The Confucius Institute for Scotland in the University of Edinburgh

Dr Kerry Brown, Senior Fellow at Chatham House, will give a seminar on `The future of political reform in China` on Wednesday 4 November from 3:30-5 pm in F61, Edward Wright Building, Old Aberdeen.

This is a joint event from the Chinese Studies Group and the department of Politics and International Relations. It is supported by the Confucius Institute for Scotland.

Professor Natascha Gentz, Director of the Confucius Institute, will give a talk on `The influence of Confucianism on China and the modern world` at the Open Door, Morningside Road, Edinburgh on Wed 4 Nov 10.30-11.30.

Professor Gentz studied in Germany at Heidelberg University, where she took her MA (1994) and PhD (1998) degrees. She has also studied and conducted research at Fudan University, Shanghai (1988-1990), People’s University, Beijing (1995-6), and Tokyo University (1997).

After the completion of her PhD she was engaged in research projects and teaching in the Chinese Departments at Heidelberg University and Göttingen University.

Appointed as a junior professor at Frankfurt University in 2002, she moved to the University of Edinburgh to take up the post of Chair of Chinese in May 2006. In addition to her directorship of the Institute she is Head of Asian Studiea and also Dean International, China in the University of Edinburgh.

Harmony Ensemble will be performing an exciting programme of solo and ensemble works featuring traditional and contemporary Chinese music with the Elphinstone Fiddlers at the Sound Festival of new music in North East Scotland.

Tonight`s programme will include improvisation on Chinese instruments and compositions by Kimho Ip and Eddie McGuire. For this concert playing in Harmony will be:

Cheng-Ying Chuang, counter tenor voice, ruan (moon guitar)

Kimho Ip, yangqin (hammered dulcimer)

Hooi Ling Eng, percussion and zheng (zither)

Fong Liu (voice)

Eddie McGuire, di-zi (bamboo flute)

Willem Mathlener, violin

Saturday 31 October 2009, 5.00 pm
Zeste, Crombie Hall, University of Aberdeen, High Street, Aberdeen

Tickets: £8, £5 conc, £2 student and under 18

Part of the Sound Festival and the University of Aberdeen`s Concert series 2009/10, Harmony will perform at the invitation of the Chinese Studies Group and Music Department of the University of Aberdeen.

For more information on the Aberdeen Chinese Studies Group programme of events please click here.

Harmony Chinese Music Ensemble will offer insight and entertainment over two days in Aberdeen at the end of October. Working with Aberdeen Chinese Studies Group the first event is a Chinese Music Seminar

In preparation for the Harmony Ensemble concert the following day, three members of the group will give a seminar exploring instruments, songs and composition in China as part of the Sound Festival of new music in North East Scotland.

Eddie McGuire will talk on and demonstrate some of China`s unique instruments. He plays bamboo flute in the group and is well known as a composer. He won a Creative Scotland Award in 2004 which led to a ballet uniting Harmony and Whistlebinkies (he toured China with them in 1991).

Kimho Ip, will focus on how composing developed in China over the last 100 years looking at the Western influence, Shanghai Jazz and trends in the past 30 years. He gained a Doctorate in composition at Edinburgh University and his works have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and widely performed.

Fong Liu will demonstrate and explain the spectrum of singing styles found in China ranging from folk song to regional style and opera traditions. She is much in demand throughout Britain for her performances of Chinese song and inherited much from her father who sang traditional opera.

This is a free event.
Friday 30 October 2009, 12 noon - 1.30 pm
MacRobert Building, University of Aberdeen, King Street, Aberdeen

Part of the Sound Festival and the University of Aberdeen`s Concert series 2009/10, Harmony will perform at the invitation of the Chinese Studies Group and Music Department of the University of Aberdeen.

For more information on the Aberdeen Chinese Studies Group programme of events please click here.

Sponsored by the Confucius Institute for Scotland, the University of Edinburgh Business School will be hosting a conference on 29-30 October 2009. Organised by Dr Ling Liu and Professor John Henley, the theme of the conference is: ‘The State and the Internationalisation of Business: Is There a China or India Model?’.

The governments of China and India have pursued significantly different economic development paths over the past two decades, yet each has achieved significant economic growth. China is developing an outward-oriented, collectivist growth strategy, whilst India prefers a domestic-oriented, large business in-house driven political economy compatible with mass democracy; yet each has presented an increasing integration with the world economy in terms of international trade and foreign direct investment. Going into the current global financial crisis, both China and India have substantial foreign exchange reserves, yet retain dissimilar economic structures. The conference will seek to explore whether there is a convergence or divergence of the internationalisation paths of China and India and to project the future position of China and India in the world economy.

For more information on this conference please visit http://www.business-school.ed.ac.uk/china-india-conference .