Thanks to those of you who braved the torrential rain and came out to hear Dr. Stadtner give a fascinating lecture on fakery and fraud!

Cinevolution Media Arts Society will be holding its 6th annual DocuAsia film and forum program  on November 21 (Pacific Cinematheque) and November 24 (Kwantlen Polytechnic University). Both events will include a feature-length documentary (“Return to Homs” and “Queens of Syria,” respectively) and a post-screening panel. Live music, a few short films and animations will precede the features. More information is available on the Facebook event page, which includes links to RSVP via Eventbrite or at their website.

Thanks to everyone who came out to hear Dr. Timothy Brook give his fascinating lecture on Ming maritime trade “The Ming Afloat: From Zheng He to the Selden Map!”

Here’s a few photos from the event:

Dr. Timothy Brook, Dr. Jan Walls, Dr. Paul Crowe puzzling out the characters on the Swatow-Ware bowl.

Dr. Timothy Brook

Maritime trade routes on the Selden Map

THURSDAY OCTOBER 22:

The Maiden at Dōjōji Temple: Performance Interpretations 

A Lecture and Demonstration on the Art of Kabuki

6:00 – 7:30 pm Thursday, October 22

Frederic Wood Theatre (6354 Crescent Road, UBC)

Free of charge

Join us for an introduction to the performance styles of modern kabuki stars Sakata Tōjūrō and Bandō Mitsugorō X. Performer and scholar Nakamura Gankyō offers a lecture comparing the kata and kaishaku, or “form” and “interpretation,” of famous scenes in the play Maiden at Dōjoji Temple (Musume Dōjōji). The event will conclude with a dance-performance.

Born and raised in Southern California, Nakamura Gankyō is the first non-Japanese citizen to become a professional Kabuki actor. Gankyō has traveled worldwide to introduce Kabuki to a global audience, and is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at UCLA.

This performance is free of charge and all are welcome.

Co-sponsored by the UBC Centre for Japanese Research, Department of Theatre and Film, Department of Asian Studies; and TomoeArts.

FRIDAY OCTOBER 23: 

The Birth of Nishikawa Sukenobu’s Shunpon:

“Sex” and Publishing Culture

3:30 – 5:00 pm Friday, October 23

Professor Takashi Nakajima (Waseda University)

Room 129, CK Choi Building (1855 West Mall)

Illustrated three-volume works by Nishikawa Sukenobu—said even to be the cause of the government’s publishing restrictions of the Kyōhō era—were revolutionary shunpon (pornographic books) because of a particular rich aesthetic consciousness. Iro hiinagata (1711) and Nasake hiinagata (1712), written by Ejima Kiseki and illustrated by Sukenobu and published in five yokobonvolumes by Hachimonjiya, are taken as the pioneering works. Moreover, in both works we see the early trends taken by erotic works (kōshokubon) since Saikaku’s Life of an Amorous Man(Kōshoku ichidai otoko), as kōshokubon gradually reveal aspects of shunpon. I suspect that trends of the Edo market influenced the phenomenon of Kamigata kōshokubon turning into shunpon. Yama no Yatsu and Nishimura Ichirōemon were both author-publishers who encouraged such a of trend. Differing from Saikaku’s kōshoku ukiyo-zōshi, the format ofkōshokubon was half-sheet-sized books (hanshibon, approx. 23 x 16 cm), the content lascivious, and there were many in which sexual acts were depicted in the illustrations. In this lecture, I will take up such Genroku-and Hōei-era works as Kōshoku Haru no akebono—which mentions Yonosuke, the hero of Life of an Amorous Man, who crossed over to the Isle of Women—and discuss the development toward Sukenobu’s shunpon and the historical cultural significance of kōshokubon and shunpon.

Nakajima Takashi is Professor of Japanese Literature at Waseda University, Tokyo. Among his many books areSaikaku and Genroku Media (2011), The Development of Early Ukiyo-zōshi (1996), and the prize-winning historical novel The Notebook of Yoemon of the Pleasure Quarter (2007).

THURSDAY OCTOBER 30:

Canadian Premiere of Minako: Last Geisha of the Yoshiwara

3:30 pm – 6:00 pm Friday, October 30

Asian Centre Auditorium

(1877 West Mall, UBC)

Free of charge

Please join us for this screening of a documentary movie on the last living geisha of the Yoshiwara district. In addition to the screening, there will be brief presentations on geisha and Edo culture by director Makoto Yasuhara and Edo specialist Kenji Watanabe.

Minako: Last Geisha of the Yoshiwara

Director Makoto Yasuhara spent six years getting to know and document the life of a practicing geisha of the Yoshiwara district of Tokyo. Until Minako’s death in 2010 at age 90, she was the last living geisha (literally “a practitioner of the arts”) of the Yoshiwara, the only licensed area for prostitution in the old city of Edo (present Tokyo). Yoshiwara was once occupied by courtesans and those versed in traditional arts. Following World War II, the district was officially closed, but the cultural traditions lived on through the work of geisha like Minako.

This screening is free of charge and all are welcome.

Co-sponsored by the UBC Department of Asian Studies and Centre for Japanese Research, together with TomoeArts.

The Centre for Japanese Research and the Department of Asian Studies invites you to our first Lunchtime Lecture Series (LLS) this WEDNESDAY, October 7 from 12:30 to 1:30 in Asian Centre 604. Joshua Mostow will present on “A Third Gender: Beautiful Youths in Japanese Prints,” his upcoming Royal Ontario Museum exhibition co-organized with UBC PhD Asato Ikeda. All are welcome!

The LLS will continue in room 604 from 12:30 to 1:30 every second Wednesday, with presentations by Nakano Kiwa (Oct. 21: “How Do People Reconstruct Former Disaster Areas?”), Sharalyn Orbaugh on queer manga (Nov. 4), and Otilia Milutin (Nov. 18) on sexual violence across genres of premodern Japanese literature.

Please join the Centre for Japanese Research, Institute of Asian Research, Dean of Arts, and Department of Asian Studies for a reception honouring Joshua Mostow’s election as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
Date: THURSDAY, October 8
Time: 2 – 3:30 pm
Place: CK Choi 120
RSVP to Christina.Laffin@ubc.ca

We were happy to see so many people turn up at the Mingei opening and celebration at the Nikkei Centre on Saturday, June 27th! Remember that the show continues through October 11, 2015!

We had a wonderful turnout for the Dr. Frances Wood lecture and musical performance at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Chinese Classical Garden on Thursday, May 28. Thank you to Dr. Wood for her talk on Silk Road instruments and our performers Hamin Honari, Hossein Behroozinia, Zhimin Yu and Jirong Huang!

Here’s some pics from our Flickr photo album:

A Musical Journey Along the Silk Road: Pipa Performance by Zhimin Yu

Cultural China · Charming Henan –
Henan Woodblock New Year Prints Exhibition
文化中國 · 魅力河南 –  河南木板年畫展

The exhibition is in both English and Chinese.
Opening Reception: Saturday February 28^th, 2015 2:00 – 4:00pm (free and open to the public)
Exhibition dates: February 28 – April 12, 2015
Tuesday – Sunday 11am-5pm
$3/adult, $2/senior or students. Free on Tuesdays. Members free.
Chinese Cultural Centre Museum, 555 Columbia Street, Vancouver, B.C. V6A 4H5, Canada
Organizer: Chinese Henan Provincial Administration of Cultural Heritage
Co-organizer: Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Vancouver, Kaifeng City Museum, Anyang Museum
Inquiries: 604.658.8880, www.cccvan.com

開幕禮：2015年2月28日（星期六）下午二時（免費活動）
展覽日期：2015年2月28日－4月12日
周二至周日上午11時至下午5時開放。
門票：$3/成人，$2/耆英、學生。每周二免費開放。文化中心會員免費參觀。
地址：大溫哥華中華文化中心文物館，加拿大溫哥華哥倫比亞街555號

主辦：中國河南省文物局
承辦：大溫哥華中華文化中心、開封市博物館、安陽博物館
查詢：604.658.8880  www.cccvan.com

A great turnout for the Textile Symposium held on January 31st, 2015 for Interwoven Stories: Textiles, Costumes, Cultures!

Also, see the Media Coverage from Fairchild Television (in Chinese).

NOTICE of 2014 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Members of the CSAA are hereby notified that the 2014 Annual General Meeting of the Society will be held

3:30 – 5:00pm, Thursday, February 12th, 2015

at

The Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Vancouver Museum

555 Columbia Street, Vancouver, BC V6A 4H5



You are invited to attend the Society’s AGM,

to be held in conjunction with the exhibit

Interwoven Stories: Textiles, Costumes, Cultures –

A Multicultural Fest, at the CCC Museum, 2nd Floor.

Jean Kares, the textile specialist and Curator of Interwoven Stories, will

offer an engaging talk and tour of selected Asian textiles.

Light refreshments will be served.

After the AGM and talk, at 5pm members are welcome to meet for a delicious no-host dinner

at

Szechuan Chongqing Bistro,

88 West Pender Street
Unit 2029 (International Village)
Vancouver, BC V6B 6N9

The agenda for the meeting includes presentation of CSAA Reports and Financial Statements as well as election of Directors.

CSAA members in good standing are invited to vote on Society business. Please remember to renew your membership in advance of the meeting to ensure your active voting status.

Questions regarding the Annual General Meeting may be directed to:

Margo Palmer 604 266 6298

Jan Walls 604 317 0135

or at csaa@telus.net