A Vibrant Voyage from China (異想中國)(Bilingual Edition), an album showcases the pith paper paintings collected by the Chinese University of Hong Kong Library. CHING May Bo, Professor of History, City University of Hong Kong will show us the piths painting collection at CHUK library and give us a talk about its stories. Professor Ching and Li Lai Fong, Associate University Librarian, The Chinese University of Hong Kong are the editors of the album.
The Qing Dynasty of China was perceived as mysterious and beautiful in the eyes of Westerners. From the magnificent pleasure boats on the Pearl River to women with bound feet, all these sparked great curiosity among Europeans and Americans. These fantasies about China created a lucrative market for export paintings. Pith paper paintings, which blended Chinese and Western painting materials and techniques, were prevalent in Guangzhou during the late Qing period in the 19th century. After almost two centuries, these beautiful yet fragile “postcards” have returned to their place of origin.
Due to their Chinese themes, affordable prices and portability, these paintings became popular souvenirs among European and American traders, collectors, and sailors residing at the port. These small pith paper paintings not only helped bridge the gap of mutual understanding between the East and the West, but also reflected the Westerners’ romantic imagination of this exotic land.
(source: CUHK library)
The Speaker
Professor CHING May Bo, Professor of History Head, Department of Chinese and History Associate Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (Undergraduate Education and Quality Assurance), City University of Hong Kong
CHING May Bo is currently a Professor of History at the Department of Chinese and History, City University of Hong Kong, and the “Distinguished Professor of the Pearl River Scholars” in Guangdong Province (Sun Yat-sen University). She has published extensively on a variety of subjects relating to the social and cultural history of modern China. She is the author of Regional Culture and National Identity: The Shaping of “Guangdong Culture” since the Late Qing, Encountering Whang Tong: Little People and the Big World along the Pearl River Estuary in the 18th and 19th Centuries (both in Chinese), as well as numerous journal articles and book chapters in Chinese, English, and Japanese. In recent years, she has been examining how the regional culture of South China took shape in a trans-regional context in terms of sound, colour, and tastes from the 16th to the 20th centuries.
PROGRAMME
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