PROGRAMME SPRING 2014



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Our venue is the UNITED ARTS CLUB

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Our Programme is on FOURTH WEDNESDAYS

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Evening meetings will start at 8 pm on the FOURTH WEDNESDAY of each month, and will be held in the

UNITED ARTS CLUB
3 Upper FitzWilliam Street
Dublin 2.
(very near Baggot Street)

This venue is very convenient . It is right beside Baggot Street, and a five-minute walk from Leeson Street or Mount Street, so it is well served by buses. Parking is abundant and free (after 7.00 p.m., which is ideal for our meetings at 8.00 p.m.).



January

Wednesday 22nd  

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(This talk, originally scheduled for February 26th, was in fact given on 22nd January.
The talk on Inner Mongolia, originally scheduled for this date, will now be given in February: see below.)


Some Chinese Watertowns

by Deborah Wilson

Deborah, current Vice-President of ICCS has visited Jiangsu & Zheijiang many times. Tonight she will illustrate her talk on some of her favourite historical and cultural attractions of Suzhou, Tongli and Zhouzhuang, with artefacts and slides from these trips.






February

Monday 3rd





Chinese New Year Dinner

This year, the Year of the Horse, our Chinese New Year Celebrations will, as last year, be held in

the Zen restaurant ,
89 Rathmines Rd Upper,
Rathmines,
Dublin 6


Members will receive details and booking forms by post.
Numbers are limited so early booking is advisable.


February

Wednesday 26th




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Introduction to Inner Mongolia

by  Mr Yuyang Wang and Dr Yuhui Gao

The presenters, who were born and grew up in Inner Mongolia, would love to share their passion for this, the fastest economic growth region in China in recent years. With large reserves of natural resources, it enjoys a unique location between Russia, Outer Mongolia and Northern China. The talk will reveal some important cultural aspects of Inner Mongolia, whose mysterious customs have made it a very attractive tourist destination.



The following item will be of interest to many members





On

Thursday February 27th, at the Chester Beatty Library, 1:10 pm:



Cultural Amnesia, East and West

Professors

John Blair and Jerusha McCormack

" We will be speaking about cultural amnesia in China and in the West. At an age when memory glitches are not unknown, we wanted to share with you another set of anxieties: about the expanding black holes in the collective memory.
Drawing on our teaching in China as well as in Ireland, we ask how can we best cope with today’s Swiss-cheese culture: what is left, what is disappearing, and the consequences for both worlds in terms of cultural ecology."
"Please bring along your own observations of what passes now as "modernity." "




March

Wednesday 26th


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China, as Seen from the Rest of Asia

by Paul Murray

Paul Murray is a writer and former diplomat. He was Ambassador of Ireland to South Korea (1999-2004) and, concurrently, North Korea (2004), and to the OECD and UNESCO in Paris (2006-2012). His biography, From the Shadow of Dracula: A Life of Bram Stoker was published in 2004. His previous biography, A Fantastic Journey: The Life and Literature of Lafcadio Hearn which was translated into Japanese, won the 1995 Koizumi Yakumo Literary Prize in Japan & was awarded the Lord Mayor of Dublin's Prize the same year. He was the recipient of the Gold Medal of the Ireland Japan Association in 1999 for services to Ireland-Japan relations.






April
Wednesday 23rd


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From Rome to Peking via Lisbon

by Joan Barnewell

Joan's love of travel and the arts led her to the Chester Beatty Library where she has been a Volunteer Tour Guide for the past eight years. She has a particular interest in the art of East Asia and also volunteers in the Library's Conservation Laboratory. Her talk is based on extensive research on the Jesuits who travelled to Peking and became immersed in Chinese culture and administration, and their journeys getting there!