 2017†by The New York Times and the London Evening Standard.
Professor Clunas will examine a remarkable range of Chinese images, from the 15th century to the 21st, to explain the changing audiences for Chinese painting and to look at the ideal types of viewer these pictures were made for. This lecture will look at some of the themes of this innovative book and at the changing audience for Chinese painting – from the scholars of the Ming period to the mass audience of present-day museum goers.
Exploring the complex relationships between works of art and those who look at them, Chinese Painting and Its Audiences sheds new light on how the concept of Chinese painting has been formed and reformed over hundreds of years.
About: Professor of the History of Art at the University of Oxford, Professor Clunas has published extensively on the art history and culture of China. Much of his work concentrates on the Ming period (1368-1644), with additional teaching and research interests in the art of 20th century and Contemporary China. He has worked as a curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and taught art history at the University of Sussex and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
He is the author of Art in China (1997, second edition 2009) in the Oxford History of Art Series, and his other books include Superfluous Things: Material Culture and Social Status in Early Modern China (1991); Fruitful Sites: Garden Culture in Ming Dynasty China (1996); Pictures and Visuality in Early Modern China (1997); Elegant Debts: The Social Art of Wen Zhengming, 1470-1559 (2004); Empire of Great Brightness: Visual and Material Cultures of Ming China, 1368-1644 (2007), based on the 2004 Slade Lectures, and Screen of Kings: Art and Royal Power in Ming China (2013); several of these books have been translated into Chinese, Japanese and Korean.
More details and tickets here
Posted: May 3rd, 2018 | No Comments »
Lovely book on the Peak just out from Blacksmith Books in Hong Kong, by Richard Garrett, and part of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Studies Series…
The Peak is Hong Kong’s top residential district, where property prices are as high as the altitude. How did it become an exclusive enclave in the bustling business centre of 19th-century Asia?
The British wanted relief from summer heat and the Peak was the obvious place to escape it. When the Governor adopted Mountain Lodge as a summer getaway, development accelerated and the opening of the Peak Tram in 1888 made access easier. Gradually a community developed and a church, a club and a school were established.
This book describes how the now-popular tourist area developed over time and adapted as needs changed.
Click here for more details and to order