PLEASE NOTE THE NEW DATE OF MAY 28, 2015
In cooperation with the UBC Library on the occasion of its Centennial, CSAA is pleased to announce the Vancouver visit of Dr. Frances Wood, author and former curator of the Chinese Collections at the British Library, from May 24-29 to coincide with Asian Heritage Month. Dr. Wood will provide an introduction to the “Musical Journey Along the Silk Road” concert at the Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, presented by CSAA. This musical performance by multicultural musicians will take you on a journey along the Silk Road, from the Middle East to the Far East. Dr. Wood will also give a lecture and interview at UBC.
Dr. Frances Wood studied art at Liverpool Art School before beginning Chinese at the University of Cambridge. She spent the year 1975/76 in the Beijing Languages Institute and Peking University, and wrote a PhD thesis for London University on traditional domestic architecture in the Beijing area. She worked in the SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) library at the University of London before moving to the British Library as curator of the Chinese collections, retiring in 2013. Dr. Wood has written many books on Chinese culture and history including Chinese Illustration (1986), The Blue Guide to China (2002), Did Marco Polo Go To China? (1995), Hand Grenade Practice in Peking (2000), The Silk Road (2003), No Dogs and Not Many Chinese: Treaty Port Life in China 1843–1943 (1998), The Forbidden City (2005), The First Emperor (2007), The Diamond Sutra: The story of the world’s earliest dated printed book (2010), Chinese Export Paintings in the British Library (2011), and Picnics Prohibited: Diplomacy in a chaotic China during the First World War (2014). For more background on Dr. Wood, please see the British Library Asian and African Studies blog.
9th-century almanac showing some of the animals of the 12-year cycle, found at Dunhuang by Aurel Stein, British Library
PUBLIC LECTURE
Tuesday 26 May 2015 @ 3PM
UBC Asian Centre, Auditorium. 1871 West Mall
Presented by UBC Asian Library and Department of Asian Studies
TITLE: From Buddhism to Nestorian Christianity: The Importance of the Silk Roads in the Movement of Ideas and Religions across Central Asia
ABSTRACT: As the popular name suggests, the Silk Roads were routes for the movement of commodities over thousands of years: silk to Rome, jade and fine horses to China. But the movement of ideas and icons was also facilitated by these trade routes. The rich variety of religions was evidenced by the great cache of manuscripts discovered in Dunhuang in 1900. Since the first removal of manuscripts to London by Aurel Stein in 1907 and to Paris by Paul Pelliot in the following year, scholars have been astounded by the richness of this manuscript hoard. In addition to showing the significance of Buddhism in the daily life of Tang China, these treasures also reveal the importance of religion to the Sogdian traders who dominated the northern Silk Road and underline the cosmopolitan nature of Tang China.
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IN CONVERSATION: FRANCES WOOD AND TIM BROOK
Friday 29 May 2015 @ 3PM
UBC CK Choi Building, 1855 West Mall
Presented by UBC Library with the Institute of Asian Research and its Centre for Chinese Research
Republic of China Chair and China historian, Dr. Timothy Brook, in an extended interview of Dr. Frances Wood on their shared experience of being students in China during the Cultural Revolution, and how it shaped their views of China.
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Acknowledgements: The UBC visit of Dr. Frances Wood is made possible through the generous support of Willem and Rosalie Stronck. Events are presented by the UBC Library (Asian Library and Irving K. Barber Learning Centre) on the occasion of its Centennial and in partnership with the Department of Asian Studies, Institute of Asian Research, Canadian Society for Asian Arts, and explorAsian: Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society.
Aurel Stein and his assistants, Gobi desert, 1907, British Library