ICCS Newsletter Spring 2015








SPRING 2015



Contents

1. Programme
2. Teaching English in China
3. Processes and Porcelain in Jingdezhen
4. Hong Kong Revisited
5. The Barbeque at Wesley House, 7th September
6. Food and Fun
7. Sad News
8. Information for Members by Email
9. Reminder -- Subscriptions

1. Programme


For information on our programme, click HERE.   

Please note our meeting venue,

United Arts Club,
3 Fitzwilliam Street,

(just off Baggot Street,)
Dublin 2,

and meeting days,

the FOURTH WEDNESDAY (mostly!) of each month.









2. The October 2014 talk: "Teaching English in China" by Aoife Ní Mhuirí





Aoife Ní Mhuirí, Mandarin speaker, must have been one of the most welcome volunteers to offer to teach in the earthquake province of Sichuan. Originally intended to go to the school rebuilt with funds raised by the Chinese community in Ireland (and called "Dóchas Agus Misneach": Google this name to see a video of Aoife being interviewed in wind-swept Bray), in the end she was posted to the southern city of Xichang, population 125,000 people, best known for the satellite-launching Spaceport nearby.

In her impressively modern school, Aoife's teaching schedule, initially a gentle half-hour per day, suddenly rose to 16 hours per week when another teacher left. She had up to 90 (yes, 90!) students in each class, some classes very strong, some weaker. The students, from Xichang and beyond, were mostly boarders; their timetable was, to say the least, tough - from 7.30 am to 10.00 pm each day. (Gasp!) However, to judge from her classroom photos, they were thriving on it. As well as teaching them English, Aoife also captured their interest with images of life in Ireland. Some of the students made a real effort to get to know her, and brought her on trips to their family homes and around the city.

Xichang is home to a large population of the Yi ethnic minority. Aoife got to learn about them and their culture, and, with some American girls she met, all dressed in Yi costumes, learned Yi traditional dancing at open-air classes - an unusual treat for the locals. We saw this, and lots more about life in and around Xichang, and also about her trip to Chengdu, in her wonderful photos.

But finally her three months was up, and she made the 50-hour train journey to Shanghai, to meet some Irish friends. Once there, if you're Aoife, you think of looking for a teaching job so you can stay for a year or so, and, if you're Aoife, you find one. It was with EF (Education First), a Swedish company, now the world's largest private education organisation. A big contrast to her school in Sichuan, this one (in a 5-storey shopping centre) catered for the better off, charging high fees. The children already in "normal" school came after that on weekdays, and also at weekends; the smaller ones were usually brought by VERY solicitous grandparents. Parents were determined to get high grades from their children. Some would try to sneak their 2-year-olds into classes, even though the minimum age was 3! Aoife taught students between 3 and 16 years of age, with class sizes of about 16. Many of the children had been abroad.

In the school, there were teachers from all over the English-speaking world as well as from China, which made for an interesting and enjoyable environment. She showed us more great photos: of her social life, and of scenes in and around Shanghai - including a shot of herself and a Chinese girl looking, with unreadable expressions, at a wall covered with posters which had been put up by men looking for wives.

Aoife spent most of 2012 and 2013 in China. Her students in Xichang and Shanghai were lucky to have had her as their teacher, and we were lucky to have had her as our speaker. Thank you, Aoife, for sharing your unique experiences with us in this marvellous talk.
David Judge







3. The November 2014 talk: "Processes and Porcelain in Jingdezhen" by Deborah Wilson







Deborah visited Jingdezhen in Jiangxi Province, in 2012 during the ICCS committee visit to Youxie. Jingdezhen is a renowned centre of porcelain production because of the quality of the clay mined in the area, the nature of the glazes used, and the dexterity of local workers. The skills of the decorators are quite amazing!

While there the group were shown the processes of manufacture - grinding and trampling the clay, mixing it with water from the well, throwing and stacking plates and bowls before firing in the kiln, and the various stages of painting and decorating of individual pieces. During her presentation Deborah showed photos of all these different processes, and also the saggars that are used to reduce damage from gases and breakages during firing, the special grasses that are used in the stacking and packing of bowls, and then described the way even the brushes are handmade by each painter-decorator! Porcelain vases are sometimes carved to give highlighted relief before firing, very large pieces needing to be made in several parts, the joins often concealed behind the patterns.


Finally she showed pictures of the Jingdezhen Orchestra – made up solely of women and using traditional instruments made of porcelain! The finale to the concert was “Jingle Bells” – played in the high heat of June!










4. The September talk: "Hong Kong Revisited" by Veronica Heywood

After the memorable talk given to the Society by Veronica in September 2013 – “A Painterly Return to my Hong Kong Childhood”, we eagerly awaited the follow-on talk “Hong Kong Revisited” that opened the Irish Chinese Cultural Society 2014 -2015 programme. In this, we were not disappointed, and a full house was enthralled by the tales told, and images shown.

The Royal Hong Kong Observatory celebrated its 150th anniversary in November 2013. Veronica was a specially invited guest to the celebratory events, as her father G.S.P. Heywood had been Director of the Observatory from 1946 to 1956.

The current Director, Chi Ming Shun, invited former members of staff of the Observatory, including past Directors, to the Anniversary celebrations. Veronica found herself as 'guest of honour', so highly regarded was the memory of her father, and she met many of his former colleagues. The images of the celebrations showed a lively and vibrant institution, which has grown far from its earlier days of providing weather forecasts and particularly typhoon warnings for the busy harbour anchorage that is Hong Kong.

The Observatory is sited on the appropriately named Observatory Hill, also known as Ti Man Toi in the Cantonese language. Surprisingly, it is not a very high hill and is located in the heart of busy Kowloon, above Nathan Road. In 1883, when Kowloon was relatively undeveloped, this hill overlooked the anchorage, and the signal mast could be observed by ships and the citizens of the then colony. Hong Kong is now a vast metropolis, and modern technology has made the signal mast redundant, but the Observatory still occupies the original site, images of its buildings and staff at work – from her father's time – Veronica showed us. It was fascinating to see that the original 'computer' for weather forecasting was a team of trained meteorology staff armed with slide-rules and pens. The No. 1 House is still largely unchanged from the original Art-Deco architecture, as also is the interior, and it was nostalgic for Veronica to revisit this building, with its memories of growing up there. However, the tales of her father, and his fine sketches and paintings, left us spell-bound.


Veronica with Mr. Lau Tin-chi visiting Quarter No.1

G.S.P. (Graham Scudamore Percival) Heywood, 1903 – 1985 was born in Shropshire and grew up with a love of the outdoors. In his youth he was presented with the highest scouting award at a ceremony in Windsor Castle. After he had taken a science degree, followed by a M.A. degree, he signed up to go to Antarctica as a meteorologist with an expedition to search for the remains of Scott and Evans, of the ill-fated 1912 expedition. That did not happen, as due to the Depression a ship could not be funded, and he thus came to Hong Kong in August 1932 to the Royal Hong Kong Observatory as a meteorologist, and Assistant to the Director.

There, he kept up his love of Scouting, founding a Scout Troop that later provided a guard-of-honour at his wedding. He pioneered the hiking trails of Hong Kong and the New Territories that now provide the basis of the Outdoor Park Trails Network. Whilst exploring the landscape with his friend Geoffrey Hercoots, they both indulged their interest in bird-watching and plant-spotting. His book “Rambles in Hong Kong” published in 1938, and updated in 1952, details this so well.


Graham Heywood

Whilst in Hong Kong, he met his future wife, Valerie Wyatt, from Hampshire, and they married in 1937 at St. Andrew's Church in Kowloon, right at the foot of Observatory Hill.

When war beckoned, Graham Heywood evacuated his wife, and daughter Susan to Australia in 1940, and it was there, in Melbourne, that Veronica was born. Her mother's tale is worthy of another talk to the Society!

When war broke out in December 1941, the Hong Kong Territory was immediately invaded by Japanese forces. Graham Heywood and a colleague, Len Starbuck, went into the New Territories to retrieve equipment from an outlying Magnetic Station. There they were captured by the Japanese. Veronica visited the site of the station with her hosts from the Observatory, and there are still remnants to be seen of the perimeter fence. She also visited nearby houses and met an elderly resident who, as a child, remembered the incident.

Graham Heywood was interned for the remainder of the war. He would not divulge his real occupation to his captors, fearing that with his skills and knowledge, he would be put to work as a meteorologist by the Japanese. He kept a Diary entitled “It Won't Be Long Now” of his time in the prison-camp, and Veronica hopes to publish this in the future. Graham kept up his sketching - and hiding his diary as, if found, it could have resulted in severe punishment. Amazingly, he still kept up his scouting activities, as many of his scout troop were also interned. We were shown some of his vivid sketches of camp life. One of these was a view of the Shun Shui Po camp, overlooking Hong Kong Harbour.
After his release in 1945, and a period of recuperation in England, where he rejoined his family, Graham Heywood took up his post in 1946 as Director of the Royal Hong Kong Observatory, which he held until 1956.

To cap it all, after this wonderful talk, Veronica then showed images of her 2013 talk for those who had not seen them, and a double treat for those who had already seen them. All present were highly appreciative of Veronica for this 'tour-de-force', and a very special remembrance of her distinguished father, G.S.P. Heywood.
Denis. J. Mullen








5. The Barbeque at Wesley House, 7th September















6. Food and Fun, December 2014 with Shu Rong and Yanyi Blake



The evening began with samples of Shu’s famous smoked chicken, as an appetizer to the marvellous demonstrations to follow!

Yanyi began by marinating pieces of chicken in soy sauce (both light and dark), with a little brown sugar and cornflour, mixed very thoroughly together, before adding mushrooms, spring onions and ginger. After half an hour, this was steamed over rapidly boiling water for about 20 minutes. (Yanyi served this with plain boiled rice!)


While the chicken was mellowing, Shu then started the Da Zhu Gan Si – a traditional Huaiyang dish of Prawns & Tofu with garlic sauce. The revelation here was how the Tofu was prepared – sliced into noodles before boiling, then changing the water adding salt, sugar and soy sauce to the new cooking liquid, gave the tofu a completely different texture! The prawns were marinated with salt, white pepper and cornflour, before being cooked in coconut oil, the chilli and garlic being added after about 4 minutes. Once this was fully cooked, the tofu was stirred in and the dish served in Little Gem lettuce leaves!

Shu also showed us how to stir-fry beef and onions. Using one Hereford steak sliced into thin strips and marinated in soy, brown sugar, cornflour and rice wine these ingredients need to be massaged together really well! A little oil then sealed the flavour!




7. Sad News


It is with great sadness that we note the death on 3rd November, 2014
of long-time supporter and Life Member of the ICCS,
Mary Claire Prendergast.







This Newsletter is published by the Irish-Chinese Cultural Society.
Views expressed by individual contributors do not represent any official policy of the Irish-Chinese Cultural Society.