Media

HKU weekly notice

02 Mar 2018

 

HKUL Book Talk - 19th Century China (and Japan) through American Eyes

Speakers:  Dr Gillian Bickley
Date:  13 March 2018 (Tuesday)
Time:  6:30 - 8:00 pm
Venue:  Special Collections, 1/F, Main Library, The University of Hong Kong
Language:  English
Registration:  http://lib.hku.hk/friends/reading_club/bt2018_01.html

About the Speaker
Gillian Bickley, Editor of this work, has spent many years working with primary materials from 19th century history. She is the author of The Stewarts of Bourtreebush (2003) and The Golden Needle: The Biography of Frederick Stewart (1836-1889) (1997), and editor of The Complete Court Cases of Magistrate Frederick Stewart (2008), A Magistrate's Court in Nineteenth Century Hong Kong: Court in Time (2005; 2nd edition, 2009), The Development of Education in Hong Kong, 1841-1897 (2002) and Hong Kong Invaded! A ’97 Nightmare (2001). She is also a well-published and prize-winning poet, translated into many languages. With her husband, Verner Bickley, she is the founder of two annual international Literary Prizes, the Proverse Prize for book-length work (awarded since 2009) and the Proverse Poetry Prize for single poems (awarded since 2016).

About the Book
EYE-WITNESS ACCOUNTS OF EARLY WESTERN DIPLOMACY, MILITARY INTERVENTION, TOURISM AND TRADE IN CHINA AND JAPAN
Long ago secrets, lost emotions and persistent sadness at human conflict are finally revealed in this first publication of journals written by a young American visiting the Far East for the first time.

Travelling out in 1859 to join his uncle’s then successful trading house, Augustine Heard & Co., George was hired on shipboard by fellow-passenger John E. Ward, the American Minister tasked with the ratification of the American-Chinese treaty. As an attaché to the American Legation, George witnessed the June 1859 Battle of the Peiho, and in July 1860 – now promoted as Secretary of Legation – he saw the western Allies’ preparations for the return battle that took place in August 1860. At least one of his letters home was borrowed to be copied by the American Minister and sent to the US President as an official report.

These were early days in the intercourse between the United States and the Far East; the first Treaty with Japan (which George also visited and writes about here) had been agreed only a short time earlier. Some of the Chinese people whom George talked with in villages visited on the way to Beijing had never heard of his country.

A cultured, charming and conscientious person, with a sense of humour, an early-developed cross-cultural perspective, and highly readable writing style, George W. Heard died unmarried in his late thirties and was buried far from home. This book finally brings home his memorial.

Admission: Free
HKU Libraries Website: http://lib.hku.hk/

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Media Contact:  Mr. Gary Chin, Tel: 2859 2211 / Ms. Marina Yeung, Tel: 2859 8903

UMAG exhibitions
From Two Arises Three: The Collaborative Works of Arnold Chang and Michael Cherney
A visual duet of traditional ink painting and photography

Period: Now till May 6, 2018 (Sunday)

Since 2009, Chang and Cherney have experimented with merging traditional ink with photography in a manner that remains true to the essence of traditional Chinese landscapes, while simultaneously bringing both media into the 21st century. At the edges where two worlds meet, where film grain and ink dots come together, the artists are able to look beyond specific cultures, definitions, borders and geographies.

The full range of traditional formats is represented in the exhibition—hanging scrolls, handscrolls, albums, individual prints and fans—while the collaborative pieces display a highly contemporary feel. By also presenting several individual works from each artist, a clearer understanding is gained of the journey that each artist has taken to their collaborative works.

Venue: 1/F & 2/F Fung Ping Shan Building, UMAG, HKU, 90 Bonham Road, Pokfulam

Opening Hours:
09:30 – 18:00 (Monday to Saturday)
13:00 – 18:00 (Sunday)
Closed on University and Public Holidays
Tel/Email: (852) 2241 5500 (General Enquiry) / museum@hku.hk
Admission: Free
Website: www.umag.hku.hk/en/

Media enquiries:
UMAG Senior Communications Officer Ms Elena Cheung, Tel: (852) 2241 5512, Email: elenac@hku.hk
UMAG Programme Assistant Miss Chelsea Choi, Tel: (852) 2241 5509, Email: cchelsea@hku.hk