SUMMER 2019

Denis told us at the start that we wouldn’t come away from the meeting as experts on China’s second city but we did learn a lot both from the talk itself and from his answers to questions from the audience.

He began by giving us a brief overview of Shanghai’s development from its origins as a small fishing village in the Yangtze river delta, stretching back over a 1000 years, through to its emergence as the leading city where Western and Chinese trade intersected, paying particular attention to the troubled history of the Treaty Port years from 1842 to 1943. The British, French and American Concessions all operated under their own law but notwithstanding all that law, Shanghai was still known as the Wild East. And then there was the Japanese occupation to contend with. Denis paid tribute to Chiang Kai-shek’s achievement in obtaining the restoration of full Chinese sovereignty over the city and all the other Treaty Ports in 1943 as a consequence of being one of the Allies in World War II..



The architectural legacy from that colonial period enriches the present day streetscape. In the former British quarter the race course of old remains as a leisure space in the form of the People’s Park, which has lots of interesting architecture including the iconic Soviet-China Friendship Building. The Custom House is one of many impressive colonial-era buildings that have been preserved in the Bund. Other notable examples are the Shanghai Club and the Peace Hotel.
If any of us are visiting Shanghai in the future and we find ourselves on a street lined with plane trees, surrounded by large houses with verandahs, we will know we are in the old French Quarter which is now a popular area for the wealthy to set up home. Indeed the city as a whole is seen as a desirable place to live due to the buzz and energy it exudes.



There are plenty of local architectural gems in evidence, new and old. Denis mentioned the Buddhist Jing’an Temple where people throw coins and make a wish at a building in the shape of an incense burner. He assured us that Buddhism is alive and well in China. The Jesuit Shu Ja Wei Cathedral is just one among many Christian churches where regular services are held and Shanghai Museum, built in the shape of an ancient Chinese bronze cooking vessel, has a great collection of Chinese ceramics. He also touched on other aspects of Shanghai’s culture like the Shanghainese language and recommended an intriguing local culinary speciality composed of a steamed bun filled, prior to being cooked, with frozen soup.

It is easy to lose your bearings in such a major metropolis and Denis had a brush with that experience one day which was a good way to register on the pulse the sheer scale of the place! Buildings in some parts of the city are intimidating in any case with structures like the Shanghai Tower and the Can Opener (Shanghai World Financial Centre) towering over you.

During the evening we got some very evocative images of Shanghai from times past, all of them in sharp contrast to present day realities: patchworks of drains and ditches with people having to spray their feet with kerosene to deter mosquitoes, reminders of a benighted era when racist signage banned the local population from their own public spaces, intimations of a time when much more of life was lived outdoors and bankers, dentists, straw shoe sellers, ladies mending silk stockings all plied their trade on the side of the street. Then there were the more exotic images of people walking the streets at night in silk pyjamas to keep cool or things you just couldn’t make up like the notion of cigarettes being marketed as a healthier alternative to opium!

We may not all be experts on Shanghai but at least we are a lot better informed about the city, past and present, after hearing Denis’ talk.

Yvonne Mc Guire and Paul Murray

5. 27th March - Working in the Chinese Media. A Talk by Richard Doran.

Richard began his talk by giving us a brief overview of his path to living and working in China before telling us of the varied work he does in the Chinese Media, and his plans to develop digital and on-line educational programmes.


In 1996 he completed his postgraduate work in Media Studies at Liberties College, and travelled to Australia. There, in 1997, he met a dynamic Chinese businessman who persuaded Richard and 2 new acquaintances to go to teach English in China “somewhere north-east of Beijing”. Leaving an Australian Summer temperature of 26°C they went via plane to Beijing and a 9-hour car journey, to arrive in Liaoyang to -20°C, as even in March it is still Winter there!!
Without any teaching experience, Richard and his 2 friends were given accommodation in the middle of the New Bamboo Kindergarten School where they were, as native English speakers, to introduce the students to the language. None of the new teachers knew any Mandarin, but the staff were very kind and helpful. Richard began learning Chinese from a book, which for the first 100 pages was in Pinyin. When it suddenly switched to Chinese characters, he had to swiftly learn to read Chinese too! He says had he known how much learning would be involved he might never have attempted this difficult language! His early highlights in Laioyang were how cheap food was (he took a group of 12 out for dinner, and the bill including drink, came to 50 RMB….about IR£4 at the time!), how friendly everyone was to foreigners, and how safe it was to walk around unaccompanied. He quickly learned enough instructions to direct taxi drivers, but rapidly realised, while he loved the work and Chinese culture, he really needed proper help to learn the language.

In 1999, Richard moved to Beijing and enrolled at Beijing Language and Culture University where for the next 3 years he would learn to speak Chinese fluently. There he met Mr. Ding who encouraged Richard to appear on stage and television in “Chinese Crosstalk” a form of fast-moving witty repartee which is very entertaining and much admired in China. Richard swiftly became fluent with a perfect accent – Chinese people have told me, if you can’t see him speaking, you wouldn’t know he was not a native!

As a result of his “Crosstalk” appearances, Richard was invited to work for various broadcasting companies, especially where a bilingual host was required. Meanwhile he also taught English on Saturdays (many Chinese children take extra classes at weekends to improve their grades in school), and spent the weekdays studying! Gradually he became more involved with education programmes with international themes, and he is still involved in working at vocational schools for migrant workers, particularly for BNVS.

In the run-up to the Olympic Games in 2008, there was a huge amount of construction going on - massive sites, hundreds of cranes and constant, round-the-clock noise. He began then and still hosts the annual charity auction which has raised more than €12 million to date for the school buildings and to provide quality vocational education for the sons and daughters of migrant workers in Beijing. The amazing accolade for students at the school is the apprenticeships which are guaranteed to each graduate. When they become successful in their profession, they give back further apprenticeships and work opportunities to the school, so the system perpetuates work opportunities. Corporations also support the charitable foundation – indeed one donated a painting with a reserve price 10,000 RMB to the auction, (and bought it back for 1,000,000 RMB!) but extravagant gestures like this are now not looked on with favour by the authorities.
In mainland China there are 3000 broadcasting channels, 45 of which are operated by CCTV (broadcasting in many foreign languages), and it is a lynchpin of old era conservatism – the CCTV 7pm news interrupts broadcasting on all channels! Some of the TV companies are local, catering for minority populations, and others are mainly radio rather than TV. Richard worked for China Radio International on the home broadcasting side, but has appeared many times. Most of his work now concerns developing educational programmes for 5 to 13 year-olds: lessons are devised so that pupils can watch on a tablet/iPad, or log in through their TV sets, and interaction with a teacher gives them feedback on their progress. The teacher may or may not be interacting live, but only appear so, thanks to the way the lessons are set up. There is even an App for their phones!



Richard also told of “The Great Firewall”, which can be got around, but basically bans Google (all products e.g. gmail, maps, Dropbox, Googledrive etc), Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, Facebook, Messenger, Hangouts, YouTube, Netflix (though “A Taste of China” is available in the west on Netflix!) Wikipedia and many others! 83% of Chinese people are on line daily, and a further 12% at least once a week; only 2% on less than once per month! The main interactive social network is WeChat. It is used for texting and also ordering and paying for goods, and payment is only taken when delivery of goods is shown...works for anything from buying a coffee, groceries or ordering goods online, though done through a phone App. It works like Paypal, and incorporates selling via Taobao (the equivalent of eBay) and a derivative of Netflix pay-to-watch TV. The speed and development of digital processes and programmes is very dynamic and open up exciting possibilities.
We thank Richard for his wonderful insightful and interesting talk, and wish him every success in his ventures in digital teaching – he is a wonderful communicator!

Deborah Wilson

6. 24th April ‘Ancient cultures and textiles of Guizhou.’A Talk by Ann Wickham-McDonald.

The Miao are the largest of 55 ethnic groups in China most of whom are located in the South West of the country and Ann gave us the benefit of her first-hand experience of their spectacular traditions of folk arts and crafts.

It was while she was on an embroidery trip to Suzhou with Debbie that she first came into contact with Miao culture. Those initial experiences were very positive. She visited a shop owned by members of the ethnic minority who let her dress up in their traditional clothes. In the Shanghai markets she met a Miao woman and bought a crown from her.
Back in Ireland, she subsequently met Gina Corrigan, an expert on Miao textiles who has written a book on the subject, at the Knitting and Stitching Show in the RDS. On discovering that Gina was organising a trip to the Miao region of China she decided to join the venture. They flew from Beijing to Guiyang the capital of Guizhou Province. It is a small city, by Chinese standards, with a population of 4.5 million but it has a growing number of towering skyscrapers and significant traffic congestion. Being built on limestone means there is no scope for extending the transport infrastructure underground and so driving licences have to be rationed. Due to its elevated position in a mountainous district it does enjoy cooler summers and offers a haven (via bullet train) for those wishing to escape from the heat of the coast! There are very few foreigners to be seen, as of yet, to do as Ann did and explore the hinterland which offers the riches of the Miao culture.
She went west to begin with. It is a poorer region than the East. She visited Laohan village which is full of stone houses built by Han soldiers who married into the Miao. There was plenty of traditional blue clothing in evidence there and she visited another village called Bao Ye where she witnessed a lady engaged in Batik craft work and was impressed by the skill required in order to control the hot wax used as part of the design process.
Times have been changing, sartorially speaking, among the Miao. Traditional foot wear was the first element to disappear, then the men’s customary attire and lastly the women’s clothes have also begun to change. At times old and new meet in outfits featuring jeans and runners in combination with traditional skirts. Young girls start to sew as young as 4 or 5 years old and at 15 they start to sew their trousseau. However, with the advent of modern materials the effects are not as good.
During her talk Ann touched on other aspects of this fascinating culture. For instance, since they didn’t have written language they passed knowledge down from generation to generation through the medium of song. She also visited some of the natural wonders of the region and mentioned in particular, the magnificent Huanguoso waterfall where you are able to walk behind the cascade of water.

The Long-haired Miao

Rituals around hair can certainly be categorised as exotic. The ladies save any strands that fall out to make hair pieces. These are then used to cover up bald patches at the front of their heads which result from the fact that they grow their hair so long!
Ann paid a visit to a village inhabited by the ethnic sub –group known as the Big Flowery Miao where a police escort accompanied the party. Some of the women had traditional hairstyles and wore skirts and culottes.She also went to a museum showcasing Miao costumes which was set up in the 1970s. She saw a special garment called a 100 birds dress which only priests were allowed to wear nor could it be imitated or shown to anyone.
Then she headed to the east of the province where she braved the mud and the cold to attend one of the many festivals the area hosts. She witnessed buffalo fighting, duck racing, which attracted quite a lot of betting, plenty of evil-repelling silver adornments and discovered that a person’s wealth can be assessed based on the number of layers of clothing they can afford. She also visited the town of Kaili, where there are many different groups of Miao ethnicity, and bought armbands there which were very expensive.
She went to a living history village where she saw a lady dying cloth in indigo. Women beat the indigo cloth, usually made from hemp, with a wooden mallet to make it soft and shiney. It starts off green or blue, then turns brown before attaining the exquisite indigo blue colour. Egg white is applied to it to make the cloth shinier.
At the beginning of her talk Ann gave us an armband to inspect which she acquired on her travels. The background fabric was dyed with indigo which, we learned, is derived from the Strobilanthes plant, possesses fire retardant qualities and does not give off fumes. It featured a rich variety of symbols from nature. The butterfly is a very important one as the origin myth for the Miao is centred on that most colourful of insects which seems particularly appropriate for a people whose culture is so focused on colourful patterns in their clothing.

Yvonne Mc Guire and Paul Murray

7. 22nd May AGM followed by ‘Show and Tell Party’.

Once the AGM concluded it was another opportunity for us to share stories about some prized objets d'art and how they came into our possession.

8. 8th June 2019 - Summer Outing to the Botanic Gardens.

A welcome return to the Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin, 3 years after our last visit in 2016. On that occasion the Ghost Tree was in full bloom. This time around we caught the end of its flowering season, still showing the last few white bracts.
As ever, there was so much to see and we had a great guide, Glynn Anderson again.


Glynn began the tour by giving us a brief history of the gardens and mentioned some modern innovations. He pointed out a railing through which they are attempting to preserve a sense of history as you can see the layers of successive paintings and read the age a bit like the rings of a tree!
In this era of pollinator rescue plans the Bee Border was magnificent. Glynn told us that hydridised forms, bred for excessively large blossoms, lock bees out from gaining access to nectar and are generally to be avoided. We visited the expanding native Grass and woodland section of the Gardens,' Wild Ireland'. It was a chance to look anew at some of the treasures of our native flora.


China was not as affected as the US by glaciation and so in a way it acts as a living herbarium for the planet. The Botanic Garden’s own herbarium has over 600,000 pressed plants and might be an interesting focal point for a future tour.


Glynn shook the branches of this willow tree to show us how it sheds its pollen in the wind. What a lovely way to walk us back to an earth where flying insects have yet to take to the air!
https://youtu.be/9DwO3j9I-0I


In the above photo Veronica and Glynn are separated by the thorn-studded bark of Aralia Spinosa , the Devil’s Walking Stick. We also saw a Western Red Cedar showering the ground with berries which apparently are edible but we didn’t eat them. Those of us with time to do so chose the restaurant instead.

9. Other cultural events.

Other events members attended earlier this year include a gathering to celebrate the Year of the Pig in the Intercontinental Hotel and the Trinity talk organized by the Children’s charity LoveActually.

10. 2019 Autumn Programme.