China Week Winners
Over the course of China Week, the Chinese Exhibition held in Eden Grove held a competition where students were asked to fill in a quick survey with the chance to win an iPod. The Confucius Institute was curious to know what students would expect from learning Chinese, and what aspect of Chinese Langauage and Culture they found the most interesting and would like to learn more about.
Last week, the Confucius Institute drew 3 lucky students who became the winners of an iPod as well as the Confucius Institute's and School of Langauages poetry and narrative compliation books.
When an Emperor Meets a Hyena
The end of China Week saw it closing in a appropriate fashion with a theatrical performance combining elements of both Chinese and African tradition. Held at the Rhodes Main Theatre on 29 September, the performance was arranged, directed, written by and performed by students from the Confucius Institute.
The performance was a colourful mixture of music, dance, dialogue, ninjas and lions which saw the fusion of a traditional-style South African story and a traditional-style Chinese story. The show was targeted at all audiences, young and old, and showed how our two countries, being from opposite ends of the world, were able to come together and share in each other's cultures to solve problems. The play was particularly representative of the growing relationship between South Africa and China and how, despite our language, geographical and cultural differences, we are working together, both economically and socially, to the advantage of both our countries.
Sai Weng Loses His Horse - Ten Interpretations in Five Langauges
Last year for China Week, the Confucius Institute together with the School of Languages and the English Department held a poetry competition in which students from the various language departments were asked to translate a Chinese poem into their langauge of study. This year, students and members from the different languages departments were asked to write their own interpreation, rather than just a translation, of an ancient Chinese tale "Sai Weng Loses His Horse".
Sai Weng is the story of a man who encounters a number of both fortunate and unfortuante events throughout the course of some time. However, his approach to each event is not joyous or stressful, rather, he approaches each event with indifference. The story is a representation of the Daoist philosophy of "going with the flow"of life, and taking each experience one has as neither positive or negative, but as purely consequential.
The collection of stories was presented this year during China week where the interpretations of Sai Weng crossed the boundaries of China into Lesotho, the Eastern Cape, Nazi Germany and a future run by machines.
China Week 2011
*Detailed information about each event can be found beneath the schedule.
-China week also coincides with the "Chinese art and textiles" at the Albany History Museum. See details below.
Lecture and Event Details
Chinese in Africa/Africans in China Research Working Group Activities
Monday, 26 September 2011
15:30 - 17:30 “The future of the CA-AC?”
A meeting between CA/AC network members, our Rhodes University colleagues, and other China/Africa research centres/programmes
Venue: St Peters Room 34 (behind Eden Grove), Rhodes University
18:30 for 19:00 Dinner hosted by Rhodes Sociology Department
Venue: Rat & Parrot on New Street
NB: Meals will be covered for speakers only; other conference attendees are welcome to join us at their own expense.
Tuesday, 27 September 2011
8:30 - 16:00 Chinese in Africa-Africans in China Colloquium
Venue: Humanities Faculty Seminar Room, Rhodes University
From 8:30 Coffee/tea & pastries AND registration/recruitment for CA/AC googlegroup
9:00 Welcome from Vice Chancellor, Dr SaleemBadat
9:05 Opening remarks from Director of CIRU, Professor Marius Vermaark
9:10 Opening remarks from Convener of CA-AC, Dr Yoon Jung Park
9:15 Introduction to Colloquium
Tu Huynh, PhD, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Sociology Department, Rhodes University (larger migration and socio-cultural issues and open questions for consideration)
9:30 - 11:15 Panel One: Chinese in Southern Africa
Dr MaitseoBolaane, Sociology Department, University of Botswana
“Chinese in Botswana”
Solange Guo Chatelard, PhD candidate, Comparative Politics, China/Africa, Sciences Po, Paris & Research Associate,Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology
“Chinese in Zambia”
Tu Huynh, PhD, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Sociology Department, Rhodes University, “Chinese in South Africa: Johannesburg, the Free State, and Grahamstown”
Followed by Q&A and discussion
11:15 - 11:40 Tea/Coffee break
11:45 - 13:00 Panel Two: Social, Cultural and Economic Impacts of Africa/Chinaengagement
Professor Gordon Mathews, Anthropology, Chinese University of Hong Kong
“African involvement in transnational cell phone business via China”
Dr Yoon Jung Park, Senior Research Associate, Sociology Department, Rhodes University “Preliminary social, cultural, and economic impacts of Chinese engagement in Southern Africa”
Followed by Q&A and discussion
13:00 - 14:25 Lunch
14:30 - 16:00 Roundtable Discussion: China and Chinese migrants' impact on Africa's development
Professor Stephen Gelb, Department of Economics, University of Johannesburg
Dr Yoon Jung Park, Senior Research Associate, Sociology Department, Rhodes University
Dr Sven Grimm, Centre for Chinese Studies (and/or DaoudaCisse, Postdoctoral Fellow - TBC)
Dr Ke Yu, Postdoctoral Fellow, Research Use and Impact Assessment (RIA), Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC)
18:30 For 19:00 Dinner hosted by the Confucius Institute of Rhodes University (CIRU)
Venue: TBA
NB: Meals will be covered for speakers only; other conference attendees are welcome to join us at their own expense.
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
9:00 - 11:00 China-Africa collaboration meeting
Venue: St Peters Room 36 (behind Eden Grove), Rhodes University
19:00 Humanities Faculty Public Lecture
Professor Gordon Mathews:
“Ghetto at the Center of the World: Chungking Mansions, Hong Kong”
Venue: Eden Grove Seminar Room 1
Economics Roundtable Session on China and Africa
Presenters:
Professor Gavin Keeton, Rhodes University: China's impact on commodity prices: a blessing or a curse for Africa?
Professor Stephen Gelb, University of Johannesburg: China's growth re-balancing - implications for Africa
Professor Zhang Jun, Jinan University: The development of China's processing trade: experiences and lessons for Africa
Wednesday 28 September 5pm – 6.30pm
Eden Grove Seminar Room 1 (upstairs in the Eden Grove building)
For further information, contact Helen Pienaar: h.pienaar@ru.ac.za 0466038656
Biographical notes on speakers for the China Week programme:
PROFESSOR GAVIN KEETON
Gavin Keeton is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics and Economic History at Rhodes University. Previously he was an economist at the Development Bank of Southern Africa and Standard Bank and was Chief Economist of Anglo American until 2008. He writes a fortnightly macroeconomic policy column in Business Day.
PROFESSOR STEPHEN GELB
Stephen Gelb teaches economics at the University of Johannesburg. He studied economics at the Universities of Cape Town, Toronto and Manitoba in Canada, and has taught economics, political science and development studies at the Universities of Durban-Westville, Natal and the Witwatersrand and also in Canada and the US. Born in South Africa, he was an activist in the anti-apartheid movement as a student in Canada, and advised COSATU, the SA Council of Churches, the UDF and the ANC on economic policy issues between 1984 and 1994. Since 1994, he has consulted to several SA government departments, as well as UN agencies and foreign governments. He has worked as an economist at the Development Bank of Southern Africa and was the Executive Director of The EDGE Institute, an independent economic research organisation in Johannesburg. In 2008, he served as Founding Director of the Centre for Indian Studies in Africa at Wits University. His current research is on foreign direct investment between developing countries, on the political economy of growth, and on the macroeconomics of energy policy in South Africa.
PROFESSOR ZHANG JUN
Zhang Jun obtained her Ph.D. Degree from Peking University in the History of Economic Thought. From September 2002 to March 2003, she carried out research as the foreign research associate at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo, Japan. In 2003, she joined the faculty in the School of Economics, Jinan University, China. Since 2006, she has been associate professor and the tutor for graduate students. From 2009 to 2010, she was the visiting scholar in the Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, U.S.A. Her research interests are global production networks and knowledge intensive service industry. She has published more than 30 papers in International Business Research, Energy Procedia and so on. She received research grants from the Japan Foundation, Ministry of Education in China and Jinan University in China.
China Week Mini Film Fest Programme
A selection of films aimed at providing different perspectives on modern-day China and its increasing influence on the African continent.
Tue 27th 5:10pm
SCREENING 1 (SHORTS)
Venue: Barrat 3
Three short films exploring the unique ways in which Chinese and African cultures are being transcended.
Buddha of Africa
Nicole Schafer South Africa, Malawi, (2011) 12 min
Buddha of Africa is the pilot for a feature length documentary that addresses China’s growing influence on the African continent through the story of a Malawian orphan being raised at a Chinese Buddhist Orphanage near the country’s economic capital, Blantyre. Here he learns to read and write Mandarin, is introduced to the philosophy of Buddhism and becomes a young master of Shaolin Kung Fu.
The screening will be followed by a short discussion with the filmmaker.
Li Xia's Salon
Omelga Mthiyane, South Africa, China, (2011) 26 min
Li Xia’s Salon is one of the short films commissioned by the Rotterdam Film Festival, aimed at reversing the Chinese gaze on Africa.
Omelga Mthiyane had little personal experience with the Chinese, and the Chinese she met had no experience with Africans. However, before arriving in the country, she felt this lack of acquaintance could be the starting point for her film.? Her idea was simple but effective. She would step into a hairdressing salon in China and ask if they could do her hair. Her African hair.
The Trip
Yves Montand Niyongabo, 2011, Rwanda, China, 45 min.
Set in the village of Songzhuang, a village-like part of Beijing where many artists live, the filmmaker goes about trying to understand Chinese culture and society. Rwandan filmmaker Niyongabo describes the film as an experimental essay.
Wed 28th 5:10
SCREENING 2
Venue: Barrat 3
Last Train Home
Lixin Fan, China, (2009) 85 min
Every spring, China’s cities are plunged into chaos, as all at once, a tidal wave of humanity attempts to return home by train. It is the Chinese New Year. The wave is made up of millions of migrant factory workers. The homes they seek are the rural villages and families they left behind to seek work in the booming coastal cities. It is an epic spectacle that tells us much about China, a country discarding traditional ways as it hurtles towards modernity and global economic dominance.
“Filmmaker Lixin Fan may very well be one of modern-day China’s great non-fiction storytellers…. LAST TRAIN HOME is a documentary masterpiece!” —Brian Brooks, INDIEWIRE
Thurs 29th 5:10
SCREENING 3
Venue: Barrat 3
24 City
Jia Zhangke, China, (2008) 112 min
A new film by Chinese director Jia Zhangke that chronicles the fall of a state owned factory and its conversion into a luxury high rise apartment complex.
24 City weaves together the stories of three generations of factory workers into a fascinating oral history of post-revolutionary China and the massive changes transforming the country.
Zhangke’s narrative style combines an interesting blend of fictional and documentary storytelling, pop songs and other offbeat details.
The film made its debut shown in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.
“A moving elegy to modern-day China" -The Hollywood Reporter
"The film interweaves the political overview — of a city institution being torn down to be replaced by commercial and residential buildings — with personal anecdotes that are poignant and charming." -Time
"The latest chapter in Jia Zhangke's chronicles of modern Chinese history is certain to reinforce the director's status as an international arthouse icon.” -Screen International
South Africa's Way Ahead: Are we a BRIC?
Presented by Dr Ron Sandrey
Trade Law Centre (tralac) Associate &
Emeritus Professor at the Department of Agricultural Economics,
University of Stellenbosch
Monday 26 September 2011 at 5.15pm
Eden Grove Blue Lecture Theatre
For further information please contact Helen Pienaar: h.pienaar@ru.ac.za or 0466038217
*The BRIC group of emerging economies includes Brazil, Russia, India and China. South Africa joined the group in April 2011.
Biographical note on Dr Ron Sandry:
Ron Sandrey is an Agricultural and Trade Economist with extensive research experience in Southern Africa and New Zealand. He obtained an undergraduate degree from Lincoln University in New Zealand in 1980 after a successful career as a farmer and then went on to obtain a Ph D in Resource Economics from Oregon State University in 1982.
From there he lectured back at Lincoln for four years before transferring to Wellington, New Zealand, to the position of Chief Economist with the Ministry of Agriculture and then fifteen years as the Senior Economist with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In 2005 he left for South Africa and spent four years with the Trade Law Centre for Southern Africa (tralac) in Stellenbosch as Senior Economist. During that time he researched and wrote extensively on trade-related issues in South and Southern Africa. This research to date has included four books in tralac's 'South Africa's way ahead' series and numerous other publications. A particular emphasis on the South African - China relationship was a feature of the more recent work.
Ron is currently semi-retired and living back in New Zealand but continues to work in New Zealand, South Africa and China. The China work over the past two years since returning to New Zealand has included a six-week assignment looking at agricultural reforms in China and their implications for South Africa and another six-week assignment lecturing in International Economics and Trade at Jinan University in China.
He currently holds positions as 1) Professor Extraordinaire at the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Stellenbosch; 2) an Associate with tralac; 3) an Adjunct Associate Professor at Lincoln University in New Zealand. While in South Africa he was also an Associate with the Centre for Chinese Studies at Stellenbosch.
Over the last few years a close association with Rhodes has developed, starting with a seminar in late 2008 which led to a week-long attendance at the China week in 2009. This was followed by a two month in-house study period at the Department of Economics in August and September of 2010 as the Hobart Houghton Fellow.
Globalisation and the development of China's manufacturing industry
Presented by:
Professor Zhang Jun,
Jinan University,
Guangzhou, China
Thursday 29 September 11.25am – 12.50pm
Arts Major Lecture Theatre
For further information please contact Helen Pienaar: h.pienaar@ru.ac.za or 0466038656
Biographical note:
Zhang Jun obtained her Ph.D. Degree from Peking University in the History of Economic Thought. From September 2002 to March 2003, she carried out research as the foreign research associate at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo, Japan. In 2003, she joined the faculty in the School of Economics, Jinan University, China. Since 2006, she has been associate professor and the tutor for graduate students. From 2009 to 2010, she was the visiting scholar in the Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, U.S.A. Her research interests are global production networks and knowledge intensive service industry. She has published more than 30 papers in International Business Research, Energy Procedia and so on. She has received research grants from the Japan Foundation, Ministry of Education in China and Jinan University in China.
Civil society engagement: A role to play in Sino-African relations?
Presented by Hayley Herman
Programme Officer, Emerging Powers in Africa Initiative,
FAHAMU, Cape Town
Thursday 29 September 2011 at 5.15pm
Humanities Faculty Seminar Room,
Cnr Somerset and Prince Alfred Streets
For further information please contact Helen Pienaar: h.pienaar@ru.ac.za or 0466038656
Biographical note:
Hayley Herman is Programme Officer at Fahamu’s Emerging Powers in Africa
Initiative, based in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 2008, the
Initiative promotes debate and knowledge amongst African civil society to
better understand the comparative impact and engagement of emerging powers
in Africa. She was previously Research Manager at the Centre for Chinese
Studies at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. In both capacities she
focused on Sino-Africa and Indo-Africa relations, and more recently the
activities of BRIC countries and other emerging powers in Africa.
School of Languages Story Project
15:00 Thursday 29 September
Eden Grove Blue
Launch of a book of stories from the Chinese Short Story Project.
Last year students from the School of Languages at Rhodes engaged with the Chinese language by translating a classical poem into German, Latin, French, Afrikaans, English and Xhosa. This year the challenge was not a translation but a transformation of the main elements of an ancient Chinese story into a re-imagined context. The story chosen was the famous ancient tale Sai Weng Loses His Horse. The stories submitted have been collected in a multilingual booklet. The authors will be there to read them, and the winner of the competition will be announced.
Contemporary Art in China and Cultural Exchange
Friday 30th September 2:15
Venue: Fine Art Lecture Theatre (Sculpture Block near Journalism)
Short talks and the presentation of awards to the winners of the Art History essay competition.
Prof Ruth Simbao (Fine Art Department, Rhodes University)
Contemporary Art Spaces in China and the Shanghai Biennale
Ayanda Mabulu (Independent Artist, Cape Town)
When the Sickle Cuts Through its Citizens and the Hammer Nails Them Down
VusiKhumalo (Independent Artist, Grahamstown)
Visual Comparisons: My Art in South Africa and China
Jennifer Coppinger (Fine Art Department, Rhodes University)
Western Projections of Chinese Culture in Art
Simone Haynes (Fine Art Department, Rhodes University)
The Only Constant is Change: Pervading Cultural Anxiety in Ai Weiwei's Work
Leora Jones (Fine Art Department, Rhodes University)
A Tender Iconography of Pain: Body and Site in Zhang Huan's Early Work
Chinese art and textiles exhibition
You are invited to visit the exhibition:
"Chinese art and textiles"
Albany History Museum
Monday 26 September to mid-October
A treasure of Chinese textiles in the Albany History Museum was recently
re-discovered in a box, misleadingly labelled "furnishings". This coincided
with the preparations for a small exhibition for Rhodes China Week. The
purpose of the exhibition is to highlight Chinese art and explore public
interest in the intricacies of the objects.
This exhibition which overlaps with China week, will intrigue and engage
visitors in the variety and complexities of Chinese decorative arts,
textiles and painting.
Comments and additional information will be welcomed by Fleur Way-Jones,
Curator: History, Albany Museum or emailed to f.way-jones@ru.ac.za
