Next Meeting Wednesday 7th August
At 5.30pm, in the Palmerston North City Library (Sound and Vision) George St, Palm Nth
“The People and Culture of Northwest China”
Speakers:-
Wang Libin (Gansu)
Xu Jingjing (Xinjiang)
Northwest China has a diverse culture and topography that is enriched by the presence of numerous minority groups that all have unique and colourful lifestyles. Wang Libin is a visiting scholar from Lanzhou Agricultural University in Gansu. He will talk about Gansu province which extends from the Yellow river and Qilian mountains in southern Gansu along the Old Silk Road up to the Gobi desert in the North.
Xu Jingjing is a visiting scholar from the Xinjiang Animal Disease Prevention and Control Centre in Urumqi. She comes from the huge Xinjiang region which extends from Russia, Mongolia and Afghanistan etc. in the northwest through to Gansu and Tibet in the southeast . It is the home of numerous minority groups and cultures and has a great diversity of natural resources.
At Our Last Meeting
An informal “Pot Luck” lunch was held at the English Training Centre on Broadway Ave on Sunday afternoon to meet and welcome students and visiting xcholars from Guizhou, Yunnan, Xinjiang and Shaanxi provinces.
Local News
Chinese Language Workshop
About 30 people (including four Branch members) recently attended a 4 day workshop in Palmerston North run by the Confucius Institute from Victoria University. The workshop covered traditional Chinese culture and teaching Chinese (Mandarin) as a second language.
Branch Treasurer Awarded Writers Fellowship
Dr Anne Henderson has been awarded the prestigious Robert Lord Writers Fellowship and will spend the next six months in residence in Dunedin. She plans to research and write about Scottish Highland migration to New Zealand. In her absence her role as treasurer will be filled by Kee Teo.
Local Screening of International Film – “The Red House”
Beautifully photographed over three-and-a-half years in China and New Zealand, The Red House tells the story of Lee (Lee Stuart) and Jia (Meng Jia), a couple in their 60s who have transcended the barriers of language and culture to build a life and love together – in a red house.
Maurice Alley 1stAugust 2013
