September 30, 2010

Yesterday was the official opening ceremony of the new exhibition The Refined Art of Kunqu—from the Collection of the Kunqu Opera Museum of China. Ms Zhou Xiao, Director of the Kunqu Opera Museum of China, Dr Ng Chi-wa, Assistant Director of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, Mr Koo Ti Hua, Founder of the KOO Ti Hua Foundation for the Promotion of Kunqu Opera and Professor Cheng Pei-kai, Director of our Centre, were there to cut the ribbon.

To my surprise there were some secondary school students among the crowd. My guess was that they were there on a school assignment. But they said that they had come voluntarily. Apparently one of the teachers had proposed the visit and some students expressed interest. This is good news. As Dr Ng said, we need to encourage young people to develop an interest in their cultural tradition, including Kunqu opera. He said besides visiting exhibitions and museums, they could even start learning how to sing kunqu!

The exhibition has some exquisite items on display, and is definitely worth a visit. It runs until 2 November and is held at the CityU Gallery. Open daily from 10am till 7pm. Enquiries: 3442 2477.

Written by: Audrey

September 22, 2010

To follow up on my last entry on Morrison, a completely different character is the controversial German missionary Karl Gützlaff (1803-1851) who claimed he was the ‘Apostle to the Chinese.’ Gützlaff had studied three years at the mission institute in Rotterdam from 1823 to 1826 and subsequently worked among the Chinese in the Dutch East Indies.

Gützlaff intent on spreading the Gospel as widely as possible ended his ties with the Netherlands Missionary Society to have more freedom. He went to China independently to set up the Chinese Union with the aim to convert China to Christianity by the Chinese themselves. Many positive reports on the activities of the Chinese Union followed, testifiying to huge numbers of converts.

At the height of his success, Gützlaff returned to Europe to hold lectures on his achievements. However, later it turned out that Gützlaff had been duped, ‘some colporteurs had actually sold their Bibles and tracts to booksellers for recycling, while all too many of the members were opium addicts.’ [see ‘The Dutch Foundation of the Gützlaff Mission in China: 1823-1851,’ in The History of the Relations between the Low Countries and China in the Qing Era (1644-1911) ]

Upon his return to China, amidst the hypocrisy and corruption, Gützlaff tried to revitalize the Chinese Union but he was in ill health and died soon after. Despite this setback, he is still regarded successful for his intentions, inspiration, and influence on later missionaries. In 1903, at the hundredth anniversary of Gützlaff’s birth, it was stressed that ‘Gützlaff’s zeal and burning love for the cause are exemplary.’ It showed that something could be done to ‘penetrate into the interior’ (of China) and an increasing number of missionaries followed to devote their lives to China.

Written by: Audrey

September 16, 2010

Yesterday I read an old article about Robert Morrison (1782-1834), the Scottish missionary who lived in China in the early nineteenth century. It is hard to believe how much hardship and difficulties he encountered and still he persisted in his attempt to spread his belief. Twenty-five years in China and he is said to have only baptized ten Chinese believers.

After landing in Macau in 1807, Morrison went on to Canton where he soon realized he was not able to survive merely as a missionary, only those in the commercial sector were given permission to stay, moreover the Chinese were highly suspicious of the English so Morrison had to pretend to be American. Somehow Morrison managed to learn Mandarin and Cantonese in such short period, and he was appointed in 1809 as translator to the East India Company, a position through which he was allowed to stay in Canton and which gave him the opportunity to interact with the local Chinese.

From the descriptions it is clear how he much effort he made to learn Chinese, how he was constantly deceived by the Chinese, how he tried to help the poor and the sick. Despite his hardships, he was able to publish quite a few books, among the most representative are his translation of the Bible into Chinese in 1811 or 1812, a Grammar of the Chinese Language in 1815 and his compilation of a Chinese dictionary from 1815 to 1823.

Although the purpose of people coming to China is now mostly different from that of those in Morrison’s time, fortunately circumstances have changed and we can meet the Chinese and learn the language in a more friendly environment. But it is thanks to those early pioneers and their publications that there is this wealth of information on China from the past which enables us to better understand the history and development of Sino-western relations. The knowledge of their difficulties back then can perhaps help solve misunderstandings we have today.

Written by: Audrey

September 7, 2010

At the end of this month CCIV will launch a new exhibition with art objects from the collection of The Kunqu Opera Museum of China. The museum which is located in Suzhou, Jiangsu, was opened officially in 2003. A description in Chinese is available at this Baike link.

The exhibits on display will include manuscripts, masks, costumes, ancient musical instruments and other theatrical objects used on stage for Kunqu Opera performances. The exhibition will be held at the CityU Gallery, 6/F Amenities Building, from Thursday 30 September till Tuesday 2 November 2010, open daily from 10 am to 7 pm.

Later in October we will also have Ms Zhou Xiao, Director of The Kunqu Opera Museum of China, delivering two lectures on the Preservation and Heritage of the Art of Kunqu in a Museum and Cultural Appreciation of the Art of Kunqu, held on 25 and 26 October respectively. These talks will be held in Mandarin.

For more information on the above and other events, please visit the CCIV website for the latest updates, or pick up a copy of the new CCIV activities brochure which is due to come out in the next few days.

Written by: Audrey

September 3, 2010

A few years ago when I was on the editorial team of Renditions, we celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of the magazine. We had a book exhibition with a festive opening ceremony and the publication of a very precious collection entitled The Renditions Experience 1973-2003 containing essays written by contributors to Renditions, including authors, translators and editorial staff, reflecting on their history with Renditions. Thirty years, no small feat to keep a magazine going that long, I thought.

But now in one of the recent posts on MCLC there is an article about Beijing Literature 北京文學 celebrating its sixtieth anniversary this month. The magazine was launched on 10 September 1950 as Beijing Literature and Arts and its title was changed to Beijing New Literature and Arts in 1971 and finally in October 1980 it became the present Beijing Literature.

According to the article which was originally published at Danwei.org, ‘the sixtieth anniversary commemorative issue includes reflections by a number of major authors on their history with Beijing Literature, as well as original fiction including a new novella by Cao Naiqian, whose five vignettes published under the title When I Think of You Late at Night, There is Nothing I Can Do appeared in the June 1988 issue of the magazine after receiving high praise from Wang Zengqi.’

Chinese literature keeps going strong, both in English and Chinese. For more information, please see the article by Joel Martinsen on Danwei.org and the website of Beijing Wenxue.

Written by: Audrey