Events

Apart from our regular lectures, that are generally held on the second Tuesday of each month at 7.00 p.m. the Society also hosts more impromptu meetings and talks throughout the year as part of its RAS Studio series. The RAS Studio offers a platform for members, visitors and the wider Shanghai community to make a contribution to Shanghai's cultural life. The Society also arranges walking tours (RAS Rambles), tours and visits in Shanghai and beyond.

UPCOMING EVENTS

RAS Weekender - Halloweekender Moganshan Getaway – 30th October – 1st November, 2009

Duncan Hewitt – RAS Weekender – November 2009 – day to be confirmed

Oliver Kramer – RAS Lecture – On Chinese Classical Literature – November 2009 – day to be confirmed

Dr. Liliane Willens. RAS Lecture:Stateless in Shanghai. November 21, 2009

Graham Earnshaw. RAS Studio – on publishing recent China history. December 8, 2009

RAS Annual Soiree. December. Date to be confirmed

Wang Yi. RAS Lecture on the history of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. early 2010. Date to be confirmed.

Textile Day – RAS Weekender – 27th March 2010

PAST EVENTS

LECTURES:

Paul French. RAS Lecture and book launch: Daily Life in War-torn Chungking – A Unique Insight into a City under Siege – September 15, 2009

Past Lectures from 2007 to June 2009

RAS STUDIO:

Liu Wei and Mike Nethercott. RAS Studio – The E’ya Project – October 13, 2009

Alison Friedman. RAS Studio on Contemporary Chinese Dance. September 1, 2009

Past RAS Studio from 2008 to June 2009

RAS WEEKENDERS :

Spencer Dodington. RAS Weekender: Suzhou Creek: a walk. September 26, 2009

Jin Xing. RAS Weekender: 10 years of history of Chinese modern dance – September 19, 2009

Past RAS Weekenders from 2008 to June 2009

OTHER ACTIVITIES:

Past Other Acitivities from 2007 to June 2009

RAS WEEKENDER  
Saturday November 21st, 2009 @ 4.00pm
Venue: TBA

Dr. LILIANE WILLENS
STATELESS IN SHANGHAI

Liliane’s talk, based on a section of her book, Stateless in Shanghai: A Memoir of a Turbulent Era, just published by Earnshaw Books, describes the demise of the Kuomintang leading to the victory of the communist party, the peaceful arrival of the People’s Liberation Army, the societal changes which occurred during the two years she lived under the newly established People’s Republic of China and the outbreak of the Korean war.  As a stateless person she had difficulties to obtain a visa to a country in the West but was finally able to leave the PRC for Japan in 1951 to await her immigration quota number to the United States.

Liliane was born and raised in the former French Concession and attended the French lycée, the Collège Municipal Français.  She and her family lived in Shanghai during the Japanese occupation, the wartime bombings by American planes, the liberation by the U.S. and British armed forces and the civil war between the Kuomintang and the communist forces. 

Liliane studied as an undergraduate at Boston University from where she also received a Ph.D. in French Language and Literature and later taught these subjects at Boston College and at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. During her academic career she published a book on Voltaire and a number of articles on 18th century France.  Later moving to Washington, DC, she worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Peace Corps.

Since retirement Liliane has given lectures on history and culture on cruise ships, allowing her to travel around the world. Presently, she gives talks at various venues on China—specifically the old and new Shanghai.

DONATION: RMB 80.00 for members and RMB 150.00 for non members including one drink. (tea/coffee/sparkling water/glass of wine/standard cocktail). Those unable to make the donation but wishing to attend, may contact us for exemption, prior to the ‘Weekender’ Membership applications and membership renewals will be available this afternoon.

RSVP: to RAS Enquiry desk at:  enquiry@royalasiaticsociety.org.cn

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DATE
Friday, October 30th to Sunday, November 1st

BRIEF INTRODUCTION
In 700 BC, the famous lovers Gan Jiang, a legendary sword smith, and his wife Mo Ye, came to Moganshan to escape certain death. Years later in the late 1800’s, foreign businesspersons and missionaries established the hill station to escape the summer heat; building houses and eventually setting up their own governing association. Recently it has re-established itself particularly as a nature retreat.  

Join us as we take a journey back in time to this historic nature retreat where there is enough fresh mountain air, history, and beautiful views to revive any weary urbanite. Be prepared for some spooky Halloween surprises. For more about Moganshan see the local historian’s http://www.moganshanlodge.com/HistoryOfMoganshan.htm

PACKAGE DETAILS
RAS MEMBERS                                            NON MEMBERS
  RMB 2100 per person (share twin room)          RMB 2500 per person (share twin room)
  RMB 2500 per person (single room)                 RMB 3000 per person (single room)

• Round trip coach transportation
• Tours and activities provided by professional Moganshan historians and tour guides
• 2 nights at a mountain-top hotel
• 2 breakfasts, 1 lunch, 1 dinner (including two authentic English meals at The Lodge)
• National Park entrance fee

Does not include:

• Personal expenses such as laundry, shopping, drinks, faxes, telephone calls, optional activities
• Meals which are not included in the itinerary

2-Day 2-Night Itinerary

RSVP:  By the latest 10th of October, 2009 to our enquiry desk: enquiry@royalasiaticsociety.org.cn

MANDATORY REQUIREMENTS: A minimum of 12 Participants required. (Two RAS Council Members will be present on this trip) 

PAYMENT: To be made in full at the RAS Studio event on the 13th of October, 2009 or to our enquiry desk by the latest 15th October, 2009.

RULES OF PARTICIPATION
Everyone who participates in the RAS Halloweekend Moganshan Getaway is asked to read and agree to the following:

1)   I agree not to hold any organizers or affiliates responsible for injuries I may sustain during the RAS Halloweekend Moganshan Getaway.
2)   I agree to follow the rules and guidelines as set forth by the organizers and the Administration of the National Park; with particular emphasis regarding personal safety and conduct. (National Park and Organizers rules to be provided on request / arrival)
3)   I agree to inform the organizers of any medications, diet restrictions or health problems I have. (Privacy will be assured)
4)   I agree to leave the group peacefully if I cannot meet the rules and guidelines as set out by the organizers and affiliates and those stated in this document.

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RAS STUDIO  
Tuesday 13th October, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.
‘Factory’ Building 4 No. 29 Shajing Road HongKou (opposite 1933) 
上海市虹口区沙泾路29号4号楼

THE E’YA PROJECT

Liu Wei and Mike Nethercott

E’ya is an ethnic Naxi village of 2,000 people deep in the mountainous west of Sichuan bordering on Yunnan. While the cultural hub of Naxi, who, according to Dr Joseph Lock the legendary doctor-turned-anthropologist, boast the only living hieroglyphic language in the world, is centered in Lijiang, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site attracting over 2 million tourists a year, this isolated Naxi tribal community continues to practice a combination of polyandry, polygamy, monogamy, multi-husband/multi-wife matrimony, and Anda ( Naxi for ‘friend’), a euphemism for socially accepted out-of-wedlock sexual relationships. And Dong-Ba, the traditional Naxi religion whose rituals are now only staged for tourism in Lijiang, is still very much a part of everyday E’ya life. Fascinating as it may appear to anthropology, the ‘preservation’ of this culture is clearly the result of sheer poverty, its annual cash income per capita being only 500RMB, or $65. There is no road leading to the village and most of the population there has never seen a wheeled vehicle. 

Liu Wei and Mike Nethercott are both involved in ethnographic and charity work regarding E’ya. An eighteen-minute documentary film recording the conditions of the people of E’ya and the speakers’ work will be shown.

Liu Wei is professor of History and Politics at Zhejiang University and concurrent professor for the universities of Long Island (US) and Torino (Italy). He hosted a literary program at China’s national television for 7 years and now is a free-lance producer. Among his academic works are A History of Modern International Relations and Environmental Protection and Political Sensibility in China, and his recent TV work is a 30-episode World War II documentary for the CCTV. He was vice-president when the RAS was re-established in Hangzhou in 2006 and is currently honorary vice-president of the RAS China in Shanghai.

Born in London, Mike Nethercott has lived and conducted business in Indonesia, El Salvador, Central America, the USA and Germany, and been involved in cultural and charity activities throughout. He has lived in Shanghai for over ten years and is Managing Director of MSD Advisory Services Co. Mike has played an important part in reviving RAS China in Shanghai, of which he has been Vice President since its inception in 2007. He also doubled up as treasurer during its first year of operation. 
Mike was introduced to the E’ya project in 2005.

ENTRANCE:  RMB 30 (RAS members) and RMB 80 (non-members) Those unable to make the donation but wishing to attend may contact us for exemption, prior to the RAS Lecture. Membership applications and membership renewals will be available at this event.

RSVP: to RAS Enquiry desk enquiry@royalasiaticsociety.org.cn

DIRECTIONS FOR UNDERGROUND
From Line No. 4
Get off at Hailun Lu station
Come out of Exit No. 2; as you leave the station exit you will be facing Tongjia Lu
Turn right and go along Tongjia lu until you reach a T Junction and you will be facing Hailun Lu,
Turn left on Hailun Lu until you reach Liaoning Lu (next to the creek)
Turn right into Liaoning Lu and walk along the creek until you reach the 2nd bridge (its black where as the previous ones are blue)
Turn left across the bridge and 1933 is in front to left hand side and FACTORY is on the right hand side.

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RAS Weekender – Saturday, 26th September, 2009
Meet point: Astor House Hotel. Time: 1430

Suzhou Creek: A walk with Spencer Dodington

The Suzhou Creek is one of Shanghai’s oldest and most interesting spots. It is along this narrow waterway that international governments established their power in the city, where European Jewish refugees found assistance after their long sea voyages, and Chinese sea-folk transported tons of cargo over the past centuries.

For the past decade or so the last several miles of the creek have undergone a transformation that is nearly complete. In its new incarnation the Suzhou Creek will be a venue for evening strolling and ship-board dining. Meanwhile the creek side buildings that used to be some of the city’s shabbiest are becoming its most interesting.

We will walk from the famed Astor House Hotel, continuing up the creek as far as Xizang Lu. We will then end the walk back at People’s Square. My focus will be the buildings that line the creek and the people who built and lived in them.

Spencer Dodington runs the cultural tour company, Luxury Concierge China, and renovates Concession-era residential property. Since 1995 he has chronicled much of the changes in Shanghai through photography and writing. Like many other residents of this city, he is captivated by its history and growth.

DONATION: RMB 100 for members RMB 200 for guests.
Strictly limited to a maximum number of 20 participants on a first come, first served basis – RAS members will be given priority. Membership applications and renewals will be available on the afternoon. Those unable to make the donation but wishing to attend may contact us for exemption.

Please click here to see the pictures of the event.

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RAS WEEKENDER
Saturday September 19th, 2009 @ 3.30pm
T8 Club Lounge
No.8 Xintiandi North Part Lane 181 Taicang Road Shanghai

JIN XING
Jin Xing Dance Theatre
- 10 years of history of Chinese modern dance -

Jin Xing by Mark Ralston

SDF 2009 - Jin Xing - The Closest The Furthest II

SDF 2009 - Won Kim Group Collaboration OR (KR) & JXDT - Il Grido (Outcry) III

2009 heralds the 10th anniversary of Jin Xing Dance Theatre. Shanghai Dance Festival 2009 pays a special tribute to this by presenting 3 of the company’s works: The China Project (2009) developed with Austrian artists from Liquid Loft; Il Grido (The Outcry) (2009) with Korean choreographer Won Kim and Jin Xing’s solo performance The Closest The Furthest (2006). In the lecture Jin Xing will share with the audience her personal experience and insights on Shanghai’s and China’s culture scene. In particular she will talk about the adversities Jin Xing Dance Theatre has to face, as an independent dance troupe, outside the cultural (governmental) establishment in China and her means of protecting the company.

The three company productions to be presented at Shanghai Dance Festival 2009 exemplify the importance of international collaborations (The China Project, Il Grido) and the commissioned work (the solo commissioned by La Biennale di Venezia) to guarantee Jin Xing Dance Theatre’s independence and Jin Xing’s artistic freedom.

Jin Xing was born in Shenyang in 1967. Aged 9 she started her dance education at the military dance school, at the age of 17 she received the “Best Dancer of China Award” and at 20 she became the first dancer in China to win a grant from the Asian Cultural Council of America and the American Dance Festival to study in New York. Here she had the chance to work with; among many, Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham and Jose Limon. In 1991 she claimed "Best Choreographer Award" of the American Dance Festival for her work, "Half Dream". She continued her international career working in Italy and Belgium.

Jin Xing returned to China after 6 years in the US and Europe. At the beginning of 1996 she set up “Beijing Modern Dance Ensemble”; the first modern dance troupe in Beijing. And since 1999 she has been principal of her own ensemble; "Jin Xing Dance Theatre" resident in Shanghai from 2000. It’s the country’s first independent modern dance and performing group. Under Jin Xing’s artistic direction the company garnered much acclaim both nationally and internationally with appearances at festivals such as La Biennale di Venezia, Dance Umbrella London and Steps in Switzerland etc. Besides Jin Xing’s achievements in the field of dance she established her versatile talent with leading roles in theatre and movies.

In her mission to develop the culture in her own country Jin Xing founded the Shanghai Dance Festival in March of 2006.  It is first international dance festival in China. Her strong engagement with and in the cultural world have received international recognition; with an honorary membership of ELIA, in 2004 (European League of Institutes of the Arts) And in November 2006 she received an honorary doctorate degree from Dartington College of Arts, UK.
DONATION: RMB 80.00 for members and RMB 120.00 for non members including one drink. (tea/coffee/sparkling water/glass of wine/standard cocktail). Those unable to make the donation but wishing to attend, may contact us for exemption, prior to the ‘Weekender’ Membership applications and membership renewals will be available this afternoon.

Please click here to see the pictures of the event.

Shanghai Dance Festival 2009
STEP BY STEP
Performance Program

	09/25 – 09/26 - 20:00 JIN XING DANCE THEATRE SHANGHAI (CN) & LIQUID LOFT (AT) THE CHINA PROJECT (Asia Premiere) Venue: Eye Level Art, No 570 Huaihai Rd West, G101 Tickets: RMB 200
	10/02 – 10/03 - 19:30 WON KIM / GROUP COLLABORATION OR (KR) & JIN XING DANCE THEATRE SHANGHAI (CN) IL GRIDO (THE OUTCRY) (China Premiere) Venue: Shanghai Theatre Academy - Drama Theatre No 670 Huashan Road Tickets: RMB 150
	10/06 – 10/07 - 19:30 JIN XING / JIN XING DANCE THEATRE SHANGHAI (CN) THE CLOSEST – THE FURTHEST (China Premiere) Venue: Shanghai Theatre Academy - Drama Theatre No 670 Huashan Road Tickets: RMB 300/180/100
	10/10 – 10/11 - 19:30 ARKADI ZAIDES (IL) SOLO COLORES (China Premiere)     & ALAIN GREIG / X FACTOR DANCE COMPANY (UK) INTO THE LIGHT (World Premiere) Venue: Shanghai Theatre Academy, New Space No 670 Huashan Road Tickets: RMB 150

Special rates for the tickets for the RAS members

	Regular Ticket price			RAS members lecture participants
Jin Xing Solo	300	180	100	250	150	80
JXDT / Liquid Loft	200			170
JXDT / Won Kim Group Collaboration	150			125
Alain Greig / Arkadi Zaides	150			125

Shanghai Dance Festival
Ticket Reservation – Information
Phone: (+86) 21 6327 0040 Fax: (+86) 21 6327 0578 Email: shanghai_dance_festival@yahoo.com Web: www.shanghai-dance.com

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RAS LECTURE
Tuesday 15th September, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.
InterfaceFLOR, Room 201 Raffles City, 268 Central Xizang Zhong lu, Shanghai  

Paul French  
Daily Life in War-torn Chungking – A Unique Insight into a City under Siege

Corbis	Corbis
Mother and Children amid Debris	Road Work Crew Cutting Through Hillside

In 1939 Carl Crow – an American who had lived in Shanghai for 25 years – travelled up the Burma Road from Rangoon to Chongqing on assignment for Liberty magazine - ‘the most interesting assignment I have ever been given’. The Burma Road (‘the road of a thousand thrills and a thousand dangers’) was China’s vital but perilous 717-mile lifeline to the outside world. In China’s wartime capital Crow found himself in the most heavily bombed city on earth, a city the Japanese air force had sworn to wipe of the face of the map, witnessing the daily struggle of the Chinese people under Japanese aerial bombardment and interviewing the most senior Chinese figures in the government as well as orphans, diplomats, generals and the ordinary men and women in the streets.
Crow’s impressions of war-torn Chongqing and the allied attempts to supply the city lay forgotten in an archive until recently recovered and now published. They vividly relate the story of a city under siege suffering from a daily aerial bombardment unprecedented in history at the time. Crow reported the city’s daily life from the villa command centre of Chiang Kai-shek to the hastily constructed bomb shelters on the city’s teeming streets, the wartime HQ of Zhou En-lai to the newly necessary orphanages, the Chinese resistance movement in the countryside to the only other route out of China via French Indo-China. Crow always meant his war diaries and notes to be published and now they have been as The Long Road Back to China, his typically observant and sympathetic first hand memoir of China’s darkest hour.

Paul French is a founder and the Chief China Representative of the research consultancy Access Asia based in Shanghai. He has previously written a number of books on China’s modern history including a biography of the legendary Shanghai adman, journalist and adventurer Carl Crow – A Tough Old China Hand: The Life, Times and Adventures of an American in Shanghai, described by the Financial Times as a ‘captivating narrative’ and Through the Looking Glass: China’s Foreign Journalists from Opium War to Mao, described as ‘fascinating’ by the Far Eastern Economic Review and a ‘rollercoaster journey through Chinese history’ by Time Out Hong Kong. He is also the author of the well-received North Korea: The Paranoid Peninsula – A Modern History.

ENTRANCE:  RMB 30 (RAS members) and RMB 80 (non-members) Those unable to make the donation but wishing to attend may contact us for exemption, prior to the RAS Lecture. Membership applications and membership renewals will be available at this event.

BOOKS WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE AT A SPECIAL RAS MEMBERS PRICE OF RMB 100.00  

Please click here to see the pictures of the event.

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RAS LECTURE
Tuesday 1st September, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.
‘Factory’ Building 4 No. 29 Shajing Road HongKou (opposite 1933) 
上海市虹口区沙泾路29号4号楼

Between a Rock and a Hard Place:
Carving Out Space for Modern Dance in China

Alison M. Friedman

	Abstract: In the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a foreign-imported, contemporary art form stole briefly but notably into the mix of martial arts and Peking opera: modern dance. 2007 MacArthur “Genius Award”-winning, New York-based choreographer Shen Wei was invited back to his native country after over a decade to choreograph an opening section of this event that was meant to celebrate China’s arrival onto the world stage. Does this reveal that China now embraces modern dance, an art form that was completely outlawed less than 30 years ago? Ms. Friedman will discuss the current situation of modern dance in China in the context of domestic economic forces and market pressures from abroad, as well as issues of individual expression and artists’ search for a “modern Chinese” identity/voice. Her research examines the evolving Chinese performing arts context and explores influences that are encumbering the development of modern dance in China – now more economic than political. She will also offer observations for what must happen for modern dance to flourish in China.
Simon Lim
The above photos: booking DANCE FESTIVAL beijing 2008

BIO:
Alison M. Friedman was International Director of the Beijing Modern Dance Company from 2005 until 2008 when she was hired by Oscar-winning composer Tan Dun to be General Manager of his company Parnassus Productions, Inc. The leading expert on modern dance in China, Ms. Friedman came to Beijing in 2002 on a Fulbright Fellowship to research the development of modern dance in the Middle Kingdom. In addition to lecturing on the art form in both China and abroad, she has conducted research for the Royal Netherlands Embassy and the Asian Cultural Council, and her writing has appeared in Dance Magazine (USA). She has worked as consultant for the US Embassy in China, Columbia University, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, as well as other overseas dance and theater companies touring the Middle Kingdom. From 2003-2005 she hosted a live music program on China Radio International (CRI), China's largest government-run radio station.

ENTRANCE:  RMB 30 (RAS members) and RMB 80 (non-members)
Those unable to make the donation but wishing to attend may contact us for exemption, prior to the RAS Lecture. Membership applications and membership renewals will be available at this event.

DIRECTIONS FOR UNDERGROUND
From Line No. 4
Get off at Hailun Lu station
Come out of Exit No. 2; as you leave the station exit you will be facing Tongjia Lu
Turn right and go along Tongjia lu until you reach a T Junction and you will be facing Hailun Lu,
Turn left on Hailun Lu until you reach Liaoning Lu (next to the creek)
Turn right into Liaoning Lu and walk along the creek until you reach the 2nd bridge (its black where as the previous ones are blue)
Turn left across the bridge and 1933 is in front to left hand side and FACTORY is on the right hand side.    

back