Please join us for a New Year of celebrating art & friendship! Our Patron Mrs. Jane Zhang will open her home for a Members’ Garden Party at the University Lodge. You are cordially invited to join and bring along friends for a fun-filled afternoon with tea buffet, festive activities, music, singing, calligraphy and photography with award-winning images on flora & fauna.
Kindly RSVP by 10 January 2025
鄭寶鴻先生是著名香港歷史及掌故專家，一直以來對推廣香港歷史的普及教育不遺餘力，他將與我們一起遊走九龍半島的最南端，由尖沙咀至油麻地—水警總部、半島酒店、九龍倉、重慶市場、威菲路軍營、佐治五世公園、佐敦道碼頭、八文樓、油麻地果欄及天后廟等等。
Photo Credit: Mr. Cheng Po Hung
This lecture is presented in conjunction with the Museum Society’s upcoming trip, “A Tour to Western Yunnan – Mangshi, Ruili, Tengchong & Kunming” with Professor Joseph TING Sun Pao. Members and guests are welcome to attend.
In this lecture, Professor Ting will begin with an introduction of the natural environment of western Yunnan, its historical development throughout the ages, major ethnic minority tribes in the region and their unique cultures. He will talk about the ancient Southern Silk Road as well as Tengchong’s role in the trade with Myanmar after it was opened as a treaty port in the early part of the 20th century. The main focus of the talk will be on the fierce battles conducted in western Yunnan during the War of Resistance against the Japanese.
Speaker
Professor Ting graduated with a B.A. degree in 1974, MPhil in 1979 and PhD in 1989, all from The University of Hong Kong. He joined HK Museum of Art in 1979 as an Assistant Curator II, and retired in 2007 as the Chief Curator of the HK Museum of History. He is currently an Honorary Professor of the School of Chinese, HKU and an Adjunct Professor of the History Department of the Chinese University of HK. He is an Honorary Adviser of the HK Museum of Art and Museum of History; and also a Senior Adviser of the Art Museum of CUHK. Professor Ting is an Honorary Fellow of The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Education University of Hong Kong, and an Honorary Doctor of Letters from the Hong Kong Metropolitan University.
This Exhibition is sponsored by the HKUMS 30th Anniversary Endowment Fund.
Image credit:
Kurosaki Akira and Nakabayashi Tadayoshi
The presentation previews the architecture visit to Hangzhou in October, focusing on the projects of Wang Shu, the 2012 Pritzker Architecture Prize winner. In addition to introducing selected works of Amateur Architecture, the discussion also foregrounds the following issues that have influenced Wang’s architecture. They cover the context that shapes Wang’s thoughts, the value and methods of his design, as well as the mode of his practice.
The presentation will also include other projects in Hangzhou designed by renowned architects, including Alvaro Siza, Renzo Piano, David Chipperfield, Tadao Ando, and Chang Yung Ho.
Speaker
Professor Wang Weijen is the Director of Wang Weijen Architecture, Andrew KF Lee Professor of Architecture Design and Director of Center for Chinese Architecture and Urbanism at University of Hong Kong. Integrating architecture with landscape and urban-rural conditions, his design projects, covering schools, campuses, and community buildings, received design awards including HKIA 2022 Project of the Year, AIA Awards, HKIUD Awards and others. With research focuses on typology of Chinese Architecture and Cities, his writings and designs have been published in numerous international and regional architectural journals. He is also the Editorial Director of HKIA Journal, Curator for Hong Kong on 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale, Curator of 2007 Hong Kong Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism.
The first comprehensive retrospective exhibition of I.M. Pei (1917-2019), I.M. Pei: Life is Architecture, will examine the works of this Chinese-American architectural master in detail. Pei’s high-profile architectural projects spanned seven decades and spanned a vast area, including the East Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Grand Louvre in Paris, the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong, and the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha. His life and career were also intertwined by power relations, complex geopolitics, cultural traditions, and various urban styles around the world, forming a splendid and rich experience. His cross-cultural vision laid the foundation for the contemporary world.
Speaker
Professor Wang Weijen is the Director of Wang Weijen Architecture, Andrew KF Lee Professor of Architecture Design and Director of Center for Chinese Architecture and Urbanism at University of Hong Kong. Integrating architecture with landscape and urban-rural conditions, his design projects, covering schools, campuses, and community buildings, received design awards including HKIA 2022 Project of the Year, AIA Awards, HKIUD Awards and others. With research focuses on typology of Chinese Architecture and Cities, his writings and designs have been published in numerous international and regional architectural journals. He is also the Editorial Director of HKIA Journal, Curator for Hong Kong on 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale, Curator of 2007 Hong Kong Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism.
More information about the exhibition can be found here:
https://www.mplus.org.hk/tc/exhibitions/i-m-pei-life-is-architecture/
Image Credit:
M+ West Kowloon Cultural District
Shawls of Paisley design were in fashion for nearly 100 years, from 1790-1880, woven and embroidered in Kashmir and Europe during that period. The Kashmir shawls, known as Jamewaars in India, were hand woven in a unique style of tapestry weaving that is now a lost art, and are considered by many to be among the most beautiful and intricate examples of textile and carpet weaving. Together with their European counterparts, these shawls and their paisley patterns have left a permanent mark on the history of textile design.
Speaker
Romi Lamba has been collecting shawls for the past 35 years in the U.S., England and India. He works in Finance and lives in Hong Kong.
Image Credit:
Asia Art Hong Kong
The HKU Museum Society is privileged to organise a visit to one of the largest private collections of Chinese paper currencies. Collector Mr. Norman Lin will introduce different paper currencies dating from the Yuan, Ming, Qing dynasties to the Republic of China and the New China periods. Through this collection, we can have a glimpse of the the history of modern China.
人類的發展，由野蠻至文明，從經濟角度看，就是一部貨幣史。其中紙幣的發明是重大的里程碑，標置着由「以物換物」進展到「信用」制度的確立。中國作為文明古國，是世界上首先使用紙幣的國家，時間可追溯至北宋，當時的紙幣叫「交子」，歷經元朝、明朝、清朝，至鴉片戰爭後，中國被逼開放門户，讓外國商人及銀行進駐，紙幣的發行及種類大增，以換取中國政府及民間的黃金及白銀。
早期外商銀行發行的紙幣並非精美，隨著印刷技術不斷改進，紙幣設計及用色都十分豐富，美輪美奐。民國初期已有中國的銀行委託美國鈔票公司代印紙幣。
英國是最早來到中國的外商，銀行包括上海有利銀行、印度新金山中國滙理銀行、印度新金山中國渣打銀行(渣打銀行前身)、英商香港上海滙豐銀行(香港上海滙豐銀行前身)等等，其後美資、法資、日資、德資及俄資等銀行也相繼進駐。
近代中國的紙幣史，反咉中華民族的百年滄桑。
今次巡禮將參觀資深及知名的中國紙幣收藏家林建邦先生的珍藏，林先生將介紹「元、明、清、民國、新中國」時期的各式紙幣，包括不同銀行、地區和政府的紙幣，從當中多樣的變化一窺中國近代史。
A Passion for Silk: The Road from China to Europe
The art of silk (sericulture) emerged in China in 8,500 BCE, becoming an important financial industry over the succeeding millennia. Chinese farmers cultivated silkworms and the mulberry trees, while master craftsmen and women wove and embroidered shimmering, colourful fabric. The value of silk was so high that it was used for payments like gold. Though kept a state secret, by the third century CE the production of silk had become known to China’s neighbours while India had independently developed its own silk weaving tradition. In Europe, Italy first learned sericulture in the medieval period, followed by France a few centuries later. Through technological and artistic innovations, these two countries dominated the European silk market, while Chinese silk remained a luxury item for royalty and aristocrats. The fame of Chinese silk was such that in the 19th century China’s early trade routes came to be called the Silk Road.
Just as important as silk’s financial role is its cultural, political, technical, and religious significance. The fabric’s design and usage reveal developments in art, trade, fashion, and technology (to name just a few) and expose important cross-cultural influences. With over a hundred samples of silk clothing, accessories, and furnishings from China, India, Italy and France, this exhibition provides a rare overview of the crucial cultural role played by Chinese silk making and its influence abroad. Just as important, the exhibition reveals how European silk makers adapted the Chinese methods of production and artistic styles in ways that then influenced Chinese fabrication itself in the 20th century. Silk’s continuing appeal is visible in contemporary high fashion silk creations today.
Speaker
Dr. Isabelle Frank is an independent curator in Hong Kong. After six years as the founding director of the Indra and Harry Banga Gallery, City University of Hong Kong (2016 to 2022), she continued as consulting curators until 2024. Over this period, she mounted exhibitions combining art and technology and bridging Western and Asian cultures. She has collaborated with such international institutions as the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, the Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan, Latvian National Museum of Art. An art historian by training (with a Ph.D. from Harvard University), she has published on Italian Renaissance art and decorative art (The Theory of Decorative Art 1750-1940, Yale University Press, 2000), and has edited many catalogues for the Banga Gallery, most recently Hunters, Warriors, Spirits. Nomadic Art in North China (2022) and Amber: Baltic Gold (2022).