5 Weeks Daytime Brush Painting starts 16 Jan 2020

Meticulous ‘Gong bi’ style painting, an ancient art from 2000 years ago. It requires fine brushes to work with realistic contour techniques and vivid color to depict the most descriptive details. Our artist in residence Mr Chi Zhang will lead you into this style, it will be a calm, relax and meditative process, a great way to cultivate patience, which benefit our well-being and lead to longevity.

This course will start with introducing the history of Chinese meticulous painting then the common techniques related to the outline and colours. Participants will have the option to select from a range of subjects demonstrated by the tutor, such as fish and flowers etc.

Students can anticipate completing at least one piece of Chinese painting artwork per class. Demonstration and plenty of personal attention will be provided during the class. This course is suitable for both beginners and advanced students.

The cost is £125 for 10 hours or £100 for university students’ concessions. All materials are provided.

To secure your place on this enjoyable course please use the University’s ePay system or you can download this PDF Form which you will then need to complete and return to our office with  a cheque made out to the University of Edinburgh for the appropriate amount.  (Please note we are no longer accepting cash payment in our office)

This course will be led by Chi Zhang, experienced art tutor, shortlisted of ‘Sky Art Landscape Artist of the year 2015’. For more information and see Chi’s work please visit http://www.chizhangartist.com

If you have any questions please contact us on 0131 662 2180 or email info@confuciusinstitute.ac.uk

KEY INFORMATION

Course: Five week Chinese Brush Painting – Meticulous style (Daytime)
Date + Time: Thursday Mornings: 16 January – 13 February, 10:00-12:30pm
Cost: £125 (£100) including all materials
Location: Confucius Institute for Scotland Campus, Abden House

One to one tutorials and small group workshops can also be arranged. Please email info@confuciusinstitute.ac.uk or call us on 0131 662 2180 to discuss further.

Free: Chinese Films on Fridays January – April 2020

Join us if you can for the regular programme of Chinese Films on Friday. All films screened have sub-titles. Viewing from 2pm-Screening Room, Room G04, 50 George Square, University of Edinburgh, EH8 9LH.

Our Free Films on Friday programme is curated by Chinese Studies senior lecturer Dr Julian Ward whose core specialism is in Chinese literature and film.

The University library holds more than 600 films spanning China’s 20th century film history which are available for loan to those who have a library card.

Winter Term January – April 2020

Film DATE
The Urgent Letter (Shi Hui, 1953) Friday 17 January
Before the New Director Arrives (Lü Ban, 1956) Friday 24 January
Sacrificed Youth (Zhang Nuanxin, 1985) Friday 31 January
Yellow Earth (Chen Kaige, 1984) Friday 7 February
Raise the Red Lantern (Zhang Yimou, 1991) Friday 14 February
Red Sorghum (Zhang Yimou, 1988) Friday 28 February
A Summer at Grandpa’s (Hou Hsiao-Hsien, 1984) Friday 6 March
In the Heat of the Sun (Jiang Wen, 1994) Friday 13 March
Shower (Zhang Yang, 1999) Friday 20 March
In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-Wai, 2000) Friday 27 March
Still Life (Jia Zhangke, 2006) Friday 3 April

All welcome, no booking is required.

50 Shades of Grey: ‘Smog Art’ in China Tues 30 Jan 6pm

This presentation will examine societal responses to air pollution in China through a discussion of ‘smog art’.

Key Information

Speaker: Thomas Johnson (Lecturer, University of Sheffield)
50 Shades of Grey: The Emergence of ‘Smog Art’ in China
Tuesday, 30 January, 6-8 pm
50 George Square, Project Room (1.06), University of Edinburgh

SYNOPSIS

smogSmog art, which refers to artwork that engages with the issue of severe ambient air pollution, has become increasingly common in China. It includes various art forms such as paintings, photography, and performance art.

This presentation is based on documentary data and approximately 20 interviews conducted with artists and curators in Beijing, chosen due to its poor air quality and high concentration of artists. It explores why artists produce smog art, how they navigate China’s authoritarian political environment, and the meanings they attach to their work—including the extent to which they view smog art as a form of resistance.

BIOGRAPHY

Thomas Johnson is Lecturer in the Department of Politics at the University of Sheffield. Before that, he was Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Policy at City University of Hong Kong. His work examines environmental activism in China, and has been published in journals such as The China Quarterly, Regulation & Governance, and Environmental Politics.

Speaker: Thomas Johnson (Lecturer, University of Sheffield)
50 Shades of Grey: The Emergence of ‘Smog Art’ in China
Tuesday, 30 January, 6-8 pm
50 George Square, Project Room (1.06), University of Edinburgh

The image shown is a satellite picture of smog over Tianjin taken in 2013.

HSK 2018: March exam registration closed

There are three dates this year when our Institute will run HSK exams. The exams will take place either at our Institute or within a language lab in the University of Edinburgh on dates as show below.

  • Saturday 24 March 2018
    Register by 22 February for HSK and HSKK offline exam – NOW CLOSED
    Register by 8 March for HSK online exam

    Preparatory workshop: Saturday 10 March 2018
  • Saturday 19 May 2018
    Register by 19 April for HSK and HSKK offline exam
    Register by 3 May for online exam

    Preparatory workshop: Saturday 5 May 2018
  • Saturday 1 December 2018
    Register by 1 Nov for HSK and HSKK offline exam.
    Register by 15 Nov for online exam
    Preparatory workshop: Saturday 17 November 2018

These exams offer students the chance to measure their progress on a globally recognised exam. A student who has completed two terms of study (40 hours) should be able to pass Level 1 of the exam.

Full information and booking details can be found here.

Mapping learning on China and Chinese in Scotland

A recent initiative by SCEN, assisted by the Confucius Institute for Scotland, saw a nationwide survey of schools take place seeking information on activities and levels of learning about China and Chinese language.

The survey results will help all stakeholders to better understand levels of engagement across the country and has resulted in a digital map showing the distribution of China related learning in schools across Scotland.

A comprehensive report on this initiative by Judith McClure, Chair of the Scotland China Education Network (SCEN) can be accessed via this link

The map itself can be accessed here.

The Chinese Common Reader: Joan Judge 15 Feb 2018 6pm

In Search of the Chinese Common Reader: Usuable Knowledge & Wondrous Ignorance in the Age of Global Science

How did late Qing and Republican Chinese common readers understand science, illness, and the natural world? To what extent did new concepts introduced into China from the mid-to late-19th century become integrated into the everyday lives of poorer urbanites and lower-level local elites? What can an investigation of these questions tell us about the ways knowledge was transmitted, and the degree of epistemological, social, and cultural integration in this period?

Join us to hear from Professor Joan Judge of York University, Canada in this lecture entitled In Search of the Chinese Common Reader: Usable Knowledge and Wondrous Ignorance in the Age of Global Science. In her presentation she will consider one of the great paradoxes of twentieth century Chinese history: the rhetorical prominence of “the people” in dynastic, reformist, Republican and communist discourse, and the relative invisibility of non-elite ways of knowing in the historical record.

Street ReaderIt searches for the Chinese common reader in three distinct places: in the materiality of cheaply produced texts-books as objects; in the usable-and wondrous-information packaged in their crowded pages—texts as meaning; and in the spaces where this knowledge was consumed—reading as cultural practice. The texts include cheap, string-bound, lithographed books such as wanbao quanshu 萬寶全書 (comprehensive compendia of myriad treasures), together with daily-use, letter-writing, household, and health manuals. Their contents include age-old cosmologies and fanciful representations of foreigners, together with treatments for opium addiction, methods for preventing cholera, and ways to graft a plant. The apprentices, workers, housewives, and lower-level bureaucrats who consumed this knowledge often did so on the fly, in the streets. Sitting, standing or leaning at street-side bookstalls, they avidly sought both the useful information and the marvelous diversion necessary to negotiate the epistemological uncertainty—and promise—of China’s revolutionary twentieth century.

Biography

edinburghJoan Judge is Professor in the Department of History at York University in Toronto, Canada. She is the author of Republican Lens: Gender, Visuality, and Experience in the Early Chinese Periodical Press (2015), The Precious Raft of History: The Past, the West, and the Woman Question in China (2008), Print and Politics: ‘Shibao’ and the Culture of Reform in Late Qing China (1996), and co-editor of Women and the Periodical Press in China’s Global Twentieth Century: A Space of Their Own? (forthcoming), and Beyond Exemplar Tales: Women’s Biography in Chinese History (2011). She is currently engaged in a project with the working title “In Search of the Chinese Common Reader: Usable Knowledge and Wondrous Ignorance in the Age of Global Science, 1870-1955″.

The venue for this lecture will be Seminar Room LG.09, lower ground floor, David Hume Tower

Please book your seat via this Eventbrite link.

Chinese Language Classes April-June 2018

We offer a diverse programme of evening classes for the general public to enjoy learning Chinese. Our Spring 2018 courses will start week beginning 23 April, and booking for these classes is now open.  With a choice of classes for complete beginners – including a day time 5 weeks course – Chinese for Travellers – we think we have a class to suit you.

All classes take place on the Confucius Institute for Scotland Campus sitting in the shadow of Arthur’s Seat. You can download a map showing the campus layout here – Conf-campus-map

LANGUAGE CLASSES April – june 2018

If you have some previous learning and have not yet started classes with us please get in touch and we can arrange an assessment to ensure you are placed in the most suitable class. For this, or any other questions please email info@confuciusinstitute.ac.uk. You can also call us on 0131 662 2180.

Please note that course names have been changed to reflect the Common European Framework for Modern Languages.  The table below gives the previous names of courses in second position.

Class level Code Day(s) Dates-all 2018 Time Full Price / Student
Chinese for Travellers  CH058-301 Tuesday 24 April -22 May 10:00 12:30am £85/£70
Beginners 1
Chinese 1.1
CH060-301 Monday 23 April – 25 June 6.00-8.00pm £130/£87
Beginners 1
Chinese 1.1
CH060-302 Thursday 26 April – 28 June 6.00-8.00pm £130/£87
Beginners 2
Chinese 1.2
CH061-301 Monday 23 April – 25 June 6.00-8.00pm £130/£87
Beginners 3
Chinese 1.3
CH062-301 Thursday 26 April – 28 June 6.00-8.00pm £130/£87
Elementary 1
Chinese 2.1
CH063-301 Monday 23 April – 25 June 6.00-8.00pm £130/£87
Elementary 2  Chinese 2.2 CH064-301 Thursday 26 April – 28 June 6.00-8.00pm £130/£87
Elementary 3  Chinese 2.3 CH065-301 Tuesday 24 April – 26 June 6.00-8.00pm £130/£87
Intermediate 1
Chinese 3.1
CH066-301 Monday 23 April – 25 June 6.00-8.00pm £130/£87
Intermediate 2
Chinese 3.2
CH067-301 Thursday 26 April – 28 June 6.00-8.00pm £130/£87
Intermediate 3
Chinese 3.3
CH068-301 Wednesday 25 April – 27 June 6.00-8.00pm £130/£87
Intermediate 4
Chinese 4.1
CH069-301 Thursday 26 April – 28 June 6.00-8.00pm £130/£87
Intermediate 5
Chinese 4.2
CH070-301
Wednesday 25 April – 27 June 6.00-8.00pm £130/£87
Intermediate 6
Chinese 4.3
CH071-301 Monday 23 April – 25 June 6.00-8.00pm £130/£87
Upper Intermediate 1
Chinese 5.1
CH072-301 Tuesday 24 April – 26 June 6.00-8.00pm £130/£87
Upper Intermediate 2
Chinese 5.2
CH074-301 Tuesday 24 April – 26 June 6.00-8.00pm £130/£87
Upper Intermediate 3
Chinese 5.3
CH073-301 Thursday 26 April – 28 June 6.00-8.00pm £130/£87
Advanced Chinese 1
Chinese 6.1
CH002-307 Wednesday 25 April – 27 June 6.00-8.00pm £130/£87
Advanced Chinese 2
Chinese 6.2
CH075-301 Tuesday 24 April – 26 June 6.00-8.00pm £130/£87
Advanced Chinese 3
Chinese 6.3
CH077-301 Tuesday 24 April – 26 June 6.00-8.00pm £130/£87
Upper Advanced
Chinese Advanced
CH076-301 Monday 23 April – 25 June 6.00-8.00pm £130/£87

An absolute beginner can join us at the start of each term. Any student who has some previous experience in learning the language is welcome to contact us and arrange to drop in for an initial assessment to help determine which class would best suit.

Evening classes run for two hours on the same evening for a ten week term. No assessment is carried out but students are encouraged to test their developing skills by sitting the globally run HSK test.

Excellence in teaching is paramount. Our teachers are seconded from Fudan University which regularly send us experienced senior teachers and a number of Masters candidates in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages. You can see the profiles of our current and previous teachers by clicking here.

Our classes are geared for adult learners.  For younger learners please enquire about private classes.

HSK Exam 2 Dec – November registration deadline

Registration is now open for the December HSK Exam Diet.  The registration deadline for the online exam is Thursday 2 November.  The online exam has a later deadline of Thursday 16 Nov 2017.

We recommend that  only candidates who are proficient in using a keyboard to input characters should apply for the online exam.

For more information on the HSK and HSKK and to register please visit our main HSK page here.

Changes in China-The Fudan Lectures: Thurs 9 Nov 6pm

Join us to hear from two visiting professors from our Confucius Institute partner, Fudan University.  Each speaker will reflect on the impact of different aspects of recent changes in China on the wider society and economy. An outline synopsis from each speaker is below. This event will take place in the UoE Business School.  You can book your place here.

TALK TITLES

How Urbanization Changes China’s religious landscape – FAN Lizhu

Under Chinese government plans nearly 70% of the population will live in urban areas by 2035. The drastic urbanization has triggered massive demographic mobility in the past 30 years. This presentation will discuss how urbanization widely changes the religious landscape in China. Our preliminary findings are:

  • a large and unprecedented flow of population not only generates new economic and demographic dynamics, but also has great impact on the mode of religious development;
  •  religious group and belief connections play a functional factor to help migrants settle down and start new life in the cities;
  • new religious movements now develop their own features through urbanization.

The Green Development of China’s Economy – LI Zhiqing

China is experiencing serious environmental problems after almost 40 years rapid economic growth since 1978, which means China has to transfer to the green development in the near future. The lecture will discuss the topics including factors behind the environmental problem during these decade of economic growth, the current connection between environment and economy in China, the possible solutions for fixing the problem and how to achieve a new balance between the environmental and non-environmental sector.

SPEAKERS

Fan LizhuFAN Lizhu 范丽珠 is Professor of Sociology at Fudan University. Director of Globalization and Religious Studies. As a pioneer scholar on the study of sociology of religion in China, she has engaged in historical and ethnographic studies of Chinese folk religious beliefs, sociological theories of religion, and the study of the trends of folk religious beliefs in modern Chinese society. Her most significant works include The Religion and Faith Transition of Chinese in the Contemporary Era: Field Research of the Adherents of Folk Religion in Shenzhen; China and the Cultural Sociology of Religion (co-authored with James Whitehead and Evelyn Whitehead); Sociology of Religion: Religion and China (co-authored with James Whitehead and Evelyn Whitehead). Academic articles include “Conversion and Indigenous Religions in China” (Co-authored with CHEN Na) in the Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion; “The Cult of Silkworm Mother as a Core of Local Community Religion in a North China Village” in China Quarterly, etc.. As an internationally recognized scholar, she taught at many distinguished universities, such as University of Chicago, University of California at San Diego, Lund University, Queen’s University, New School, Wabash College, University of British Columbia, Bergen University, University of Stockholm, University of Tokyo, etc.

LiZ hiqingLI Zhiqing is Assistant Professor of Economics, School of Economics, Fudan University. His research interests are: Environmental & Energy Economics; Public Economics; Political Economics; Economics of Climate Change; International Climate Policy; China’s Modern Economy

In addition to his current post, since 2006 he has held the post of Deputy Director, Center for Environmental Economic Studies and he is also Director of the Office of Professional Degree Program, all in the School of Economics, Fudan University.

For the period 2006-2009 he held the post of Director of the Shanghai Forum Office while from 2009-2011 he was Director of the Fudan Office at Yale University,

These talks will take place in the University of Edinburgh Business School in LT1A from 6pm.  After the talks and the Q&A session there will be a networking drinks reception. 

Please help us by booking your seat via this Eventbrite link.

Chinese Films On FridayOct-Dec 2017 2pm

Join us if you can for the regular programme of Chinese Films on Friday.  All films screened have sub-titles.  Viewing from 2pm-Screening Room, Room G04,  No 50 George Square, University of Edinburgh, EH8 9LH

Autumn Term SEPT-DEC 2017

Film DATE
China in Revolution 1911-1936 (Documentary)
Labourer’s Love (Zhang Shichuan, 1922)
Friday 22 September
China in Revolution 1937-1949 (Documentary)
The Dream of the Western Chamber (Hou Yao, 1927)
Friday 29 September
 Daybreak (Sun Yu, 1933) Friday 6 October 
The Goddess (Wu Yonggang, 1934) Friday 13 October
New Year Sacrifice (Sang Hu, 1956) Friday 20 October
Street Angel (Yuan Muzhi 1937 Friday 27 October
Shop of the Lin Family (Shui Hua, 1959 Friday 3 November
The Girl from Hunan (Xie Fei, 1986 Friday 10 November
Myriad of Lights (Shen Fu, 1948) Friday 17 November
Spring in a Small Town (Fei Mu, 1948) Friday 24 November  
This Whole Life of Mine (Shi Hui, 1950) Friday 1 December   

Our Free Films on Friday programme is curated by Chinese Studies senior lecturer Dr Julian Ward whose core specialism is in Chinese literature and film.

The University library holds more than 600 films spanning China’s 20th century film history which are available for loan to those who have a library card.

All welcome, no booking is required.

Winter Term Jan-april 2018

Friday 19 January                  Before the New Director Arrives (Lü Ban, 1956)

Friday 26 January                  Yellow Earth (Chen Kaige, 1984)

Friday 2 February                   Black Cannon Incident (Huang Jianxin, 1985)

Friday 9 February                   Black Snow (Xie Fei, 1990)

Friday 16 February                 Raise the Red Lantern (Zhang Yimou, 1991)

Friday 23 February                 Flexible Learning Week – no screening

Friday 2 March                       Red Sorghum (Zhang Yimou, 1988)

Friday 9 March                       A Summer at Grandpa’s (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1984)

Friday 16 March                      In the Heat of the Sun (Jiang Wen, 1994)

Friday 23 March                     In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-Wai, 2000)

Friday 30 March                     A Touch of Sin (Jia Zhangke, 2013)

Friday 6 April                         Black Coal Thin Ice (Diao Yi’nan 2014)

Taiwan’s Lost Commercial Cinema: Weekly on Thurs 6pm

Did you know regular filmmaking on Taiwan only started in the 1950s? With a Taiwanese-language film industry? Between then and the 1970s, 1000+ Taiwanese-language features were made. However, the budgets were miniscule, the companies short-lived, and there was no archive. They were quickly forgotten, and only 200+ survive.

With the establishment of the Chinese Taipei Film Archive in 1979 and the end of martial law in 1987, Taiwanese-language cinema of the 1950s–1970s, once seen as a disposable entertainment, is now being revalued as an art form and window on old Taiwan.

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the first Taiwanese-language film in 2016,Professor Chris Berry (King’s College London) and Dr. Ming-yeh T. Rawnsley (Centre of Taiwan Studies, SOAS) have co-organised the “Taiwan’s Lost Commercial Cinema: Recovered and Restored” project, jointly supported by the Ministry of Culture of the ROC (Taiwan), King’s College London and the Taiwan Film Institute (previously Chinese Taipei Film Archive).

The films, which are all subtitled in English, will be shown on Thursdays in October and November at 18.10  in the Screening Room, G04, 50, George Square.  See the listing information below.

Thursday 12 Oct 2017
The Best Secret Agent  (1964)

The Best Secret Agent, the first ever Taiwanese-language spy movie produced in Taiwan, is a remake of a 1945 movie of the same name that caused a sensation in Shanghai. Fuelled by a dog-eat-dog plot and the many changing faces of the protagonist, the film created a new Taiwanese box office record in the early 1960s and kick-started the popularity of the Taiwanese-language spy film genre for years to come.

Ms. Teresa Huang from theTaiwan Film Institute will talk about the restoration project and introduce this first film in the run.

Thursday 19 Oct 2017
Early Train from Taipei  (1964)
A classic town-and-country melodrama.

Thursday 26 Oct 2017
Vengeance of the Phoenix Sisters (1968)
Martial arts action.

Thursday 2 Nov 2017
Dangerous Youth  (1969)
A critique of materialism and greed subverting the conventional gender hierarchy.

Thursday 9 Nov 2017
Brother Wang and Brother Liu Tour Taiwan  (1959)
Laurel and Hardy-inspired comedy.

For more information on the individual films, please go here: https://taiyupian.uk/

The Future in East Asia, Pacific & Beyond: 20 Oct 6pm-8pm

Join us for an evening comprising four short lectures and a panel discussion by notable speakers followed by a drinks reception. In this event presented in partnership with the Worldwide Support for Development, we hope to show how Chinese and Japanese views of the future have had and will further have tremendous impact on the world.

The evening will be chaired by  Sir Tim Lankester, former Director of SOAS and Vice-Chair of Worldwide Support for Development (WSD).

The impressive panel of four speakers each have specific knowledge of the region and the influences at play – read on, or download the programme.

PROGRAMME SUMMARY

Welcome
Professor Sir Timothy O’Shea, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, the University of Edinburgh

Engaging with China: A View from the Neighbourhood
Sir John Key GNZM, AC, Former Prime Minster of New Zealand and WSD Patron

China’s future engagement in Asia and beyond:the Belt and Road Initiative
Dr Natascha Gentz, Assistant Principal, China, the University of Edinburgh

Japan’s Changing Visions of the Future
Professor Aaron Moore, Handa Chair of Japanese-Chinese Relations

Three Tigers; One Mountain: China, Japan and the US in the Pacific Century
Richard McGregor, author and journalist

Panel discussion
Chaired by Sir Tim Lankester, Vice-Chairman, Worldwide Support for Development

Closing remarks
Professor Sir Timothy O’Shea, Principal & Vice-Chancellor, the University of Edinburgh


Reception

Speakers 

Sir John Key, former PM of New Zealand and WSD Patron
Engaging with China: A View from the Neighbourhood

John KeyFormer Prime Minister of New Zealand and current Head of the Handa Foundation, Sir John will speak on the past, present and future impact of Chinese growth on political and economic relations in the Asia-Pacific region.  Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2008-2016, Sir John led the country through the aftermath of the global financial crisis and a series of devastating earthquakes in New Zealand. Sir John worked in investment banking for 20 years primarily for Bankers Trust in New Zealand and Merrill Lynch in Singapore, London and Sydney where his posts included heading Merrill Lynch’s global foreign exchange business along with responsibility for European derivative trading and e-Commerce.

The transformation of China in the last few decades is having a significant impact not only on its people but on the world. This is felt in particular in the region in which China is located. The Chinese Government’s commitment to rise peacefully is one which its neighbours watch with great interest. For example, New Zealand has built up a strong relationship with China and has proactively engaged with it as it transforms itself from a command economy into one which attracts more foreign direct investment than nearly everyone else. Other countries look on this development with anxiety, however, wondering what a future featuring a strong China will look like. In this lecture I shall draw upon the experience of engaging with China when I served in the government of New Zealand to share insights and lessons learnt.

Prof. Natascha Gentz, Assistant Principal, China, University of Edinburgh
China’s future engagement in Asia and beyond:the Belt and Road Initiative

Natascha Gentz

Assistant Principal China and Director of the University’s Confucius Institute for Scotland, Prof Gentz will expand on the above theme by discussing China’s new massive Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its implications for our future engagement with China.  Natascha joined the University in 2006 as Chair of Chinese and as the founding Director of the Confucius Institute for Scotland. In 2008 she was appointed Dean International China becoming  Assistant Principal China in 2015. She received her MA and PhD from Heidelberg with residences at Fudan University, Shanghai; People’s University, Beijing; and Tokyo University. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Honorary Fellow of the 48 Club, she is an executive board member of a number of China focused organisations.

Prof. Aaron William Moore, Handa Chair of Japanese Chinese Relations
Japan’s Changing Visions of the Future

Aaron MooreAaron Moore  will introduce the history of changing Japanese visions of the future, from its emergence as a rapidly modernizing nation in the nineteenth century to WWII, and its post-war embrace of peaceful technological innovations such as robotics and bullet trains. American-born Aaron Moore was appointed to the post of Handa Chair in September 2017. Before coming to the University of Edinburgh, he held the post of Senior Lecturer in Japanese and East Asian History in the University of Manchester. Prior to taking up his post at Manchester, Prof Moore worked at Princeton, the University of Virginia, and Oxford University.

Richard McGregor, journalist, author and writer
Three Tigers; One Mountain: China, Japan and the US in the Pacific Century

Asias ReckoningRichard McGregor is a journalist and an author with extensive experience in reporting from east Asia and Washington as former Washington and Beijing Bureau Chief for The Financial Times. A 2015 fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., his latest book, published by Penguin Random House is entitled Asia’s Reckoning: China, Japan and the Fate of U.S. Power in the Pacific Region.

“shrewd and knowing” – Wall Street Journal
“a compelling and impressive read” -The Economist
“skillfully crafted and well-argued” – Financial Times
” excellent modern history book” – South China Morning Post

CHAIR FOR THE EVENING

Sir Tim Lankester held senior position in the British Treasury, was Britain’s representative on boards of the IMF, World Bank and the European Investment Bank and served as Permament Secretary in Britain’s international aid and education ministries. Earlier he served as Private Secretary (Economic Affairs) to Prime Ministers Callaghan and Thatcher.

1996-2001 Director of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Universty of London
2001-2009 President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford.
2007-2015 Chairman of governing body of London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

In 2012  his book on British aid to Malaysia ‘The Politics and Economics of Britain’s Foreign Aid: the Peruga Dam Affair’ was published by Routledge. He is currently South East Asia adviser to the consulting firm, Oxford Analytica, and Vice Chair of Worldwide Support for Development, the charity founded by Dr Haruhisa Handa

More info On WSD  & Founder DR Haruhisa HandA

WSD aims to help create a world where people – no matter where they live – can be safe and happy and enjoy economically, socially and culturally high standards of living.  WSD works to facilitate international cooperation and support in social welfare and education, as well as academia.

Dr Haruhisa Handa is recognised for his commitment to improving the lives of disadvantaged people around the world. His philanthropic and humanitarian work has included the founding of a free emergency hospital in Cambodia. He is Honorary Chairman of the Japanese Blind Golf Association, Honorary Patron of the World Blind Golf Association and Vice-president of the UK’s Royal National Institute of Blind People.

Dr Handa has an economics degree from Doshisha University in Kyoto and a Masters degree in creative arts from Edith Cowan University, a PhD in Literature from Tsinghua University and a PhD in literature from Zhejiang University.

In 2010, Dr Handa’s established the Handa Chair of Japanese Chinese Relations at the University of Edinburgh. In 2016 Dr Handa received the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Edinburgh in recognition of his support for education, health, the arts and sport

This event will take place on Friday 20th October from 6pm-8pm in the John McIntyre Conference Centre, Pollock Halls, 18 Holyrood Park Road, EH16 5AY.  The evening will conclude with a drinks reception.

Five Week Calligraphy Course January 2018

Discover the ancient art of calligraphy using the traditional Chinese brush and ink combination that has been in use for thousands of years.

The five week course starts on 23 January and runs to 20 February and will be led by Chi Zhang, the Institute’s experienced calligraphy teacher. Students will be introduced to the materials of ink, brush, stone and paper, and initially common techniques will be introduced.

Burns Supper Red Red Rose

This 5 week course will start by introducing common techniques related to the Chinese soft brushes and ink. Students will also learn the basic strokes of Regular Style (Kai Shu). Regular style is most common in writings and publications. This writing style is suitable for both beginners and students who learned Clerical Style before.

Students can anticipate completing at least one piece of Chinese calligraphy artwork per class. The contents of this work could be a selected Chinese poems or perhaps an ancient master’s quotation. Demonstration and plenty of personal attention will be provided during the class. This course is suitable for both beginners and advanced students.

With a maximum of 12 students in the class plenty of personal attention is guaranteed as well as clear demonstrations and instructions to help students develop their skills.  Both beginners and advanced students are welcome in the class.

The cost is £100 for the 10 hour course which runs Tuesday evenings from 6pm-8pm from 23 January. There is a concession rate of £80, which is offered only to full time students.  The fee includes all materials. A minimum of five students are required to ensure the class goes ahead.

To book download this Winter 2018 Half Term-Callig Reg Form then complete and return it to the Confucius Institute for Scotland with a cheque for the correct amount made out to the University of Edinburgh.

KEY INFORMATION

Course: Chinese Calligraphy Five Week Course
Date + TIme: Tuesdays Evenings 6pm-8pm 23, 30 Jan, 6, 13, 20 Feb.
Cost: £100 (£80) including all materials
Location: Confucius Institute for Scotland Campus, Abden House

Prof Chris Rea: the Chinese Swindle Story 6 Oct 16.30

Join us on Friday 6th October at 16.30 when Associate Professor Christopher Rea, University of British Columbia, considers The Art of Ingenuity: A Brief History of the Chinese Swindle Story.

Why do collections of swindle stories appear at certain times and places? In China, for example, the swindle story has experienced bursts of popularity during the late Ming, the early Republican era, the early Mao era, and during the last 20 years. And comparable works exist around the world.

New Cheats of LondonA New Book for Foiling SwindlersThis talk will consider what e.g. do Zhang Yingyu’s Book of Swindles (Ming China, 1617), Richard King’s The New Cheats of London Exposed (Georgian England, 1792), and P.T. Barnum’s The Humbugs of the World (Reconstruction-era United States, 1867) have in common?

Swindle stories, clearly, serve a double purpose: they teach techniques for navigating perilous social environments, and they entertain. But theirs authors tend to frame these narratives within a questionable claim: that ours is an age of unprecedented peril. Focusing on the example of China, this talk will highlight one thread running through literary history: connoisseur-ship of the swindler’s ingenuity.

Date:  Friday 6th October
Time: 16.30 till 18.00 followed by a drinks reception
Venue: Screening Room,50 George Square, University of Edinburgh

Biography

Christopher ReaChristopher Rea is Associate Professor of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia. He is author of The Age of Irreverence: A New History of Laughter in China (California, 2015), which won the 2017 Joseph Levenson Book Prize (post-1900 China).

He is editor of China’s Literary Cosmopolitans: Qian Zhongshu, Yang Jiang, and the World of Letters (Brill, 2015) and Humans, Beasts, and Ghosts: Stories and Essays by Qian Zhongshu (Columbia, 2011); and co-editor of The Business of Culture: Cultural Entrepreneurs in China and Southeast Asia (UBC Press, 2015).

His moThe Book Of Swindlesst recent book, translated with Bruce Rusk, is The Book of Swindles: Selections from a Late Ming Collection (Columbia, 2017); the original work, said to be China’s first collection of stories about fraud, celebrates its 400th anniversary in 2017.

Friday 6th October
16.30 till 18.00 followed by a drinks reception
Screening Room,50 George Square, University of Edinburgh
Click here to register for this talk and reception

Gordon Brown to open Silk Roads conference 4&5 October

landscapeThe Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) outlined by China’s President Xi Jinping is the most significant investment and development programme in modern times. Cumulatively, it is, without doubt, the largest contract in the world.

We are delighted that the Rt Hon Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister of the UK, will address the conference, providing us with his unique geopolitical perspective on the continued development and influence of Asia and China on global trade.

city

This is the first major conference in Scotland where you can learn about the world’s largest economic development initiative and assess what impact the BRI will have in business, in academia, in policy making – and on the world.

McEwan HallIt will run over two days in the University of Edinburgh’s iconic McEwan Hall, which has just reopened following on from a £35m refurbishment.

Please visit our microsite for more details and to register.  

Henry Tillman: Financing China’s Belt & Road Initiative 3 Oct

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) outlined by China’s President Xi Jinping is one of the most significant and substantial investment and development programmes to come out of China since the building of the Great Wall.  In advance of our two day conference focusing on BRI, join us to develop an overview of the financing arrangements made by China for this long term, high growth initiative.

Our speaker, Henry Tillman, has an international business career spanning almost 35 years.  The founder, Director and CEO of Grisons Peak* a London based Asia focused merchant bank in 2008 he also set up China Outbound Investments** which tracks and analyses G2G agreements, Chinese Government related loans and M&A/equity investments.

In his talk he will provide information on

  • Chinese policy bank loans (2013-2017)
  • New banks (AIIB, NDB and SCO Bank‎)- and how these banks are becoming multi-lateral
  • Chinese use of Green Bond market
  • ‎Use of other financing instruments such as Securitisation, NPLs

While many ratings agencies question China’s ability to fund this growth  data accrued by China Outbound Investments shows how they are doing so, and how such financing techniques have evolved over the past few years.

Biography

Henry TillmanHenry Tillman initially spent a decade in New York with  major investment banks,mostly advising on US organisations on M&A and capital raising. Since 1992, he has been based in London, including a senior management role at Barclays Group, with a focus on Europe and Southeast Asia and at ABN AMRO, where he was a Wholesale Banking Board Member, managing a global business with a focus on Emerging Markets, in particular Asia.

Mr Tillman previously served (2011-2015) as a Non Executive Director of Wells Fargo Securities (Europe). In 2016, Mr Tillman represented the 48 Group (UK) at the launch of the Maritime Silk Route in Xiamen. In 2017,he has led workshops for European Executives and Board members on the Belt and Road Initiative at Cambridge University; on Funding the BRI at the Intermodal Global Industry Leaders Conference (Shanghai) and was interviewed in a podcast by The Financial Times on Chinese capital controls.

He is currently Chairman and Co- Founder of Music for Autism International, the international arm of the UK based charity Music for Autism. MFAI collaborates with leading ASD schools based in countries committed to developing musical, artistic and dance/movement talent for their gifted ASD students and sustainable music programmes for other ASD students (Autistic Performance.com). He is also Chairman and Co-Founder of The Autistic Adult Choir, the world’s 1st all autistic, all adult choir, based in London.

Register

Join us to begin to understand the economic levers and flows of capital emerging from China.

University of Edinburgh Business School, Main Auditorium, Tuesday 3 October 6pm.

Please – register here to secure your seat.

This event is organised in partnership with the University of Edinburgh Business School.

It free to attend. A networking drinks reception will follow.

*  Grisons Peak is a London based, Asian focussed merchant bank which has completed over €25 billion in advisory assignments since inception.The firm focusses on advising UK/European companies with unique technologies to partner with China based businesses in China and on Asian organisations interested in international expansion.

** China Outbound Investments, tracks and analyses G2G agreements, Chinese Government related loans and M&A/equity investments in a single quarterly report, all of which have been reconciled with original source documents whenever possible. This database also includes bespoke capabilities which measure Chinese Government related loans linked to individual infrastructure/renewable energy projects since 2013. The company’s research has been cited by many major press including The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Thompson Reuters, IFR and several others. This database has also been used by major universities for academic research regarding Chinese outbound investment in the UK (Cass Business School) and the US (New York University).

Alibaba, Tencent & China’s Data Tech Revolution 12 Oct 6pm

Join us for a ringside view of how the internet and entrepreneurship in China have created global success stories such as the phenomenon that is Alibaba, and Tencent, China’s massively successful value-added ISP and developer of WeChat.

Duncan Clark
Our guide to this fascinating topic is Duncan Clark, OBE and Chairman of BDA, China, an investment consultancy company founded in Beijing in 1994 which today has a team of over 100 professionals. Prior to BDA, Duncan worked as an investment banker with Morgan Stanley in London and Hong Kong.

Duncan is an expert on the internet and entrepreneurship in China where he has lived and worked for almost 25 years. He is also the author of ‘Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built‘ which was selected last year by the Economist as a ‘Book of the Year’  as well as being shortlisted by the Financial Times/McKinsey ‘Business Book of the Year’.

A UK citizen who grew up in England, the US and France, Duncan is a former Chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in China. In 2013 he was awarded an O.B.E. for services to British commercial interests in China.  A graduate of the London School of Economics, in 2016 Duncan was appointed as Visiting Senior Fellow at the LSE’s new Institute of Global Affairs. Two years earlier he was invited as a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University where he co-founded China 2.0, an influential research initiative and forum at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

In his portfolio of work and service he holds the following positions.

  • Global Trustee of the Asia Society in New York
  • Independent director of Bangkok Bank (China) in Shanghai
  • Trustee of the UK charity/international board of San=Fransisco based NGO WildAid
  • Business angel investor to, among others, App Annie, Student.com and Radish Fiction

For fascinating insights from one who has witnessed at close quarters these developments, join us on Thursday 12th October 2017 in the Auditorium of the University of Edinburgh’s Business School from 6pm till 7.30 for his talk and Q&A.  A networking drinks reception will follow.

Register

Please – reserve your seat for this talk here.

PARTNER

This talk is presented in partnership with the China Britain Business Council

Chinese Language Autumn Term Classes from w/b 25 Sept

In addition to our usual evening class programme this autumn we are offering a short, day time course running for five weeks. Chinese for Travellers runs on Tuesday mornings from 10.00-12.30 and is ideal for those planning to travel in China – or for those who want to try learning some simple Chinese without a longer term commitment. 

For full details of this and the wide range of evening classes on offer please visit the autumn course webpage where timings, pricing and how to book are all outlined.

Sustainable Silk Roads 4 & 5 Oct, McEwan Hall

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) outlined by China’s President Xi Jinping is one of the most significant and substantial, investment and development programmes to come out of China since the building of the Great Wall.  

This conference, ‘Sustainable Silk Roads’, offers businesses, academics and policy makers the opportunity to understand the significance and potential of the Belt and Road Initiative. In addition to scene setting plenaries, there will be a number of sector specific workshops with a focus on sustainable approaches. Throughout the conferences delegates will have opportunities to explore the potential for future collaboration.

For full details and to register please visit the conference website.

China, Taiwan and Hong Kong @ Fringe 2017

Once again there is a wide array of artists, performers, and shows from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe.  We highly recommend the first two listings (which are our own projects) but encourage you to scroll on through our date order listings to discover music, theatre, dance, puppetry, spoken word, circus and more – all bringing unique flavours from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong to the Edinburgh International Fringe 2017.

Liu Zhenyun

Liu Zhenyun, winner of the Mao Dun prize for literature, will be in Edinburgh on 12th and 13th August.  He will speak at the Book Festival at 12.15 on the 12th August about his novel I Did Not Kill my Husband On Sunday the film of this book entitled I Am Not Madame Bovary will be shown at the Filmhouse at 14.30 following which there will be a Q&A with Liu.  Bookings via Book Festival and Filmhouse.

Dress

From Shanghai with Love is a combined exhibition and fashion show. Discover elegant, enduring and evolving Qipao fashion, Shanghai Style, through the ages and into the future. Our exhibition features Qipao from 1840s-1940s. Our fashion show will feature contemporary and futuristic Qipao designs using the latest high tech materials and techniques, combining tradition with modernity.
25 Aug @ 18.00; 26 Aug @16.00 Venue 311, Playfair Library

 ALL PERFORMANCES BELOW ARE LISTED IN DATE ORDER 

luochal

A dark dynamic physical theatre piece from the National Theatre of China. With powerful visuals and almost no dialogue Luocha Land follows a central character through a world where the laws of good and evil have been reversed. The 12 strong cast blend elements of Chinese Nuo opera, puppetry and physical theatre with original music.
2-12 Aug@ 17.50 venue no 34 C Venues

 

cricket

Inspired by one of Pusongling’s Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, The Cricket is a story of metamorphosis told as a classical dance drama. In the Ming dynasty and emperor obsessed with cricket fighting taxes his people heavily. A boy becomes a cricket to save his family.
2-19 August @ 14.35 Venue 34 C Venues

venerabThe Venerable Bird’s Eye View – a stunning cross-cultural performance without spoken language Three actors are transformed into birds and trapped within a cage – the human world. In this new life they must express their emotions and needs, and explore gender to forge a new, human identity. Artocrite Theatre create a multimedia experience bringing intense physical expression together with contemporary music. 2-10 Aug @ 22.10 venue no 41 C Venues c-primo

taiwanTaiwan Season: Ever Never In this theatre piece airport and airplane become vehicles where past and present collide; places of real and remembered, love and regrets, happiness and sadness, and loved ones and themselves. Following Co-coism’s guiding principle of cooperatively-devised theatre, Ever Never draws on the experiences of playwright Feng Chi-Chun and the rest of the creative team.
Aug 2, 4-6, 8-13,15-20, 22-27 @ 16.25 Venue 22 Dance Base

Heart of DarknessTaiwan Season: Heart of Darkness fuses instrument, voice, body, drama, ritual and environment with traditional and folk elements, symbolic objects and contemporary theatre to explore the inner self and attempts to understand women who are slowly forgotten. Long hair symbolises a woman’s pathway through life. Time shrinks in her shadow. Aspiration, expectation, fear, secrets & ambition lay hidden deep inside.
Aug 2-6, 8-13,15-20,22-27 @ 15.15 Venue 26 Summerhall

taiwanIn Taiwan Season: The Backyard Story let your imagination run as the jackets, shirts, dresses and trousers make friends and form relationships, reflecting those between parents, children and others. Taiwan’s first black-light object theatre company, Puppet Beings Theatre, seek to summon back the innocence of childhood and inject fresh vitality into children’s theatre by using everyday items and combining the contemporary with traditional puppet arts.
Aug 2-6, 8-13,15-20,22-27 @ 11.45 Venue 26 Summerhall

taiwanInspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Peony Pavilion  this vibrant production blends emotionally driven movement, a spine-tingling soundscape and striking visual storytelling to bring a new twist to these classic texts, performed by a Chinese cast. The Dreamer is an international collaboration between Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre and Gecko, part of British Council’s 2016 Shakespeare Lives programme. 
2-8 &10-15 Aug @ 13.30
 venue no 33

china goes pop

China Goes Pop is an eye-popping, entertaining show direct from China, starring world-class acrobats, including Cirque du Soleil alumni. This story of an artist and his muse unfolds through dazzling acrobatics, martial arts, physical comedy, stunning video and costumes against a pop soundtrack. From the China Arts Entertainment Group.
3-27 August not Weds @ 16.20 Venue 35  Assembly Hall

taiwanTaiwan Season: 038 asks: ‘Where is home? What is home?’ Is it the ease we feel, seeing pictures on the projector screen and hearing tribal songs on the stereo? Or is it in the endless march of modernity? Contemporary but underpinned by traditional spirit, 038 reflects the anxieties and uncertainties of coming home in search of ourselves and our roots.
Aug 4-6, 8-13,15-20, 22-27 @ 15.15 Venue 22 Dance Base

taiwan

Taiwan Season: Together Alone contemporary dance piece considers how we live together. Tasking ourselves to never let go of each other creates huge limitations. Tho’ only one couple the experience parallels society: how we deal with people, use use each other, collaborate. Sometimes we help , sometimes we are oppose; sometimes we need to negotiate.The relationship is always changing…nothing lasts forever.Aug 4-6, 8-9, 11-13, 15-16, 18-20, 22-23, 25-27 @ 21.45 Venue 22 

taiwanBlue Bird is a children’s show featuring shadows and classic physicality to a comedic, yet poetic adaptation of a forgotten Belgian tale. Impoverished siblings undertake a journey full of peculiar colourful characters to find a home for a blue bird. Under the direction of Paulie Caccamise, these Chinese middle school students perform a timeless story using classical theatre, shadow work, and Chinese cultural imagery. 4-6 Aug @ 10.30 Venue 39 theSpace on the Mile

After huge success in China, highly popular Oxygen Media brings Yayapa, a show for children to learn Chinese history and culture, to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.  Time travel elements combined with ancient philosophical conflicts delivery comedy and history along with funny stories with audience interaction.
4-6 Aug @ 13.10 Venue 58 Space Triplex

Stories from China is a music and dance children’s show which brings you the essence of China: Beijing Opera, chorus, string orchestra, drama, traditional folk music and dance. Presented by talented Chinese teenagers, the show includes traditional costumes, musical instruments, hairstyles, and even an oriental dragon. Presented by Beijing Students Art Troupe  6, 7, 9, 10 and 11 Aug @ 16.00 Venue 317

In this adaptation Macbeth will be performed in the style of a traditional Cantonese opera. Macbeth: Fringe of Cantonese Opera is from Zhuo Peili Cantonese Opera Studio.  Combining the intrigue, jealously and deep levels of human emotions of Macbeth with one of China’s own most important art forms, this performance is must-see production.
7 & 8 August @ 12.00 venue no 7 New Town Theatre

The Story of China is a children’s show of music and dance from Beijing Students Art Troupe. Telling the story of China via opera, lingering melodies, traditional dance and martial arts this production presents an array of cultural treasures.
9  Aug @ 15.00 & 10 Aug @ 10.00 Venue 150 EICC

Little Shakespeare is big fun when two of Shakespeare’s most famous scenes are performed by fe nine to 16-year-old children from tChongqing Foreign Language School and Chongqing Renmin Primary School, each well known for their high standard of education and passion for theatre. A t family-friendly production, when superb young actors take on two iconic scenes in 40 minutes each.

9 &10 Aug @ 17.40 Venue 7 New Town Theatre

The Magical Trip of a Bead is a piece of new writing and musical theatre for children. Telling of a magical journey undertaken by three children, each with their own personality, who must complete a series of challenging trials. In this they are helped by objects including a glass slipper, and the witch’s mirror as well as by mythical Chinese characters, Nüwa and the Foolish Old Man. From Beijing Fengtai No 1 Primary School on 10 August @ 14.30 in Venue 150 EICC

The Hong Kong Three Sisters presents an adaptation of Chekhov’s The Three Sisters. During a run-through, one actor disappears. The rehearsal stops and dialogues between the director and the actors take place, revealing details of the other sides of the actors’ lives and the current scene in Hong Kong.Performed in Cantonese (English surtitles). 10-12 Aug @ 12.00 Venue 38 Space Triplex

Divine Melody from Chinese Fiddlers combines classic melody and innovative performance to show the charms of traditional Chinese music and dance. The programme include Chinese traditional music like Jubilance, Three and Six, Legend of Silk Road, Chinese traditional dance Girls Doing Paper-cut, and Classic Scottish Music played by traditional Chinese musical instruments.
11 Aug @ 15.00 Venue 150 EICC

Chinese Arts & Culture Festival2047 Apologue from talented director Zhang Yimou is a highlight of the first day of the Chinese Arts and Culture Festival. Combining Chinese folk arts with international technology creates a unique “concept performance”. The festival also features contemporary Chinese dance, Peking Opera, martial arts, folk dance and music along with an exhibition of Chinese painting, photography, tea art and calligraphy.
12  Aug @ 14.00 Venue 150 EICC;  13 Aug @ 13.30 Venue 150 EICC 

Published in 1957, Teahouse is a masterpiece of modern Chinese drama. The narrative revolves around the Yutai teahouse in Beijing and the life experiences of shopkeeper Wang. Teahouse mirrors the social turmoil at three crucial moments in Chinese history from the twilight of the dynastic era to the dawn of the People’s Republic of China.
14-18 Aug @16.50 Venue 209 Greenside, Nicolson Square

This children’s musical theatre production tells the story of “Hua Mulan” who disguised herself as a man to take her father’s place among the recruits becoming a hero to the Chinese people and being awarded by the Emperor. The story has been told on the big screen in 1998 and 2004 by Disney.  This production is brought to Edinburgh by Henan TV, Gahama Culture and Arts &  Zhengzhou Linguaphone English Training.
14 Aug @ 14.00 Venue 150 EICC

‘I love this country, but who loves me?’ The play, Sink,  is based on the true story of Lao She, a Chinese writer of great esteem, who, at one stage, was given the title of People’s Artist. However, this would all change during the cultural revolution as Lao She was deemed a reactionary and publicly humiliated. The production asks questions of freedom, identity, history and our own place and role in contemporary society. Aug 4-5, 7-12, 21-26  Times vary Venue 38 Space Triplex

My Journey through China sees Yi Dong makes her 16th annual return to Edinburgh. Part of 8th Glamour of Jasmine Chinese Arts Festival. She is one of the most celebrated international soloists of Chinese national musical instruments and one of the only five soloists who has given a recital in the Great Hall of the People. Venue 111 @ 12.30 and @ 14.30 on 20, 21, 22 August. St Andrew’s and St George’s West
Also at  Venue 60 Canongate Kirk @ 19.00 on 18 August 

Zheng Programme for Chinese Lovers’ Day Playing an instrument with over 2,500 years of recorded history, after some 100 public recitals in the UK, international classical Zheng performer Yi Dong, makes her 16th annual return to Edinburgh to ‘indulge us with a rich spa of the spirits and mind’ (China Xinhua News Agency), with music of love stories and poems from China. Historic concerto The Butterfly Lovers is featured  28 Aug @ 12.00 Venue 60 Canongate Kirk

8th Glamour of Jasmine Chinese Arts Festival sees three elegant women musicians from Suzhou, costumed in Whispering Lotus Chi-pao in concert on Chinese guqin, zheng, dizi and xiao (bamboo flutes) and  pipa on the afternoon of Chinese Lovers’ Day. A fusion of Chinese poetry, music and fashion show of cheongsam.
28 Aug @ 19.00 Venue 60 Canongate Kirk