Pilgrimage is the oldest human activity bringing nature, culture and the divine together in a journey. Japanese culture expresses its long history of reverence for nature through rituals, art and architecture. Much of these expressions are encapsulated in ancient pilgrimages that are still very much alive today. This lecture will delineate the magical facet of Japanese culture by looking at the Kumano Kodo, a network of ancient pilgrimage paths linking Kyoto, Koyasan, and Grand Shrines of Ise at the tip of the Kii Peninsula. While the lecture might not be able to replicate the mystical experience, it will explore the depth of divine encounters in photos of the stunning landscape.
This lecture covers highlights from the Museum Society’s upcoming tour to Japan in May with Professor Puay-peng Ho. The beautiful visual presentation will be thought provoking and enlightening to everyone. Come, join us and be inspired!
Speaker
Professor Puay-peng Ho is Professor and Director of the School of Architecture, and Director of Centre for Architectural Heritage Research at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He received his First Class Honours degree in Architecture from the University of Edinburgh and a Ph.D in Art History from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. His thesis focused on Buddhist art and architecture of the Tang dynasty. Professor Ho is a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Society of Architectural Historians. Currently, he serves on the Town Planning Board, Antiquities Advisory Board and History Museum Advisory Panel, and is Chairman of the Council of Lord Wilson Heritage Trust. His research interests and publications are in the areas of Chinese art and architectural history, vernacular architecture, and architectural theory. He is also involved in many architecture conservation projects in Hong Kong.
The Museum Society is delighted to organize a morning hike on the Dragon’s Back with our VC Professor Lap-Chee Tsui and his wife, our Patron Mrs. Ellen Tsui. Both are avid hikers who have treaded on many wonderful trails in Hong Kong. One of their favorites is the Dragon’s Back, a popular and scenic route on HK Island. In 2004, it was voted as the ‘Best Urban Hiking Trail in Asia’ by Time Magazine (Asia Ed.).
We will begin the hike through the entrance on Shek O Road near the To Tei Wan village and traverse through the rugged undulating spinal ridge of the Dragon’s Back. The trail offers spectacular views of Shek O, Tai Long Wan, Stanley, Tai Tam and the South China Sea. At the end of our hike, we will be rewarded with a delicious meal at one of the alfresco restaurants in the Shek O Village.
Needing little introduction, Professor Lap-Chee Tsui is the 14th Vice Chancellor of HKU, serving the University from 2002 to 31 March 2014. He is a renowned international scientist, having led groundbreaking research on human genetics. Mrs. Ellen Tsui has been the Museum Society’s 3rd and longest serving Patron, attending eleven of our Annual General Meetings. Devoted to building a strong HKU Family, they have enthusiastically supported the Museum Society in organizing numerous successful events at the University Lodge over the years. The Museum Society wishes them the best in their new endeavours.
Please join us for a day of great fun with our dear VC and Patron!
The Tao Heung Museum of Food Culture is dedicated to promoting the understanding and appreciation of the different food cultures of the world. The 8,000 square feet facility features various dining scenes to demonstrate how the culture and characteristics of food has evolved across different provinces in China. It presents an array of displays with informative narrative text, and exhibits of artefacts from different eras and regions, including cooking utensils, vessels, tableware, ingredients and seasonings – fully illustrating that the love and enjoyment of food is universal among all cultures.
The guided tour of the Tao Heung Museum of Food Culture will take about 1 hour 15 minutes. Afterward, a special lunch including some of the Restaurant’s specialities will be served in the private dining room of the Tao Heung Training Restaurant.
This lecture focuses on the visual relationship between woven panels and discusses cross-cultural influences in the weaving of tapestries in East and West. Whereas China has a rich tradition of producing colourful embroidered textiles, the weaving of tapestry, or kesi, was comparatively rare. During the Qing dynasty, European tapestries – then one of the most treasured of all art forms – became known in China through a diplomatic gift received by Qianlong in 1767. From then on, this ‘exotic’ set of textiles, together with a group of European Jesuit painters in the Imperial City, seems to have had an influence over Chinese kesi production and the introduction of linear perspective in painted as well as woven paintings.
Speaker
A scholar of Western European art, Dr. Knothe is the Director of the University Museum and Art Gallery (UMAG). He received his PhD with a thesis on the royal manufacture and production of art and propaganda in 17th century France. From 2005-2008, he worked as research fellow and associate in European Sculpture and Decorative Arts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. During his appointment in 2009 as curator of European glass at The Corning Museum of Glass, he devoted time to research his long-established interests in cross-cultural influences in art and workshop practices in Western Europe and East Asia. This work culminated in his East Meets West exhibition in 2010, and related lectures and conference papers that were presented in the US, Europe, Asia and Africa. In his role as Director, Dr. Knothe aims to connect UMAG internationally so that future collection-oriented research and programming reflect the university’s unique geographic and cultural position between East and West.
Frédéric François Chopin (1 March 1810 – 17 October 1849), was the composer of some of the most challenging and subjective music in the whole of the keyboard repertoire. Born in Poland and living most of his adult life in France, he started composing at the age of 7. He gave only 30 performances in his short 39-year life span, mainly in intimate salons of high society. His music ranged from patriotic, melancholy, passionate to simple and beautiful, bringing new life to Classical music in the 19th century. He was also known as a great teacher of piano.
Programme
On the anniversary of Chopin's birthday, Justin Wong will give a brief introduction about Chopin's life and works, and why he remains one of the most performed composers for pianists up until today. This will be followed by a recital of a selection of Chopin's piano pieces, as well as some pieces inspired by him.
Performer
Justin Wong is a popular pianist now based in Hong Kong who has performed to international acclaim. After winning multiple first prizes and a music scholarship to attend Winchester College, his piano performance training brought him to the Peabody Conservatory where he was mentored by Marian Hahn and Dr. Ernest Berretta. He has been greatly praised in masterclasses with V. Ashkenazy, Leon Fleisher and Emmanuel Ax, among others.
Justin is also a graduate of HKU in Law, but has chosen to dedicate wholeheartedly his time to his music profession. He is the Principal Organist for the Chinese services at St. John's Cathedral in Hong Kong. He has played in many cathedrals and churches throughout the world, on pipe organs, not just in liturgical performances, but also for special occasions like weddings, memorials and inaugurations. He has collaborated with many young talented musicians and artists, appearing in numerous solo performances in the US, UK and Hong Kong.
Featured on RTHK4 last year, Justin is highly regarded as a soloist, an accompanist and as a teacher. He takes pride in his students winning distinctions and music scholarships to top boarding schools every year. In addition to teaching masterclasses, he enjoys composing music.
Maestro Leung Yee-chung (梁以忠1905-1974) was a versatile musician, composer and singer of Cantonese music and opera. Cantonese music broadly refers to the different vocal and instrumental genres popular in Guangdong; Cantonese opera is a theatrical art form that incorporates music, singing, acting, acrobats and martial arts to tell stories based on Chinese history, classics and myths.
Renowned as a Cantonese opera vocalist, Maestro Leung founded a unique school of vocal music (解心腔) characterized by the use of a flexible and sentimental voice that differs from the rhythm and expression of traditional singing. This new style has contributed significantly to the enrichment and development of Cantonese vocal music in Hong Kong.
Maestro Leung was also a violinist, famous for his ingenuities in playing a diverse range of Chinese musical stringed instruments, in particular, erxian (二弦), erhu (二胡) and small houguan (短筒喉管). Many of his instrumental compositions are frequently performed and widely recognized as famous Cantonese operatic fixed tunes (小曲) that have been commonly adopted into Cantonese opera.
Programme
To commemorate and celebrate Maestro Leung Yee-chung’s contribution to Cantonese music, we are delighted to present the following special programme
• A brief introduction to the “Five Instruments”
• Maestro Yu Qi-wei (余其偉), Head of the Department of Chinese Music,
Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and his team will perform selected
masterpieces from Maestro Leung Yeechung’s collection.
• Maestro Leung’s daughters, Leung So-kam (梁素琴) and Leung Chi-kit (梁
之潔) will demonstrate a session of the “Eight Famous Pieces”.
This lecture focuses on rubbings, which are one of the most influential art reproductions in China. The artistic value of calligraphic rubbings could be comparable to the original calligraphy yet not many people, including art historians, pay attention to this kind of art reproductions. In fact, rubbings occupied a central place in Chinese visual culture, and allowed the elite practices of calligraphy and antiquarianism to be shared with relatively wider audiences in imperial China. Now, however, esoteric rubbings are rarely displayed by the museums that house them. Why are rubbings, such as those of the Hong Kong University Museum & Art Gallery’s (UMAG) collection little known? By using selected rubbings from UMAG as examples, Dr. Sarah Ng will help us understand the significance of rubbings, their roles in the transmission of classical tradition, and how they can best be appreciated and used.
Instead of using traditional art historical approach such as authenticity and originality, the Q&A session of this talk will be a platform for art enthusiasts, artists, art historians and the public to discuss the issues on the transformation of Chinese art reproductions from a socio-cultural perspective.
Speaker
Dr. Sarah Ng received her doctorate in History of Art at the University of Oxford with a thesis on calligraphic rubbing collections in the Ming dynasty. She is a former visiting scholar at the Institute of History & Philology (IHP), the Institute of Modern History (IMH) at the Academia Sinica, and the Centre for Chinese Studies (CCS) in Taiwan. Her recent research is on Ming dynasty royal rubbing collections, and on modern paintings and calligraphy from the UMAG collection. She has a passion for the preservation and promotion of Chinese art and possesses a strong museum background with almost ten years of experience working and volunteering in various museums (the British Museum, Museum of London, the Rare Book Collection of UCL, Archaeological Museum in Greece, Hong Kong Museum of Art and the Art Museum CUHK, etc.) before joining UMAG as a research fellow.
In connection with the current exhibition Embroidered Identities: Ornately Decorated Textiles and Accessories of Chinese Ethnic Minorities, collector Mei-yin Lee will present two talks to enrich the viewer’s understanding and appreciation of the colourful dresses and accessories of this exhibit.
In ancient times, the Han people regarded tribal groups living outside of Central China as barbarians. Who were they? In this first talk, Lee will give an introduction about their history and culture, and how they relate to the present day ethnic minority groups in China.
中國民族概論
你聽過古時居住在中原華夏族四週的東夷、南蠻、西戎、北狄嗎？ 他們是什麼民族？ 與現今的少數民族有什麼關係？李美賢女士這個講座會給你答案。
About the Exhibition
Supported by the Museum Society to commemorate the Society’s 25th and the Museum’s 60th anniversaries, the exhibition demonstrates the wealth of colours, techniques and styles found in the on-going traditions of Chinese minority groups. Elaborately embroidered costumes and baby carriers, most of which originate from the Miao, Dong, Shui and Zhuang ethnic tribes of the south-western Chinese provinces of Guizhou, Yunnan, and Guangxi are decorated with richly coloured, stitched and sewn ornamentations – and sometimes silver applications – indigenous to the particular culture and long-lived traditions they derive from. As some ethnic minorities lack a written script, the symbolism and colour-coding found in their textiles form a visual language that presents an important cultural and anthropological development and heritage still in practice today.
With needles and threads, the women of the Chinese ethnic minorities create embroideries that not only demonstrate their ingenious skills, but also reflect their history, culture, and wisdom towards life. In this second talk, collector Mei-yin Lee will decode the stories hidden behind the colourful patterns that are unique to their heritage and tradition.
針情線韻
少數民族婦女的高超刺繡技術，一針一線交織成一幅幅豐富多姿的圖畫，這些圖畫，不但表現了精湛的工藝，還紀錄了她們民族的歷史與文化，及反映了他們生活的智慧；這次講座，李美賢女士將會繼續帶領大家進一步認識各民族及理解她們這些傑作的內涵。
Speaker
Collector Mei-yin Lee (李美賢) is a Special Research Fellow of the Dunhuang Academy and an advisor to the HK Institute for the Promotion of Chinese Culture. She has conducted in-depth research on Chinese ethnic culture, Buddhist art and Chinese embroidery for many years.
Members are in for a very special treat with this New Year visit to the idyllic home of long-standing members James and Lana Kinoshita. Originally built as a weekend retreat for their young family, it has now become their permanent residence since the couple’s retirement from their long careers in the design field.
Born in Vancouver, James was a distinguished Hong Kong architect involved with many significant projects including the Hong Kong Hilton, Jardine House (Connaught House), The Landmark, the Mandarin Oriental Hotel (Bangkok) and the Jinling Hotel in Nanjing. Lana was a successful interior designer and the creative force behind the designs of many hotels and airline offices in Hong Kong. Her first passion, however, was for agriculture, and she has channelled this into her garden designs.
Their home reflects the perfect marriage of architecture and interior/garden design. Stepping through the simple doors that separate the outside world, one is immediately transported to a place of peace and tranquillity, a world that is far from the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong. The house and its garden with classical Asian elements – architecture, vegetation, rocks and colourful carp in a reflective pool – form a work of art. It also sets a perfect stage to capture one of the most beautiful waterfront views of Sai Kung.
To be welcomed into someone’s home is special; to savour afternoon tea at the Kinoshita’s is simply heavenly!
