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Past Events in 2004
Please visit our Calendar section for upcoming events
Will China Become the World's Textile factory?
Presented in cooperation with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation Shanghai
Wednesday, 8 December, 7:30pm, Mesa Bar & Restaurant
What does the end of textile quotas mean for China and other textile
producing countries? Germany based US-economist Dean Spinanger, PhD, will
talk about the consequences of lifting global textile quotas on January 1,
2005. He will also discuss to his recent trip as a World Bank expert to
Cambodia, one of the countries which will likely suffer most when the
textile quotas system ends.
On January 1, a decades-old system that stitched up imports of clothes and textiles to protect rich countries will finally unravel. On tone hand it may bring about a bonanza for many developing state exporters and consumers world wide, on the other hand it may cause a crisis in many other countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Dominican Republic or Honduras.
The system sheltered the textile industries of developed countries from international competition by imposing quotas on sales to the United States, Europe and Canada from cheap producers such as China, India and others. By limiting how much the latter countries were allowed to export, the quota system left room - actually even encouraged - the growth of textile and clothing industries in other developing countries where under normal circumstances they would not have taken root, Cambodia and Bangladesh for example.
Under the terms of the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC), these quotas must go at the end of 2004, winding up an anomaly in the world trading system and putting clothes and textiles on the same footing as other industrial goods.
Many experts agree that China will emerge as the big winner in this reshuffle, with a recent WTO-study suggesting that it could take half of all U.S. clothing imports against only 16 percent in 2002. At the same time, India's share is expected to rise from 4 to 15 percent. But some economists say that these forecasts are over-stated and do not properly take limiting factors into account.
Meanwhile, textile industries in developing countries are making common cause with producers in the US and European Union. Together they are eager to prevent the outcome of a Chinese domination of this important sector when the global quota system will be terminated.
About Dean Spinanger, PhD:
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio (1942); undergraduate work in economics (with honors) at Ohio State University (1966–1968) and – with a DAAD scholarship – graduate work at The Free University of Berlin (1968–1971); research/senior fellow at the Kiel Institute for World Economics since 1972; Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Kiel (1982). From March, 1995, to June, 1996, Visiting Fellow at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Main Areas of Research: International trade and WTO issues encompassing barriers to goods and services trade as well as accession issues; industrialisation policies in developing countries with particular stress on the PACRIM region, economic analysis with CGE models (GTAP) of the impact of trade regimes and elimination of trade and domestic barriers; research on distortions affecting labour markets and employment levels.
Current Projects: Analysis and estimation of the impact of anti-dumping measures; review of implications and potential of liberalising the services sector in developing countries; overall analysis of impact of trade measures affecting trade in textiles and clothing over the last 50 years.
Selected Publications: Beyond Eternity: What Will Happen when Textile and Clothing Quotas Are Eliminated as of 31/12/2004? UNCTAD, Geneva 2004 (forthcoming). Structural Adjustment in Textile and Clothing: Technology and Innovation (co-author: H. Klodt). OECD (forthcoming).
Liberalising Quotas on Textiles and Clothing: Paper presented at the GTAP Conference, Washington, D.C. 2004 (co-author J. Francois). Has the ATC Actually Worked? Trading Apparel: Developing Countries in 2005. Paper presented at the GTAP Conference, Washington, D.C. 2004 (co-authors: S..Andriamananjara & J. Dean).
Trade and Social Standards: What's Next after the "World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalisation"? Paper for the 5th SUSTRA Workshop on European Governance and European Opinions on Trade and Sustainable Development, IFRI, Paris, 3-4 June 2004.
The Rise of China: Implications for Europe. Paper presented at the conference on Increased Interdependence of Greater China: Prospects and Pitfalls. Finnish, Central Bank, Helsinki, 2 June 2004.
The Coming Death of the ATC and China's WTO Accession: Will Push Come to Shove for Indian T&C Exports? In: A. Winters and P.S. Mehta (eds.), Bridging the Differences: Analyses of Five Issues of the WTO Agenda. CUTS, Jaipur 2003: 197–245 (co-author: S. Verma).
From 0 to 60 without a Hitch? Regulated Efficiency, WTO Accession and the Motor Vehicle Sector in China. Paper presented to 6th GTAP Conference, Den Hague, June 2003 (co-author: F. Francois, mimeo).
The WTO, ATC and Textiles and Clothing in a Global Perspective: What's in it for Bangladesh? Dialogue on Implementation of WTO ATC: Current Status and Implications for Bangladesh. Dhaka, 30 September 2000 (forthcoming
Textiles beyond the MFA Phase-Out. The World Economy 22 (1999) 4: 455–476.
Advisory Activities: Participated in Missions to Bangladesh and Vietnam dealing with textile/clothing and WTO accession issues. Served as a staffer in the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) for one of the 3 Hong Kong delegates (2000). Worked as a consultant for the World Bank, IFC, OECD, WTO, USAID, ILO, UNCTAD, ESCAP, Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hong Kong Trade Development Council, Arthur Andersen (Hong Kong Techno-economic Survey 2000-01), ABAC and GTZ.
Event details:
When: Wednesday, 8 December 2004, 7:30 pm
Where: Mesa, 748 Julu Lu (Corner Fumin Lu)
Price: FCC Members RMB 80; Non-Members RMB 120 (including 1 drink and delicious snacks)
RSVP: by Monday, Dec. 6th, to Elyn Gao Hang (teenspiritbloom(at)hotmail.com)
Fighting Clean: Money Laundering & Terrorist Financing
Addressing China's Problems
A talk by Peter Gallo, expert on international anti-money laundering developments
Thursday, 18 November 2004, Bund 5
The talk will address:
How terrorist financing has been successful in driving a huge change in anti-money laundering legislation around the world; but has not actually diminished the ability of terrorist groups either to raise money or to spend it to fund terrorist attacks.
How the 9/11 attacks in the US differed from other al-Qaeda attacks, and despite a significantly different picture of bin Laden's own wealth and financial resources now emerging, how attention remains fixed on that one atypical attack, failing to address the reality of terrorism in Asia.
How, despite missing the target on Terrorist Financing, the USA PATRIOT Act may (perhaps by accident) have hit a bigger and more strategically important target and be very effective in addressing political corruption.
How this is relevant to China, and the strategic vulnerability that Hong Kong‘s role involvement in money laundering, especially in relation to political corruption and tax evasion, represents a strategic threat to China.
How the extraterritorial reach of the US legal system, the US PATRIOT Act and the Lazarenko case represent opportunities that can be used by China to recover assets that have been acquired illegally in China and banked offshore.
Peter will also expand on an article on the front page of the South China Morning Post last week about his comments on SR-9 (the new recommendation on the reporting of large cross-border cash movements).
About our speaker:
Peter Gallo is a non-practising lawyer with an MBA, who has also served as an Intelligence Officer in the Territorial Army in Britain. He retired after a few short years of practicing law and after a series of adventures; ended up running his own investigation and consulting business in Hong Kong. After the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, money laundering and terrorist financing became the focus of much more international attention, increasing the need for the due diligence investigation work Peter had been doing for the past 10 years. Since that time, Peter has concentrated on anti-money laundering compliance, using his experience to help banks, financial institutions and other companies to avoid these risks.
He recently spent more than 6 months in the Philippines, advising the government there on how to deal with terrorist financing. Since returning to Hong Kong, a few months ago, Peter has written an in-depth report on money laundering risks in Hong Kong and China. His report addresses the problem of the law which says anti-money laundering procedures have to be ‘risk based’--in order to develop such procedures, you must first understand what are the actual risks.The report also highlights the importance of anti-money laundering procedures as part of a wider business development strategy for financial institutions in the China market when, as one of the terms of China joining the WTO , the retail banking market is opened to foreign competition in 2007.
Peter has written a number of articles and reports on money laundering, terrorist financing and Due Diligence investigation management for various business magazines and journals. Several of these articles are available on the Pacific Risk website; www.asiamaze.com
Event details:
When: Thursday, 18 November 2004, 7:30 pm
Where: Bund 5, 20 Guangdong Lu, basement level (in the M on the Bund building)
Price: FCC Members 50 rmb; Non-Members 100 rmb,
Free snacks are included and drinks will be 30 rmb
RSVP:by Tues, Nov 16, reply to Elyn Gao Hang (softlotuswind(at)yahoo.com)
Grassroots Journalism in the Internet Age
US journalist and weblogger Dan Gillmor will talk about weblogs and his recent book "We the Media: Grassroots Journalism for the People, by the People," which deals with the paradigm change taking place between traditional and new media
Apart from Dan we will also be joined by other internet entrepreneurs: Isaac Mao who helped set up wiki-projects including the translation of Dan's book and hosts for weblogs in China; Andrew Lih, New Media professor at HKU; and Bowell Shuai, who has set up an international online social network for
Chinese entrepreneurs.
Monday, 15 November 2004, 7:30 pm, Venue TBA
About Dan's book:
Grassroots journalists are dismantling Big Media's monopoly on the news, transforming it from a lecture to a conversation. Not content to accept the news as reported, these readers-turned-reporters are publishing in real time to a worldwide audience via the Internet. The impact of their work is just beginning to be felt by professional journalists and the newsmakers they cover. In We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People, nationally known business and technology columnist Dan Gillmor tells the story of this emerging phenomenon, and sheds light on this deep shift in how we make and consume the news.
We the Media is essential reading for all participants in the news cycle: Consumers learn how they can become producers of the news. Gillmor lays out the tools of the grassroots journalist's trade, including personal Web journals (called weblogs or blogs), Internet chat groups, email, and cell phones. He also illustrates how, in this age of media consolidation and diminished reporting, to roll your own news, drawing from the array of sources available online and even over the phone. Newsmakers politicians, business executives, celebrities get a wake-up call. The control that newsmakers enjoyed in the top-down world of Big Media is seriously undermined in the Internet Age. Gillmor shows newsmakers how to successfully play by the new rules and shift from control to engagement. Journalists discover that the new grassroots journalism presents opportunity as well as challenge to their profession.
One of the first mainstream journalists to have a blog, Gillmor says, "My readers know more than I do, and that's a good thing." In We the Media, he makes the case to his colleagues that, in the face of a plethora of Internet-fueled news vehicles, they must change or become irrelevant. At its core, We the Media is a book about people. People like Glenn Reynolds, a law professor whose blog postings on the intersection of technology and liberty garnered him enough readers and influence that he became a source for professional journalists. Or Ben Chandler, whose upset Congressional victory was fueled by contributions that came in response to ads on a handful of political blogs. Or Iraqi blogger Zayed, whose Healing Irag blog (healingiraq.blogspot.com) scooped Big Media. Or acridrabbit, who inspired an online community to become investigative reporters and discover that the dying Kaycee Nichols sad tale was a hoax.
Give the people tools to make the news, We the Media asserts, and they will. Journalism in the 21st century will be fundamentally different from the Big Media that prevails today. We the Media casts light on the future of journalism, and invites us all to be part of it.
Dan is currently running two weblogs:
http://weblog.siliconvalley.com/column/dangillmor/
http://wethemedia.oreilly.com/
Event details:
When: Monday, 15 November 2004, 7:30 pm
Where: TBA
Price: FCC Members 50; Non-Members RMB 100
RSVP: by Saturday, 13 November , to Elyn Gao Hang (teenspiritbloom(at)hotmail.com); contact event organizer Fons Tuinstra, fons(at)cbiz.cn for questions regarding the event
"Colonel Jin Xing - a unique destiny" viewing
Documentary viewing with dancer and choreographer Jin Xing
and the film director Sylvie Levey
We will watch the 52-minute documentary on Jin Xing by Sylvie Levey and Pascal Vasselin,
with an open discussion afterwards with Sylvie and Jin Xing
Thursday, 11 November 2004, 7pm, home of Jean Michel Dumont
About Jin Xing:
Shanghai's principal dancer, 36-year-old Jin Xing, is an international renowned star. She founded the Beijing Modern Dance Company in 1995 and moved to Shanghai in 2000. Jin Xing is the first contemporary dancer and choreographer to have received recognition in over half a century of national communism. But the most amazing thing about Jin Xing is that, up until 1995, the talented woman was a man, a colonel in the People's Liberation Army.
About the film:
The documentary "Colonel Jin Xing - a unique destiny" (Sunset/ARTE 2001) tells the extraordinary tale of China's most emblematic transsexual. The story is all the more incredible since, up until recent times, anyone manifesting the slightest sexual marginality was liable to be confirmed in a psychiatric hospital for "disturbing the peace". This unique destiny- which, for a long time, was labelled "taboo" by the Chinese authorities - is related via various accounts, autobiographical video, footage and archive documents, that take us on a journey from Shanghai to Manchuria, with stopovers in New York, Brussels and Beijing.
The documentary is a richly cinematic film, combining the colourful imagery of Shanghai's dance world, the panoply of the Chinese People's Army, and the heart-felt expressiveness of the young Colonel who turned his longing to be a woman into a reality. He battled the rigidity of Communist bureaucrats until they relented and allowed the first sex change operation in China. The film interviews his female surgeon, and also follows Jin Xing's setbacks and recovery. His mother, although troubled by her son's singular urge for a sex change, gives him total emotional support. In fact, she later finds a baby for adoption so that Jin Xing could happily become a mother.
Despite Jin Xing's transcendence in the dance world, she is still up against the Chinese bureaucracy which refuses to give her permission to perform on the stages of the Western world. The documentary shows Chinese society in awkward upheaval as this talented artist presses for change.
Special thanks to Jean Michel Dumont who is hosting this event at his home.
Event details:
When: Thursday, 11 November 2004, 7pm
Where: Jianguo Xi Lu., Lane 506, No. 47 (Corner Wulumuqi Lu), private home of Jean Michel Dumont, mob: 13916004594
Price: FCC Members RMB 50; Non-Members RMB 100 (Food and drinks included)
RSVP: by Monday, November 8th, to Elyn Gao Hang (teenspiritbloom(at)hotmail.com)
Preserving the Past - a day trip to the small water village of Tongli
Talk by the visiting Art Historian and Sinologist, Clarissa von Spee, Ph.D.
Part of the SFCC's Art & Design Series
Sunday, 31 October 2004, 10am - 7pm
About the event:
Tongli is situated some 80km away from Shanghai. Our trip will include a
visit to see the open-air museum of Jeffrey Wong, the house mover, lunch in
the canal town and a tour of the Sex Museum by its septuagenarian director,
Liu Dalin. It also offers those who have not been before a chance to see
Tongli s UNESCO treasures.
About Jeffrey Wong:
The 64-year-old multi-millionaire Jeffrey Wong, president of the Heritage
Village for arts and culture, is dedicated to, buying, restoring and
preserving old architecture and artisan culture in China. He has been
collecting architectural artefacts now for over five years. His present
collection stretches back over 700 years and includes the entire Jing An
Temple from Shanghai (a concrete replica now stands in its place in
Shanghai), one of the mansions of the notorious gangster Du Yuesheng and the
famed Qing dynasty poet Xu Zhimo s house from Haining in Zhejiang Province.
Altogether over 150 pieces of architecture including mansions, houses,
temples, pavilions, teahouses and bridges all await careful restoration and
rebuilding in Wong s warehouses.
Currently some of Jeffrey s buildings are still in Shanghai s Qingpu
district, where we will stop off on the way. His museum was forced to move
to Tongli because of a development project. Work at the new museum is just
beginning but the Tongli government have promised the 10,000 mu site, which
is 50 times bigger than the Qingpu land and includes forests and four lakes,
will be protected forever.
About Jeffrey Wong's Museum:
The former Canadian-Chinese businessmen will show us his ambitious project
for a open-air museum in Tongli. He plans to fill the museum with the
historical buildings he has moved from Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and
Anhui. And to use the site as a free private retreat for artists and
artisans who can use his professionally-equipped clay studios, including
several wood-fired, hand-built kilns.
About Liu Dalin and China's only Sex Museum:
Sociology Professor Liu Dalin of Shanghai University is a pioneer of sex
studies in China. Now 72-years old, Prof. Liu started researching China s
sexual culture in 1985, and in 1999 he opened China s first sex museum in
Shanghai. Sex has long been a taboo subject in China, and even in Shanghai,
one of China s most open cities, Prof. Liu s museum of sexual culture
ruffled many feathers. After several changes of location, the museum has
re-opened in what the Prof. Liu hopes is a more permanent home in Tongli.
Event details:
When: Sunday, 31 October 2004, 10am - 7pm
Where: Meeting at Jeffrey Wong s home, 568 Julu Lu (between Shaanxi Lu and Xiangyang Lu), Shanghai Grand Plaza, Block 9, Unit I-B
Price: RMB 120 (for FCC-members) 200 (for non-members) including the sex museum entrance fee and transportation
RSVP: to Elyn Gao at teenspiritbloom(at)hotmail.com by Wednesday, 27 October. The attendance is limited to 20, so book early and please avoid no-shows!
Sunday Brunch with Rupert Murdoch
The Shanghai FCC & "American Democrats in Shanghai" present an exclusive private screening of the documentary "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on American Journalism" from Producer/Director Robert Greenwald
Sunday, 24 October, 12:30 pm, Sasha's Third Floor
Outfoxed examines how media empires, led by Rupert Murdoch's Fox News, have been running a "race to the bottom" in television news in the USA. This film provides an in-depth look at Fox News and the dangers of ever-enlarging corporations taking control of the public's right to know. The film explores Murdoch's burgeoning kingdom and the impact on society when a broad swath of media is controlled by one person.
Media experts, including Jeff Cohen (FAIR) Bob McChesney (Free Press), Chellie Pingree (Common Cause), Jeff Chester (Center for Digital Democracy) and David Brock (Media Matters) provide context and guidance for the story of Fox News and its effect on society.
This documentary also reveals the secrets of Former Fox news producers, reporters, bookers and writers who expose what it's like to work for Fox News. These former Fox employees talk about how they were forced to push a "right-wing" point of view or risk their jobs. Some have even chosen to remain anonymous in order to protect their current livelihoods. As one employee said "There's no sense of integrity as far as having a line that can't be crossed."
Director/Producer Robert Greenwald has produced and/or directed 53 TV movies, miniseries and features. He is the director of Uncovered and the Executive Producer of the UN series - Unprecedented, Uncovered and the soon to be released Unconstitutional.
Special thanks to FCC board member Paul French who acquired the DVD direct from the producers, and got us exclusive permission to show it at our private screening!
Praise for Outfoxed:
"Move over Michael Moore. It's Robert Greenwald's time to shine." - CNN
"A must-see movie, no matter what your politics are." - Christian Science Monitor
"Fox is not objective. Fox is a Republican propaganda machine." - Roger Ebert
"It's unfair, it's slanted and it's a hit job. And I haven't even seen it yet." - Eric Shawn, FOX News Reporter
For more see: www.outfoxed.org
Event details:
When: Sunday, 24 October, 12:30 pm
Where: Sasha's, Third Floor, 11 Dongping Lu (Cnr Hengshan Lu)
Price: FCC members RMB 70 and non-members RMB 120 (including buffet brunch, free tea and coffee, drinks at RMB 30)
RSVP: to Elyn Gao(teenspiritbloom(at)hotmail.com) by Friday, 22 October
Talk by Architect Filippo Gabbiani and Tour of Bund 18
Filippo will speak about the renovation of Bund 18 in the context of his view on historically-correct renovation methodology. We will begin with a 30 minute tour followed by our talk and a simple lunch at Bund 18's Tan Wai Lou Chinese restaurant.
Part of the SFCC's Art & Design Series
This event is open only to FCC Journalist Members
Thursday, 21 October 21 2004, 11:30 am, Bund 18
Press blurb on Bund 18:
Shanghai's most intriguing and beautiful retail, dining and entertainment experience will soon open its doors at this city's most prestigious historic address. Bund 18 is located at the centre of the Bund, right next to the Peace Hotel south and the AIA building. This stunning column-fronted building was built in 1923 in the popular neo-classical style by British Architectural Firm Palmer & Turner. Bund 18 has been a two-year renovation project, including structural reinforcement, historic restoration, mechanical installation and interior design, all undertaken by Bund 18 Real Estate Development Ltd, with the assistance of Venice-based architects, Kokaistudios.
The street-level and second floor mezzanine level houses a select group of the world finest luxury brand clothing, accessories and jewellery, among them anchor tenants Cartier and Zegna. The 3rd floor is home to the new headquarters for Zegna, including its deluxe invitation-only showroom, the largest in Asia. The 4th floor contains what will be Shanghai's most sought-after event space. The massive 800 square-metre hall has impressive 4.5 metre ceilings and picture windows and allows majestic views of the Huangpu River and Pudong. The 5th floor is Chinese Restaurant Tan Wai Lou. The restaurant's main dining room, private rooms and quirky Japanese sake and food bar have been designed with a modern take on classic Chinese design and colour. The 6th floor and roof terrace are home to contemporary French Restaurant and DJ lounge bar, "Sens & Bund" the first restaurant in China to be managed by a Michelin 3-star chef, Jacques and Laurent Pourcel. Sens & Bund's seventh floor rooftop DJ bar has been designed for patrons to enjoy an unobstructed panoramic view amidst music lingering in the night air.
About the Speaker and Kokaistudios:
Filippo Gabbiani is the chief architect for Kokaistudios. Kokaistudios was established in 1999 by Italian architect Filippo Gabbiani, a graduate of the prestigious architectural faculty of the University of Venice. With offices ins Venice, Copenhagen, Hong Kong and Shanghai, Kokaistudios offers design, consultancy, and management services of architectural projects ranging from commercial and mixed-use developments, renovation of historical buildings, cultural and institutional construction projects, interior decoration, residential development projects, and infrastructure construction projects. In 2002, Kokaistudios was awarded the contract to undertake the restoration of Bund 18 in Shanghai.
More info at www.kokaistudios.com; www.bund18.com
Event details:
When: Thursday, 21 October 21 2004, 11:30 am
Where: Bund 18, Front Gate18 Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu at Nanjing Dong Lu
Price: Free, FCC Correspondent Members only
RSVP: to Elyn Gao at teenspiritbloom(at)hotmail.com by Tuesday, October 19th, attendence is limited, so book early!
Paintings as historical documents
Talk by the visiting Art Historian and Sinologist, Clarissa von Spee, Ph.D.
Part of the SFCC's Art & Design Series
Monday, 18 October 2004, 7:30pm, Sasha's Third Floor
About the event:
Chinese Art and Politics have long been related, not only since the Eighties
or June 4th, but since the late 19th century. The lecture will focus on a
14th century hand scroll bearing an inscription by the Shanghai art
connoisseur Wu Hufan (1894-1968). The inscription is related to an
international gathering of Chinese and European art experts who met in
Shanghai in order to prepare the International Exhibition of Chinese Art in
London 1935/1936. The lecture will explore the meetings historical dimension
and political agenda as an early example for the formation of an
international art scene in China.
The speaker will also give some comments on the current Shanghai Biennale
and examples of contemporary art as historical documents.
About CLarissa von Spee:
The German art historian and sinologist Clarissa von Spee received her Ph.D.
from Heidelberg University with a thesis on the Chinese Connoisseur and art
collector Wu Hufan (1894-1968). She studied in Paris, Taipei, Heidelberg and
spent two years in Shanghai. Currently, she is working at the Museum of East
Asian Art in Cologne/Germany.
She gained additional experience at the internationally renowned auction
house Lempertz at Cologne. She is adviser to the German-American
MCH-Foundation for the acquistion of Chinese art.
Event details:
When: Monday, 18 October 2004, 7:30pm
Where: Sasha's Third Floor, 11 Dongping Lu (Corner of Hengshan Lu)
Price: FCC Members free, Non-Members RMB 50, (free snacks and
RMB 30 drinks all night)
RSVP: by Friday 15th, to Kerstin Lohse, e-mail: ARD.SHNG(at)gmx.de
Luncheon with Jochum S. Haakma, General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
This event is open only to FCC Journalist Members
Wednesday, 29 September 2004, 12:30-2pm, Residence of the Dutch CG
About the event:
Shanghai FCC has organised a lunch for journalists only with Jochum S. Haakma, the Consul General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (since July 1 holding the EU Presidency) on Wednesday, September 29th, 2004 between 12:30 and 2:00 pm. The number of participants is limited to 14!
About Jochum S. Haakma:
CG Jochum S. Haakma, was born in 1949 in Stockholm. Graduated from the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands, with a law degree, Mr. Jochum Haakma worked as an Assistant to the Professor of Air- and Space Law within the Public Law Institute. In this respect he conducted tutorials, annotated scientific publications, assisted Prof.Dr.Mr. I.H.Ph. Diederiks-Verschoor (Air- and space law) in organising seminars by the International Institute for Space Law (IISL). In 1976 Mr. Haakma entered the Foreign Service of the Netherlands' Ministry of Foreign Affairs to assist in the organisation of the Netherlands' Presidency for the European Commission in The Hague. After a diplomatic education within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he was assigned to the respective embassies in Rome, Lusaka and Bonn. Having worked mainly in the economic and commercial field, in 1986 he was appointed Commercial Counsellor and Head of the Economic Section at the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Jakarta. In 1989, on his own request, he was granted a leave of absence from the Ministry to join the private sector and to become the Director of the Indonesian Netherlands Association (INA), which is the bilateral Chamber of Commerce between Indonesia and the Netherlands in Jakarta. In this capacity he was appointed representative of the Port and City of Rotterdam and represented in his personal capacity various Dutch Institutions (such as the International Organization for Higher Education (Nuffic) and FMO/IPTA). He instituted a training project for managers on behalf of the Netherlands' Employers Organisation (VNO). In addition, he was the President of the Indonesian Forum of national and bilateral Chambers of Commerce. In 1993, Mr. Haakma returned to the Netherlands, to take up his post as Managing Director of the Centre for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI) in Rotterdam, which is an Agency under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. In this function he acted as permanent Vice-Chairman of the FORUM of the European Trade Promotion Organisations including as members also the European Commission (Directorate General I and Directorate General VIII) and The International Trade Centre (ITC)(UNCTAD/WTO) in Geneva. In 1995 he followed a post-doctorate course at Harvard Business School. From December 1997 until September 2002, Mr. Haakma was the Consul General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR. Concurrently he was the Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Dutch Business Association (DBA) in Hong Kong and honorary board member of the Netherlands Association. Since October 2002 Mr Haakma is the Consul General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Shanghai also responsible for Jiangsu-, Zhejiang- and Anhui-Province.
Event details:
When: Wednesday, 29 September 2004, 12:30-2pm
Where: Residence of the Dutch CG, House 17, Le Chateau, 2000 Jianhe Road
Price: Free, FCC Correspondent Members only
RSVP: by September 26th, 2004 to Kerstin Lohse (ARD.SHNG(at)gmx.de). Please let her know which media you are representing!
Top Track: Formula One in Shanghai
A talk by Mr Mao, General Manager of Shanghai International Circuit
and Jim Wright, Head of Marketing and Sponsorship of the Williams BMW F1 team
Wednesday, 22 September 2004, 7:30pm, Ambassy Court
Come for an exclusive appearance of Mr Mao, who led the building of Shanghai抯 new F1 track, and a presentation by Jim Wright, in town just for the F1 race
About our speakers:
Mr Mao, General Manager of Shanghai International Circuit led the team effort which has delivered the world抯 most modern and challenging F1 circuits. In only 20 months, designers, civil engineers, builders and landscapers under the leadership of SIC management have delivered the state of the art circuit, and a testament to SIC抯 ability to deliver on time and on budget. Mr Mao has in the past been involved in other prestigious projects such as the Exhibition Centre, Shanghai Stadium and the Portman Ritz-Carlton.
Jim Wright heads the BMW Williams F1 team抯 marketing department. He is responsible for managing the relationships with blue chip companies which sponsor and support the BMW Formula 1 Team. He has been in this sport many years and is regarded as one of the top marketing experts in Formula 1.
Event details:
When: Wednesday, 22 September 2004, 7:30 pm
Where: Ambassy Club Shanghai, Second Floor, 1502 Huai Hai Zhong Lu
Price: FCC Members 20 RMB, non-members 50 RMB, includes snacks and discounted drinks at RMB 25 all night
RSVP: to Elyn Gao teenspiritbloom(at)hotmail.com by Tues, September 21
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM): Balancing Tradition and Modern Needs
Lecture by Doris Rathgeber, OMD, founder of the TCM Clinic Body & Soul in Shanghai
Tuesday, 14 2004, 7:30pm, Sasha's Third Floor
Which to choose? Advanced western medicine and modern medical treatment or acupuncture, massage, herbal medicine and moxibustion? Deciding between these two approaches can be hard for patients from China as well as those from the West. Heated discussions about the efficacy of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and the differences between Western and Chinese medicine exist on both sides.
While Western countries increasingly have adapted aspects of TCM treatments such as acupuncture and special massage techniques, in recent years ever more Chinese people are preferring to go to hospitals offering Western medical treatment. The drop in the usage of Chinese medicine among Chinese people began with the first of the Opium Wars, when Western medicine arrived in China. And with modern changes to Chinese lifestyle, the demands for medicine have also changed.
In particular younger people in the city don't have much time for TCM. They are annoyed by the smells from preparing the medicine, the cure is too slow or they find it's a big pain and seems more convenient to take a pill made of synthetic medicine. Doris Rathgeber, the only foreign TCM clinic owner in Shanghai, decided to rediscover the basic ideas of TCM and adapt them to modern needs. Together with Chinese TCM-specialists, she offers acupuncture, gynecology, individual physiotherapy, internal medicine, pediatrics and tuina massage.
About the speaker:
Doris Rathgeber, originally from Germany, has lived in Shanghai since 1995. She attained her TCM qualifications after five years of study at the University for TCM and pharmacology of Shanghai. Last year, she started the Body & Soul Consulting Company. After receiving the license, she will open her own clinic located at Jianguo Xin Rd this Friday.
Event details:
When: Thursday, 1 July, 7:30pm
Where: Sasha's, Third Floor, 11 Dongping Rd (corner of Hengshan Rd)
Price: FCC Members FREE, non-members RMB 50
RSVP: by Wednesday, 30 July to Lisa Movius
Publishing: Lunch with Author Xinran Eady
Thursday, 9 September 2004, 1pm, Xiaonanguo
Bestselling author Xinran Eady will be available for an informal lunch discussion with the club this week during her brief visit to Shanghai. Xinran's talk will cover her two books, The Good Women of China and the new Sky Burial, her recently founded charity organization Motherbridge, and her work as a columnist for the Guardian in the UK.
Amazon.co.uk Review of Xinran's latest book Sky Burial:
In the world of fiction reviewing, extraordinary is an over-used word. Yet there really is no other way to describe Chinese author Xinran's second book, Sky Burial. It is extraordinary in so many ways--the subject matter, the setting, the central character, but mostly its authenticity and the author's continuing search for the woman whose life is told here.
Sky Burial is the true story of a Chinese woman's 30-year search through Tibet for news of her lost, presumed dead, husband. Xinran is working as a radio journalist on a women's programme when a listener calls in to tell her about Shuwen. Xinran travels hundreds of miles across China to interview her and, over two days, Shuwen opens her heart and reveals her tragic, scarcely imaginable life story. Xinran returns to her life and spends the subsequent 10 years trying to find Shuwen again, researching her story and writing this book--a homage to an ordinary woman's extraordinary life-long search for the truth.
The story is a simple one: Shuwen meets her intelligent, idealistic husband-to-be while they are both training to be doctors. After less than 100 days of marriage, Kejun travels to Tibet as a Chinese army doctor and before long, Shuwen is notified that he has died in an "incident". Shuwen decides to join the army herself, travel to Tibet and find out if he really is dead, and if so, how and why he died.
And then, as if travelling to a closed country like Tibet as a young woman in the 1950s is not difficult enough, Shuwen quickly becomes separated from her unit and, close to death herself, is taken in by a family of Tibetan nomads. Her transformation from Chinese doctor to nomadic Buddhist is a long, painful and at many turns, deeply distressing one.
Sky Burial is a slight book--little more than an extended short story--and yet the ground it covers is immense, not just because of the fascinating glimpse it offers into a land and a people still largely unknown in the West. Despite its tragic themes of loss and survival in one of the world's harshest landscapes, it is an uplifting tale of unwavering loyalty and immeasurable inner strength. --Carey Green
About Motherbridge:
慣he Mothers� Bridge of Love (MBL)� is a charitable organisation founded by Xinran Eady. She has set up MBL as a cultural bridge between the East and the West so MBL can help promote Chinese cultural awareness and understanding for those who seek them, especially Western families with Chinese adopted children, who wants to help their children find their cultural roots and heritage. By setting up the bridge of love and culture, MBL hopes to get the full support from all interested parties internationally so that MBL in return can provide aid, care and educational support for the unfortunate or poor rural children in China. Currently, these projects are being carried out by a small group of dedicated volunteers in London and China, but will soon be join by potential volunteers from all over the world, who believes in MBL www.motherbridge.org
About Xinran Eady:
Xinran was born in Beijing in 1958 and was a successful journalist and radio presenter in China. In 1997 she moved to London, where she began work on her seminal book about Chinese women's lives THE GOOD WOMEN OF CHINA, which has become an international bestseller. SKY BURIAL is her second book.
Event details:
When: Thursday, 9 September 2004, 1pm
Where: Xiaonanguo, 1398 Nanjing Xi Lu (next to the Portman)
Price: FCC Members 50 RMB, non-members 100 RMB
Publishing: Xu Xi on Writing the Fiction of Asia in English
Tuesday, 7 September 2004, 7:30pm, Sasha's Third Floor
Author Xu Xi will speak on writing the fiction of Asia (especially Hong Kong )in English and read from her latest book OVERLEAF HONG KONG: Stories & Essays of the Chinese, Overseas (Chameleon Press, May 2004). A Chinese-Indonesian native of Hong Kong, her previous books include three novels and two fiction collections. She also co-edited CITY VOICES, the first comprehensive anthology of Hong Kong writing in English from 1945 to the present (Hong Kong University Press, 2003). In 2001, THE NEW YORK TIMES named her a pioneer writer from Asia in English. Her awards include a New York State Arts Foundation fiction fellowship and residencies at The Jack Kerouac Project in Orlando, Florida and Kulturhuset USF in Bergen, Norway, among others.
Six and a half years ago, she abandoned an 18-year international marketing/management career and surrendered to fiction full time. She currently lives between New York, Hong Kong and New Zealand and teaches on the MFA fiction faculty at Vermont College in Montpelier. For more information on the author and her work, visit www.chameleonpress.com and http://members.authorsguild.net/xuxi/
The critics on Xu Xi's latest book OVERLEAF HONG KONG: Stories & Essays of the Chinese, Overseas:
"In Overleaf Hong Kong, a collection of short stories and essays, Xu Xi explores what it means to be an overseas Chinese, a fascinating state rife with ambiguities.
"With a style at once coolly ironic and droll, with a subtlety that resists belaboring the obvious, she plumbs those ambiguities eloquently. Whether it is an imagined Indonesian Chinese schoolgirl dealing with a menacing Japanese officer in wartime Singapore; a fairly affluent, late middle-aged couple vacationing in New Zealand; the author describing a talk to the Chinese Mutual Aid Society in Chicago; or meditating on the idiosyncrasies of life at Jack Kerouac's former home turned artist's colony, she alerts us to the nuances of a seemingly contradictory condition梐t home everywhere and nowhere.
"Xu offers us these works with a sensibility that is keenly observant, generous and compassionate. In a world increasingly fragmented, even as it gets smaller, we would do well to pay attention." -- Luis H Francia, critic/poet, author of 'The Eye of the Fish', and 'Memories of Overdevelopment'
"Xu Xi proves that literature is not so much about a particular region or people, but rather a part of the global community. Her unparalleled literary reach touches several continents with a new and innovative diasporic global language." -- novelist Shawn Wong, author of 'American Knees', 'Homebase'
"A multiplicity of viewpoints inform this thoughtful and smart book. Xu Xi writes with clarity, dexterity, and the kind of 憃mniscience� that comes from her vantage point of living between worlds: between Hong Kong and America, between the dual heritages of China and Indonesia, between the worlds of tradition and modernity in all its confusing forms. Here is a writer of prose at the height of her abilities as an alchemist of observation." -- Robin Hemley, author/editor of 'Invented Eden: The Elusive, Disputed History of the Tasaday'; 'Nola: A Memoir of Faith, Art, and Madness'; 'Turning Life into Fiction'
Event details:
When: Tuesday, 7 September, 7:30pm
Where: Sasha's, Third Floor, 11 Dongping Rd (corner of Hengshan Rd)
Price: FCC Members FREE, non-members RMB 50
History IV: Photography and New Visions in 19th-Century China
Speaker: Oliver J. Moore
Tuesday, 27 July 2004, 7:30pm, Sasha's Third Floor
About Notions of Photography and New Visions in 19th-Century China
The spread of new photographic processes from 1839 onwards influenced people's engagement with science and art on an unprecedented international scale. Illustrated by slides, this talk uses 19th-century Chinese diaries, notes and reminiscences to show that Chinese literate society experienced the impact of photography as a new visual medium quite differently from its counterpart in Europe. For instance, in China the photographer's practice posed no direct threat to the standing and livelihood of the most highly regarded painters - the situation that so vexed Charles Baudelaire and others in Europe. Indeed, Chinese commentators used many of the same terms for photography as had been applied to painting. Art was not placed over mechanization. If this made photography's impact on Chinese society seemingly invisible, it also enhanced Chinese experimentation with photographic processes. As this talk will show, the Chinese photograph-portrait, for instance, capitalized more readily on effects inherent to the photographic process. This different history of the medium can be viewed through some remarkable images of the individual envisaged as a double self that referred both to traditional concepts of selfhood and modern ideas of representation.
About Oliver Moore:
Oliver Moore learned Chinese at London University and received his doctorate in Chinese History at Cambridge University. During 1993-1998 he was a curator in the Department of Oriental Antiquities, British Museum, where, supported by The Times (London), he helped to organize an unprecedented loan of recent Chinese archaeological finds for the exhibition "Mysteries of Ancient China". Since 1998 he has been university lecturer in art and material culture of China at the University of Leiden, the Netherlands. His present research focuses on the history of early photography in China.
Event details:
When: Tuesday, 27 July, 7:30pm
Where: Sasha's, Third Floor, 11 Dongping Rd (corner of Hengshan Rd)
Price: FCC Members FREE, non-members RMB 50 (with RSVP)
RSVP: by Sunday, 25 July to elyn(at)fccsh.org or teenspiritbloom(at)hotmail.com
Informal Luncheon with Paul Thomas, Cultural Affairs Officer at the U.S. Consulate
This event is open only to FCC Journalist Members
Monday, July 19th, 2004, 12:30pm, Public Affairs office, Portman, East Wing, Rm 540
About Paul's work as Cultural Affairs Officer:
"My responsibilities cover a little bit of everything, but I work a lot on the International Visitor program. I also manage our consulate's website, and work with US speakers traveling in China - scheduling them at universities and other venues, and accompanying them to their programs. I work with other sections of the consulate to handle press issues for high-level visitors, such as the VP in April and the upcoming Secretary Mineta visit. I also work with some Fulbright scholars, brief American visitors to the area on the consulate and what we do here, speak at various cultural events that involve Americans, etc. As a "cultural officer," I try to find programs to present in Shanghai that reflect a broader picture of what the U.S. is about than the Hollywoodized version everyone gets on the pirated DVDs."
Paul's self-intro:
"I grew up in New Mexico except for a couple of years overseas in Oman. After graduating high school, I joined the Air Force for four years - I was an avionics technician on the B-1 bomber, stationed at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota. During that time I did some traveling when my squadron deployed, a few times to the UK and about once a year to Las Vegas, NV (it was a rough life).
After my term of enlistment ended I moved to Denver and enrolled at the University of Colorado to study political science. I also worked part-time at Janus, a mutual fund company, and eventually became a stockbroker and financial advisor. Around 2001, I started to burn out in this particular line of work and began to more intensively pursue my lifelong dream of becoming a Foreign Service Officer. I passed the tests and started working for the State Department in March 2003. Shanghai is my first post and I couldn't be happier to be here."
Event details:
When: Monday, 19 July, 12:30pm
Where: Program room in the Public Affairs office, Portman/Shanghai Center, East Wing, Rm 540
Price: RMB 50 for sandwiches from Element, FCC Correspondent Members only
RSVP: by Friday, July 16th, to Crystyl Mo (y(at)crystyl.com)
History III: The Music of Old Shanghai
Thursday, 1 July 2004, 7:30pm, Sasha's Third Floor
The music of Old Shanghai is as integral and evocative a legacy of the tumultuous 1920s, '30s and '40s as the period's architecture and literature. The nightlife and movie industries unwittingly cooperated to first introduce, then adapt Western Jazz, and the result was something uniquely, deliciously Shanghainese. Vocalized by pop stars like Zhou Xuan, many of these wittily whimsical tunes were huge hits in their time, and remain popular today despite having been banned as "pornographic" under Communism.
As part of our ongoing history series, Australian composer and Chinese Jazz enthusiast John Huie will give the SFCC a taste of Shanghai's musical history, focusing on the more titillating nightlife component. He will particularly detail Li Jinhui's "Clear Wind Dance Band", which performed at the Yangtze River Hotel Dance Hall at the bequest of gangster Du Yuesheng and provides the focus of his new album of Old Shanghai hits.
About John Huie:
Australian-born, Huie studied at the Australian Conservatorium of Music. He wrote and performed in the acoustic quartet "The Posh" with whom he toured extensively for Musica Viva Australia from 1983-87. Huie lived in Hong Kong for more than 10 years, where he created sound for film and advertising works including two Golden Harvest soundtracks. Huie's 1997 tribute CD "The Honorable Retreat" chronicled the Hong Kong handover and won commendations from Prince Charles among others. He now makes his home in Shanghai. He most recently produced and arranged "Shanghai Jazz: Musical Seductions from China's Age of Decadence", which was released by EMI this April. For more information, visit www.johnhuiemusic.com.
About "Shanghai Jazz":
"'Shanghai Jazz' reaches deep into Shanghai's fabled past to produce a collection of provocative Chinese Jazz favorites given new life some 50 years since Jazz was outlawed as an 'indecent' form of entertainment.
In total 'Shanghai Jazz' contains contributions from a cast of more than twenty talented young Chinese musicians, underscoring what has become an exciting jazz revival amidst the dramatic social and economic reform of the New Shanghai."
Event details:
When: Thursday, 1 July, 7:30pm
Where: Sasha's, Third Floor, 11 Dongping Rd (corner of Hengshan Rd)
Price: FCC Members FREE, non-members RMB 50
RSVP: by Wednesday, 30 July to Lisa Movius
Second Bi-Annual Mixer with Chinese Journalists
Tuesday, 29 June, 7-9 pm
Laris Restaurant, The Vault Bar, Three on the Bund
It's time for our second bi-annual cocktail mixer with our friends and colleagues in the Chinese media. Although we cannot invite Chinese nationals to join the club due to our sensitive club status, we are of course interested in getting to know Chinese colleagues in the media fields. In the interests of promoting friendship between Shanghai's foreign and local journalist communities, we are holding the second bi-annual FCC Mixer with Chinese Journalists on Tuesday, 29 June from 7-9 pm at the Vault bar, inside Laris restaurant at Three on the Bund. Drinks will be 30 RMB and we'll have free snacks.
For the Chinese journalist component, we ask you to invite your friends and contacts in the Chinese press. You can use the invite below if desired, just cut and paste. Please send ASAP to ensure your invitees have time to respond before the RSVP date!
The event is free of charge and open to members and their Chinese journalist guests only. RSVP specifying your guests' names and affiliation to y(at)crystyl.com by Sunday June 27.
Event details:
When: Tuesday, 29 June, 7-9pm
Where: Laris Restaurant, The Vault Bar, Three on the Bund
Price: Free, members and Chinese media guests only
RSVP: to y(at)crystyl.com by 27 June
Bubbles and Troubles: The State of Shanghai's Property Market and its Wider Implications
Thursday, 17 June, 7:30 pm
Sasha's Third Floor, 11 Dongping Rd (corner of Hengshan Rd)
Shanghai's property market - is it or isn't it a bubble? What impact is the property sector having on the wider economy of Shanghai and living conditions for the city's residents? What are the implications for urban planning, traffic congestion, government regulation, accountability and corruption? Who are all the mysterious real estate developers? How is the shape of modern Shanghai being influenced by these processes? The meeting will feature comments from the two speakers following a Q&A session.
Speaker Details:
Sam Crispin will have served 10 years in Shanghai's real estate agency and consulting business on June 30th this year. Now Sam runs his own business - Crispin Property Consultants - employing 32 staff, which works as a developer and consultant for research and marketing services as well as specialising in secondary market residential sales and investment advisory. He has been involved with many projects, large and small, including many of Shanghai's landmark developments including the Citigroup Tower, Fortune Plaza as well as Waitanyuan and the North Bund development. He has also been consultant to a number of state owned property companies. Sam studied Chinese at Leeds University in the UK.
Stephen Harner has been a financial services executive, consultant, and diplomat in Greater China and Japan for over 20 years. He is a frequent writer and speaker on financial markets and business in China and Japan. As President of SM Harner and Co, he provides competitive positioning and strategic business development advisory services (including M&A due diligence and execution support) to international financial and non-financial corporations seeking to expand in China and Japan. He is also a consultant to the World Bank/IFC as well as providing management consulting services to Chinese and Cambodia banks.
Previously Stephen established Deutsche Bank's rep office in Shanghai in 1995 heading the bank's corporate finance and commercial banking activities. In 1999, he became the first President of American Express Financial Advisors (Japan), establishing a mutual funds business in Tokyo and then became the Chief Rep of Merrill Lynch International Bank in Tokyo. In the 1980s, as Vice President of Citibank N.A., he worked in corporate banking, finance, and private banking in Japan, Taiwan, and the US. Stephen has also been a Foreign Service Officer in the US State Department, serving in China, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Washington. In 1977-79, on assignment in Beijing he was aide and Chinese language expert in negotiations of the first US-PRC trade agreement. Stephen is also adjunct professor of finance in the MBA programme of Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Management and Webster/Shanghai University of Finance and Economics in Shanghai and has testified on China's financial markets before the US China Security Review Commission. Additionally, he is author of Japan's Financial Revolution and How American Firms are Profiting (M.E. Sharpe, 2000) and co-author of China's New Political Economy (Westview Press, 1999). Stephen is a graduate of California State University at San Diego and of The Johns Hopkins University Nitze School of Advanced International Studies.
Event details:
When: Thursday, 17 June, 7:30pm
Where: Sasha's, Third Floor, 11 Dongping Rd (corner of Hengshan Rd)
Price: FCC Members FREE, non-members RMB 50
RSVP: to paul(at)access-asia.info
"Talk Show" with David Broder and Thomas Kunkel
Thursday, 3 June, 7pm
Sasha's Third Floor, 11 Dongping Rd (corner of Hengshan Rd)
Welcome to a very special Shanghai FCC event with David Broder, the Pulitzer prize winning columnist and Tom Kunkel, Dean of the Philip Merrill School of Journalism at the University of Maryland. Our event will be presented in a policy talk show format with Kunkel interviewing Broder on topics ranging from the upcoming US elections to the Iraq war and more. Following the interview, we will have a Q&A session.
About David Broder:
As a syndicated columnist for The Washington Post, David Broder is considered the most influential and respected analyst in the country. Broder also writes a twice-weekly column carried by more than 300 newspapers across the nation. He is a regular interviewer on NBC's Meet the Press, a panelist on PBS' Washington Week in Review and a regular commentator on CNN's Inside Politics and has written several books including Democracy Derailed: Initiative Campaigns and the Power of Money
Broder was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in May 1973 for "distinguished commentary" and was named "Best Newspaper Political Reporter" by Washington Journalism Review in 1985. Before joining the national reporting staff of the Post in 1966, Broder covered national politics for The New York Times (1965-66), The Washington Star (1960-65) and Congressional Quarterly (1955-60). He has covered every national campaign and convention since 1960.
Born in Chicago Heights, Illinois in 1929, he received his bachelor's degree and a masters' degree in political science from the University of Chicago.
Broder is visiting Shanghai to launch a Journalist-in-Residence program at Fudan University. This will be David's second trip to China. He first accompanied Bush 41 on a visit in 1977.
About Thomas Kunkel:
Kunkel is Dean of the Philip Merrill School of Journalism at University of Maryland and president of American Journalism Review, a national magazine published by the College. At the University of Maryland he has served as director of the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism, and as editor and director of the Project on the State of the American Newspaper. A writer and editor, Kunkel has spent most of his career in newspaper management. Most recently he was deputy managing editor of the San Jose Mercury News. Prior to that he worked for the Miami Herald, The New York Times and the Cincinnati Post, and he was editor and publisher of Arizona Trend magazine. When he was named executive editor of Knight-Ridder's Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer, he was, at age 29, the youngest top editor in company history. He has written or edited five books, including "Genius in Disguise: Harold Ross of The New Yorker."
Event details:
When: Thursday, 3 June, 7pm
Where: Sasha's, Third Floor, 11 Dongping Rd (corner of Hengshan Rd)
Price: FCC Members FREE, non-members RMB 100
RSVP: by Monday, May 31 to Crystyl Mo (y(at)crystyl.com)
Tea Tasting
With the famous Tea Master Zheng Ming of Huangshan Tea Company
Saturday, 29th May, 2004, 1:30-4pm, Meichen Hotel, 927 Zhong Huaihai Lu, 2nd floor
In a lecture on Chinese Tea Culture, Zheng Ming will discuss basic knowledge of Chinese tea, including types of tea, growing areas and characteristics of Green Tea, Wulong Tea, Black Tea (Hongcha& Heicha), White Tea (Baicha), Yellow Tea (Huangcha) and Jasmine and other Flowers Teas (Huacha), how to distinguish different kinds of tea, and tea and health. It will be held in Chinese with English translation.
About the speaker:
Zheng Ming is the most famous and one of the only two accredited Tea
Tasting Masters in Shanghai. He is the manager of Huangshan Tea company,
which has been founded 53 years ago. Zheng Ming was born in Nov. 1963 and entered the tea business at age18. As the No.1 "tea tasting master" and one of the only two accredited "tea tasting masters" by Ministry of Trade in Shanghai, Zheng Ming has the unique skill of identifying the subtle differences of tea quality by the production place, amount of the rainfall and seasonal temperature. He also can predict accurately about the year's market price. Zheng Ming is also well-known in Japan, where he lectures. There a regular programme for tourist groups from Japan to buy high-quality tea at Zheng Ming's Huangshan tea company.
Event details:
When: Saturday, May 29th, 2004, 1:30-4pm
Where: Saturday, 29th May, 2004, 1:30-4pm, Meichen Hotel, 927 Zhong Huaihai Lu, 2nd floor
Price: RMB 100 for members, RMB 150 for non-members
Notice: For better tasting and appreciating of the tea, we kindly ask the participants not to use heavy perfume.
RSVP: by 30 April to Kerstin Lohse (mob. 1360 1662 018 or ARD.SHNG(at)gmx.de); attendance limited to 25 people.
Lunch with Sidney Rittenberg
Sidney Rittenberg, one of the most influential Westerners in China's history is in Shanghai this week. We are honored that he will make time during his short trip to join us for an informal lunch talk and q&a
About the speaker:
Sidney Rittenberg has known virtually every modern Chinese leader: Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, the notorious Gang of Four, Deng Xiaoping, and the present president and premier.
The US Army trained Sidney in Chinese Studies during World War II, and sent him to China. He later joined the UN Relief Program, met and formed a friendship with Zhou Enlai, and in 1946 accepted the invitation to help train Chinese journalists working in English. He became a leading translator for the works of Mao Zedong, and was the only American citizen accepted into the Chinese Communist Party, until he withdrew from the party during the Cultural Revolution.
Sixteen of Sidney's 35 years in China were spent as a prisoner in solitary confinement on false charges of being an American spy. He was freed in 1977 and eulogized by the post-Cultural Revolution Chinese government as a true friend of China. His family became a myth and a legend, giving them easy entry to China's leaders - a great advantage for their consulting work.
As consultants, Sidney and his partner Yulin have helped clients like Intel, InFocus, Nextel, Levi Strauss, Hughes Aircraft, Microsoft, Teledesic, and ICO, as well as CBS's Dan Rather and Sidney's close friends, Mike Wallace and the Reverend Billy Graham.
Sidney has appeared on virtually every major TV and radio interview program, and frequently gives seminars on China business. He has been Professor of History at the University of North Carolina, where an endowed chair has been announced in his honor, and is currently Visiting Professor of China Studies at Pacific Lutheran University.
Sidney's 35 years in China are chronicled in "The Man Who Stayed Behind," co-authored with (then) senior Wall Street Journal writer, Amanda
Bennett.
Event details:
When: Saturday, May 29th, 2004, 12pm
Where: Xiao Nanguo, 1398 Nanjing Xi Lu (next to the Portman)
Price: RMB 50
Lunch with German Consul General Dr. Wolfgang R鰄r
Friday, 7 May, 12:30pm
Residence of the German CG, Yongfu Road 151, Shanghai
Event details:
When: Friday, 7 May, 12:30pm
Where: Residence of the German CG, 151 Yongfu Lu (by Hunan Lu)
Price: Free, limited to SFCC Correspondent Members
RSVP: by 30 April to Kerstin Lohse (mob. 1360 1662 018 or ARD.SHNG(at)gmx.de); attendance limited to 15 people.
China Tech: How Fast is China Climbing the Global Technology Curve?
Tuesday, 27 April, 6:30-9pm, The Ambassy Club
Speakers: Arthur Kroeber, Managing Editor, CEQ, and Zeng Ming, Professor, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, Beijing
In recent years, China has emerged as "the workshop of the world," in part by swiftly adapting foreign technology. At the same time, Beijing has poured money into scientific and technological R&D, resulting most recently in the successful launch of a Chinese astronaut into space. Yet China? indigenous technology capacity remains limited and the vast majority of local high-tech enterprises under the control of foreign firms.
What is China's technological future? Are its best companies developing their own proprietary technologies, paving the way for the creation of Chinese Sonys and Samsungs? Will the government's massive R&D expansion pay off? Or will China remain a low-cost export platform and burgeoning market for foreign firms, with Chinese companies playing perpetual catch-up?
Last December in Beijing, the China Economic Quarterly inaugurated its quarterly Seminar series with a discussion of some of the latest research on this crucial subject. Now, by popular demand, we are bringing the same event to Shanghai:
Zeng Ming, professor at Beijing's Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (and author of a recent Harvard Business Review article on Chinese companies' push into international markets), will assess the international competitiveness of Chinese companies and their prospects for moving up the value chain.
Arthur Kroeber, managing editor of the CEQ, will present the findings of a recent CEQ study on the technological capacity of Chinese firms and how government policies on R&D are likely to affect it.
Where: The Ambassy Club, 1500 Huaihai Middle Road, Shanghai
When: Tuesday, April 27, 2004, 6.30-9.00pm
Price: Rmb200/Rmb100 for CEQ subscribers and Shanghai FCC members ?drinks, buffet and handouts included
RSVP: Paul French (paul(at)access-asia.info / Tel 021-6374-7484)
Visiting Publishers Cocktail
Monday, 26 April, 6pm, Yongfoo Elite Club
Members Only
FCC invites you to a spring cocktail party at the elegant Yongfoo Elite Club. We will be meeting and mingling with a group of 16 publishers, book agents and writers from the UK and other countries who are on a tour of China. The leader of the group is Toby Eady, a UK book agent who gave a great talk to the club last December at one of our Publishing Series lectures.
If you wish to attend, RSVP to Crystyl Mo at events(at)fccsh.org by Friday, April 23. This event is open only to FCC members, we will enjoy an exclusive price of RMB 50 including one drink and gourmet canapes. After this, a 2 for 1 offer on all drinks is offered. If you have trouble with that email, please use lmovius(at)hotmail.com.
Intro to the publishing delegation:
The group includes such publishing professionals as the editorial director of William Heinemann, (a divison of Random House), the UK publishing house senior editor of Random House Australia, the editor and publishing director of Fourth Estate, the founder of Iceland's second largest publishing house JPV, the editorial director at Viking/Penguin and many more.
The stated purpose of their visit is "to listen, to talk, to hear and to see China today, and to look at China? history. It is to meet your counterparts in publishing, and authors, university professors, and journalists who are part of what is happening in China now and in the future." They are visiting Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai.
Intro to Toby Eady:
Toby Eady heads the UK literary agency Toby Eady Associates, which handles fiction and non-fiction and specializes in Chinese and Middle Eastern authors. The agency was established in 1968. Notable China-related clients include: Jung Chang, author of Wild Swans and a forthcoming biography of Mao; Hong Ying, author of The Summer of Betrayal and Daughter of the River; Xinran Xue, author of The Good Woman of China; Shanghai Baby author Wei Hui; Red Dust author Ma Jian; Startling Moon author Liu Hong; and Lili: A Novel of Tiananmen author Annie Wang.
Event details:
When: Monday, 26 April, 6pm
Where: Yongfoo Elite, 200 Yongfu Lu, by Hunan Lu
Price: Members only, 50 RMB
RSVP: by April 23 to events(at)fccsh.org or lmovius(at)hotmail.com
Asian Highway
Sunday, 25 April 2004, 12pm, Sasha's
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) will be convening in Shanghai next week, with the primary agenda of signing the Asian Highway Agreement, a historic plan to link cross-border roads throughout Asia. The Asian Highway will be of particular importance to China, notorious for the shortcomings and inconsistencies of its highways and goods distribution. Over a casual brunch, UNESCAP official Barry Cable, visiting Shanghai for the meeting and signing, will explain to the SFCC the details and ramifications of the project, and what will happen with Asian Highway once (if) the agreement is signed.
About Asian Highway:
"Asian Highway a step forward in economic integration and cultural contact across a vast continent. A UN treaty-signing event 26-28 April in Shanghai, China, if successful, will ensure completion of a multi-pronged 140,000-kilometer highway corridor connecting 32 Asian nations and linking Europe to Asia. All regions and national economies should gain tremendously, including the region's low-income landlocked states, primary partners in the 2002 Almaty plan of action for landlocked and transit access countries.
"The 26 April ceremony to mark the opening of the Asian Highway Agreement for signature will take place in the context of the sixtieth session of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
"Experts relate the ultimate effect of the Asian Highway to the economic explosion that occurred in Europe after 1975, when the UN's Economic Commission for Europe engineered a similar arrangement for that region. For land locked countries, the Highway portends a revival of the cross-continent access that the legendary Silk Route provided in the early part of the First Millennium."
About Barry Cable:
Barry Cable, Chief of UNESCAP's Transport and Tourism Division has, for the past 23 years he has worked at UNESCAP in the transport area including water and inter-modal transport. He heads up an interdisciplinary team of transport experts which offer advisory services to UNESCAP's 62 members.
Event Details:
What: Asian Highway Lecture
When: Sunday, 25 April 2004, 12pm
Where: Sasha's, Third Floor, 11 Dongping Lu
Price: SFCC members 70 RMB, non-members 100 RMB, includes set brunch selection, and special 30 RMB price for additional beverages.
RSVP: By Saturday, 24 April, to events(at)fccsh.org or lmovius(at)hotmail.com
Walking Tour of Sichuan Nan Lu
Led by Steffi Schmitt, author of Shanghai Promenade
Saturday, 24 April, 11:30 am
About the Event:
Steffi Schmitt's Shanghai-Promenade, published in December 2003, explores Shanghai's history from early times to today through "promenades" through the city. (The book is in German, the tour will be in English!) The "promenades" present the city's geography, taking shape both in readers' minds and through their feet.
The FCC tour will follow the most "international" walk in the book (the so-called "Vierlander-Route") starting at the old Chinese City, passing the French Concession, the International Settlement and ending up in what has remained of "Little Tokio". Our meeting point will be on the south end of Sichuan Lu, from there we will pass Yanan Lu and Nanjing Lu, turn to Huqiu Lu - the former Museum Road, Suzhou Creek, Zhapu Lu and join Sichuan Lu again. So wear good shoes!
As you can see from the itinerary we will not visit the architectural highlights of Shanghai - which indeed we all know - but come across some hidden jewels of Shanghais past like St. Joseph's Church; Xikou Lu - now quite boring, but in former days famous as "Blood Alley"; Chung Wai Bank, where Du Yuesheng, head of Shanghai's Green Gang gave himself a serious outfit; Jinling Church, where Jiang Kaishek is said to have married Song Meiling (in fact he did not); a Japanese Shrine (now belonging to a factory); the place where Qiu Jin founded the first Chinese Newspaper for women (if it is still there, because this area is changing terrifying fast).
Around 4 pm we will stop, and those who wish to can join in having a drink somewhere to recover.
Number of participants is limited to 20, so please make your reservation soon!
About the Speaker:
Steffi Schmitt (born in Heidelberg/Germany, 1966) has lived in Shanghai since 2000 representing the German Federal Office of Foreign Trade Information. Her job focuses on market studies and reports on the Chinese economy.
When: Saturday, April 24th, 2004, 11:30 am
Where: Corner Sichuan Nan Lu / Renimin Lu
Price: Members free, non-members RMB 80
RSVP: by April 19th, to Kerstin Lohse (ARD.SHNG(at)gmx.de or mob. 0086-1360 1662 018)
China's Second Tier Banks: The
Diamonds in the Dirt
Speaker: Douglas Red, Principal Financial Advisor, ING Institutional and Government Advisory (IGA),
Shanghai
Tuesday, 20 April, 7:30 pm Sashas, 11 Dongping Lu (corner of Hengshan Lu)
China'a banking system is becoming more complicated by the day. This Access Asia/Shanghai FCC Forum features IGA'a Doug Red on the state of China's financial system & particularly the country's oft forgotten second-tier banks. The first quarter of the year has seen another round of bank bailouts, as well as more announcements of Chinese banks hoping to list. With the Big 4 state banks hopelessly bloated & mired in debt now seems a good time to consider the prospects for China'a increasingly significant second-tier banking system.
Is the second tier where China's future bankers & banks are waiting for their time to come?
Is there any light at the end of the tunnel for China's banking system?
Can China develop a banking system worthy of a fast growing economy that can provide a decent level of service to companies & individuals?
Will Chinese banks be capable of competing with new foreign entrants?
Are there any diamonds in the dirt in China's banking system?
Speaker Details:
Doug Red is responsible for IGA's business development activities in China. With over 22 years of solid experience in delivering international financial product solutions to corporate clients in Asia's emerging markets, Doug is an expert in supporting a broad range of foreign-invested industries. His work in the banking operations of two international financial corporations has included assignments in several cities in China, as well as Taipei and south-east Asia. Doug is familiar with the generic risks associated with clients and industries in China, & has witnessed first-hand the long-term business cycles of local financial institutions in several Asian countries.
About the Event:
When: Tuesday, 20 April, 7:30pm
Where: Sasha's, 3rd Floor, 11 Dong Ping Lu (corner of Hengshan Lu)
Price: SFCC members free, non-members 50 RMB; free snacks and discount 30 RMB drinks provided
RSVP: paul(at)access-asia.info
Eleven Years in Pyongyang
A unique opportunity to gain an insight into the life, culture & sights of the DPRK with Nick Bonner from Koryo Tours
Thursday, 15 April, 7:30pm, Sasha's
Nick Bonner of Koryo Tours will talk about 11 years of running trips, making films and being involved in cultural projects in North Korea. Those 11 years have seen massive change and no change in the DPRK - famine, industrial collapse & international isolation on one hand while on the other continued political ossification and a growing reputation as the Hermit Kingdom. North Korea remains one of the most obscure and foreign travel destinations and an excursion into socialist realism tourism.
Nick also moved into documentary making and teamed up with Director Dan Gordon to make the award winning 2002 documentary "The Game of Their Lives" which recounted the tale of the giant killing DPRK soccer team that knocked the Italians out of the 1966 World Cup in England- 'the greatest shock in World Cup history'- but on return to North Korea they disappeared...rumours were that they had been imprisoned. The documentary took over six years of negotiations to make and features the surviving players. A year later they took them back to England where amongst other highlights they received a standing ovation from over 30,000 Middlesbrough and Everton football fans.
Now Nick and Dan have completed a new documentary "North Korea: A State of Mind" filmed over an eight month period in 2003. The film follows the daily lives of two schoolgirls training for the revolutionary spectacular of the Mass Games- the film has had exceptional access into a part of DPRK society never before shown. An exclusive excerpt will be shown at the meeting along with some music clips from the recent radio documentary made in the DPRK by Andy Kershaw for BBC Radio 3.
About Nick Bonner:
Nicholas Bonner a lecturer in Landscape Architecture who via a catalogue of errors found himself in North Korea in 1993, and stayed. For the past eleven years he has been based in Beijing running tours, cultural exchanges and filming in North Korea.
History II: Robert Bickers on British Empire in Old Shanghai
Friday, 2 April 2004, 7:30pm, Sasha's
The second event in the SFCC History Series welcomes author and historian Robert Bickers to talk about how he came to spend 14 years of his life, on and off, in the company of the men of the Shanghai Municipal Police. He will discuss what can be learned from the story Maurice Tinkler, documented in his latest book: how he tracked it down and what it story tells us about old Shanghai and the old world of British empire.
About Robert Bickers:
Robert Bickers is a historian of Shanghai and the British experience in China. After a childhood partly spent in Hong Kong he studied at SOAS, and held fellowships at Oxford and Cambridge before taking a post in Chinese history at Bristol University in 1997. The author of Britain in China (1999), he just published Empire Made Me: An Englishman Adrift in Shanghai (Penguin/Columbia), an account of the life and times of Maurice Tinkler, a British member of the Shanghai Municipal Police. Along with Shanghai policemen, Bickers has written about the Shanghai Municipal Orchestra, public parks in the city, and the wartime experiences of Britons in Shanghai. He is now researching the history of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service.
About Empire Made Me:
Richard Maurice Tinkler was an ordinary man in an extraordinary time and place. This riveting "biography of a nobody" offers a rare glimpse of imperialism and the making of modern China seen from the perspective of a working-class Englishman enforcing the order of everyday life on the streets of Shanghai. Culled from Tinkler磗 many personal letters, Empire Made Me meticulously documents his astonishingly revealing life in the service of the British Empire between 1919 and 1939, one of hundreds of young men who joined the Shanghai Municipal Police. Responsible for maintaining order in Shanghai磗 International Settlement, the SMP expanded and enforced British dominion in China磗 most important political, commercial, and cultural center.
Tinkler would have remained just another anonymous and forgotten colonial policeman were it not for his unexpected death, at the hands of Japanese marines and an incompetent local doctor, in June 1939. His suspicious death created a noisy diplomatic incident that was picked up by journalists and splashed across the front pages of Britain磗 newspapers. Many of Tinkler磗 personal letters survived, and they describe his personal life in unusually vivid detail, including his relationships, his knowing masculinity, his travels, and his bitter meditations on his lowly position in a powerful but waning empire.
Robert Bickers absorbing biography uses Tinkler磗 letters as well as extensive archival research to tell the story of this man磗 everyday life and violent decline in a colonial world -a story that offers an uncommonly candid history of twentieth-century imperialism.
About the Event:
When: Friday, 2 April, 7:30pm
Where: Sasha's, 3rd Floor, 11 Dong Ping Lu (corner of Hengshan Lu)
Price: SFCC members free, non-members 100 RMB; free snacks and discount 30 RMB drinks provided
RSVP: by 31 March to events(at)fccsh.org or crystyl(at)hotmail.com
The Dynamics of Change: News in the 21st Century
Featured Speaker: Robert Conley
Wednesday, 24 March, 12pm, Xiaonanguo in Ruijin Guesthouse
Journalism has always been a constantly evolving concept, starting arguably with the 5th Century Greek historian, Herodotus, when the word history meant "inquiry," which is what journalist do today. The first English newspapers came in London in the early 1700s, The Tatler and The Spectator - read in every coffee house at the time. Modern journalism began with Daniel Defoe's remarkable "A Journal of the Plague Year" in 1722; its images of the lights of the funeral processions in the dark, which almost 400 years later still resonate like an acute television documentary on last night's plasma screen.
But all the evolution journalism has undergone since the emergence of the written word pales in comparison to what is coming, argues Robert Conley. Five decades in journalism have convinced him that the past is very past, and that the rapid changes transforming the present and future of the field will make it ever more so. With a small, informal, round table discussion over lunch, Mr. Conley will present his arguments and debate yours.
About Robert Conley:
Robert Conley was a foreign correspondent for the New York Times from 1954 to 1964, and then for NBC news until 1967. He covered a "fulsome accumulation of revolutions, movements, civil wars, dustups andother assorted boom booms" including Angola, the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, the Burundi Massacres, the Congo Rebellion, Ethiopia, the Eritrean Liberation Front, the overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana, India-Pakistan, Lebanon, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Idi Amin's Uganda, and the Egyptian poison gas attack on Yemen. He then went on to found America's National Public Radio (NPR) in the early 1970s, and was the inaugurating host of its broadcast magazine "All Things Considered…" He currently is a Journalist in Resident at Washington & Lee, Virginia, North Carolina and George Mason Universities, focusing on the communications revolution.
About the Event:
When: Wednesday, 24 March, 12pm
Where: Xiaonanguo, Ruijin Guesthouse, 118 Ruijin Er Lu, 6466-2277
Price: 50 RMB (to cover meal)
RSVP: By Monday, 22 March, to events(at)fccsh.org or lmovius(at)hotmail.com. Space is limited to the first 13 people.
Publishing IV: Adam Williams, Author
and Group Chief Representative of Jardine Matheson
On the genesis of his novelThe Palace of Heavenly Pleasure and the family history that inspired him
Thursday, 25 March, 7:30pm, Jojo抯, 146 Tong Ren Lu
Adam Williams will talk with us about the writing his novel and share the family history that inspired him (his great grandfather, a medical missionary in Manchuria, only narrowly escaped with his life when the Boxers came to town), the cultural misunderstandings and moral ambiguities of living in China then and now, and how it is possible to turn history into 700 pages of fiction over five years of weekends and public holidays whilst maintaining a day job with a multinational at the same time!
Intro to Adam Williams:
Born and brought up in Hong Kong, son of a taipan who was also for many years Chairman of the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club, Adam Williams is the fourth generation of his family to be living and working in China. He has been resident himself in Beijing and Shanghai for twenty years. Today he works for the 170-year-old China trading house, Jardine Matheson, whose Group Chief Representative he is in Beijing. In his time in China he has been a merchant banker with Jardine Fleming, and a seller of weaons systems for GEC Marconi. He has been the Chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in China and in 1999 received the Order of the British Empire for services to Sino-British trade.
Before taking up a business career, however, Adam tried his hand as a journalist, writing features for the Asian Wall Street Journal while studying Mandarin in Taiwan in the mid seventies, and later working on the general desk of the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong.
Intro to The Palace of Heavenly Pleasure:
Last year Hodder and Stoughton published his debut historical novel, THE PALACE OF HEAVENLY PLEASURE, an adventure and romance set against the background of the Boxer Rebellion. It has since been translated into Dutch, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Portugese and Bulgarian. It will be published in the USA this Fall, and film rights have been sold to a British film producer. It has received complimentary reviews from newspapers around the world. The Times said "it is as good as an adventure story gets" "At the same time," said the South China Morning Post, "It's a valuable and scholarly examination of what history has come to term the Boxer Rebellion." Newsweek said that "(Williams) skilfully depicts the cultural disconnect between Westerner and Chinese through a sharply drawn cast of characters who confront romance, adventure and stark moral dilemmas." The Daily Express told its readers "If you like derring-do, murderous characters, interesting sexual practises and intrigue, this is for you..." Good Housekeeping called it "the blockbuster of the summer".
THE PALACE OF HEAVENLY PLEASURE will be available to attendees of the talk for a discount price of 180 RMB.
About the Event:
When: Thursday, 25 March, 7:30 pm
Where: Jojo抯, 146 Tong Ren Lu, by Nanjing Xi Lu
Price: Members free, non-members 50 RMB, 2-for-1 drinks and free snacks provided
RSVP: by 23 March to y(at)crystyl.com
Happy Hour Mixer with Consulates
Tues, 23 March, Sashas
The SFCC is pleased to announce our very first Consular Mixer, an informal happy hour (or two) for foreign journalists to meet and mingle with foreign consulate staff. Sasha's will provide the usual 30 RMB drinks and free snacks. We hope to see you there, and please help us make this a great event by inviting your consulate contacts.
About the Event:
When: Tuesday, 23 March, 7:30-9:30 pm
Where: Sasha's, 3rd Floor, 11 Dong Ping Lu (corner of Hengshan Lu)
Price: Free, but open to members and consulate guests only
The Future of the Foreign Correspondent
Featured speaker Fons Tuinstra
Tuesday, 16 March, 7:30 pm, Sashas
When Fons Tuinstra first launched his weblog (currently located at www.chinaherald.net) to track his investigation of classic foreign correspondence, he declared: "We are doomed." Media worldwide are reducing their foreign posts, and from Shanghai at least there appeared to be a temporary decline caused by a rather persistent economic crisis and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. We thought things would return to normal.
After a trip visiting colleagues in Japan, Europe and the US, Fons has concluded that things will never return to normal. In his talk, he will explain why he believes that, with some exceptions, the classic foreign correspondent will continue to be phased out, and how the Internet might offer an alternative -- if the world wants one. He will also discuss how we as foreign correspondents can best survive this endangerment of our species.
About Fons Tuinstra: Born in 1955 in Maastricht, Fons studied history in the Netherlands, but "discovered that talking to people that were not (yet) dead was more fun and moved towards journalism." He moved to Asia after the end of the Cold War, as it looked like an upcoming economic powerhouse that would perhaps offer interesting stories, and China and especially Shanghai seemed the best place to be. Fons launched Chinabiz (now www.cbiz.cn) in response to a demand he noticed in the foreign business community, and has taken a more personal approach with his weblog at www.chinaherald.net.
When: Tuesday, 16 March, 7:30 pm
Where: Sasha's, Third Floor, 11 Dong Ping Lu (corner of Hengshan Lu)
Price: FCC members free, non-members 50 RMB
RSVP: to Crystyl Mo, y(at)crystyl.com
History I: Sir Martin Gilbert on Mapping Jewish Ghettos
Monday, 8 March, 7:30pm
Sasha's, Third Floor, 11 Dong Ping Lu (corner of Hengshan Lu)
We are excited to present a remarkable event to kick off our new History Series of lectures. Two distinguished scholars and authors are visiting Shanghai together for just a few days and the FCC is honored to have them speak to us. Taking the same format as the Shanghai FCC's on-going Publishing Series, this will be an informal talk with plenty of time afterwards for questions and discussion with the audience. Reserve your place early, due to venue size we have a limited number of seats for this engagement!
Our first speaker: Richard Gott will make a brief address to the club on Contemporary Cuba In Its Historical Context
Our main speaker: Sir Martin Gilbert will discuss his current research:
Mapping Jewish Ghettos: From Warsaw To Shanghai
Details of Richard Gott's talk: a veteran correspondent in Latin America, Gott has just finished writing a comprehensive history of Cuba for Yale University Press. He will talk about contemporary Cuba in its historical context, with some additional comments on current developments in Latin America.
Introduction to Richard Gott: Gott was at Oxford University when he first travelled with Martin Gilbert to Poland. Later he was Sir Martin Gilbert's first pupil, and together they wrote their first book, The Appeasers, which was published in London, Boston, Bucharest, Warsaw and Frankfurt in 1963. Gott went on to become a distinguished journalist, principally at the Guardian, and to write a number of books on Latin America, including on guerrila movements. His most recent book is a biography of President Chavez. He has travelled widely, and has proved an intrepid searcher for truth in many conflicts.
Details of Sir Martin Gilbert's talk: A leading historian of the Holocaust and of Jewish history, as well as Churchill's biographer - Sir Gilbert has embarked upon a multi-volume project, mapping and describing the different Jewish ghettos, in short studies intended to help the visitor and the walker with relatively little time, to learn something of the Jewish life and heritage in cities throughout the world where Jews lived: he includes Shanghai in his project, as well as Venice (one of the first ghettos), Minsk (which he will be visiting on his current journey), the Lower East Side (New York), the East End of London, Warsaw, Budapest and Hitler's 'model' ghetto, Theresienstadt (now Terezin, in the Czech Republic).
Introduction to Sir Martin Gilbert: Sir Martin Gilbert has been Winston Churchill's official biographer since 1968, and one of Britain's leading historians. His The Holocaust: The Jewish Tragedy is considered the classic work on the subject and the foremost British historian of the Holocaust. He is the author of more than sixty other books, including Churchill: A Life, First World War, Second World War, Israel: A History, A History of the Twentieth Century and The Righteous. Knighted in 1995, he lives in London and is a fellow at Merton College, Oxford.
A brief self-introduction from Sir Gilbert reads: Born in London in 1936. Evacuated to Canada, 1940-44. Schoolboy in London. Graduated from Oxford University, 1960 (Richard Gott, who graduated in 1961, was my very first pupil!). Author of histories of the First and Second World Wars, the Holocaust, and the Twentieth Century (three volumes) as well as six volumes of the Churchill biography and four sets of Churchil documents.
Event Details:
When:Monday, 8 March, 7:30pm
Where: Sasha's, Third Floor, 11 Dong Ping Lu (corner of Hengshan Lu)
Price: FCC Members FREE, non-members RMB 100. We will have free snacks and discounted drinks (at RMB 30) all night
In The Drift: Taiwan's presidential election
and the complex currents of cross-straits reality
Featured Speaker: Katherine Hill, Financial Times Correspondent Taipei
Tuesday, 2 March, 7:30pm, Sasha's Third Floor, 11 Dongping Lu (Near Hengshan Lu)
50 RMB members, 100 RMB non-members
Campaign rallying is now in full swing in Taiwan. The elections are not only a topic on the island, but also in Beijing and Washington. The Chinese government was always critical of President Chen Shuibian, head of the pro-independence DDP. But cross-strait relations reached a critical point ahead of the presidential elections after Chen announced he would hold the island's first-ever referendum alongside the election on two questions: Whether Taiwan should boost its defence weaponry if China refused to withdraw missiles pointed at the island, and whether Taipei should open talks with Beijing to set up a framework for peaceful ties. The US is worried that this will increase tension with China, since Beijing openly criticised Chen's proposal as a step towards independence and threatening the stability in the region.
Beijing promised not to interfere in Taiwan's presidential campaign (as it did in 1996 with military manoeuvres and in 2000 with aggressive rhetoric against Chen Shuibian supporters), but admitted that its main concern is the stance of Taiwanese leaders on cross-strait relations and the reunification issue. Thus Beijing is making no secret of its preference for opposition candidate Lian Chan.
Meanwhile Taiwanese business people with investments in China are becoming a political force that could tip the balance in favour of the opposition in the island's tight presidential election race. The business community already announced that it wants to mobilize 200,000 of its members to come home to cast their vote. They are lobbying to lift a five-decades-old ban on direct transport links with China. This would run counter to the trend of growing Taiwanese identity separate from China.
The upcoming presidential elections are a milestone for the democratic transformation of Taiwan. But it is far more than this. Since it can not be excluded that cross-strait relations will deteriorate after the elections and the referendum, the outcome of both may also have larger international repercussions. The lecture by the Financial Times Taipei Correspondent, Kathrin Hille, will give a critical analysis of the present domestic, cross-straits, and international situation mainly from a Taiwan perspective.
About the Speaker:
Kathrin Hille (born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1967) joined Financial Times Deutschland as Asia Editor in 1999 and subsequently became Foreign Editor and Taipei Correspondent of the Financial Times. Before starting at the FT Group, she worked as a reporter and editor for Asia Bridge, a German monthly on business in Asia and with The Journalist, one of Taiwan's leading news magazines.
When:Tuesday, March 2nd, 2004, 7:30pm
Where: Sasha's, Third Floor, 11 Dongping Lu (Corner of Hengshan Lu)
Price: FCC Members RMB 50, non-members RMB 100. Snacks are free and all drinks RMB 30 all night
RSVP: by Thursday, February 26th, to Kerstin Lohse (ARD.SHNG(at)gmx.de or 13601662018)
Publishing III: An Informal Talk with Mian Mian, Shanghainese writer
Tuesday, 24 February, 7:30 pm, Jan Siefke's apartment, 43 Anting Lu, 4F, Apt 12, between Jianguo Lu and Yongjia Lu
Mian Mian (also known as Kika) has recently returned from a book tour in the US promoting her autobiographical novel Candy. She will be joining us for an informal talk, and Q&A discussion. Mian Mian will discuss writing about Shanghai life and Chinese youth, as well as her experiences publishing her novel in English, and promoting it in the US and other countries.
Jan Siefke is once again volunteering to host us in his elegant art deco apartment. Due to the venue, guest list is limited to 20. RSVP early to save your space! Drinks and snacks will be provided by the FCC--but also feel free to bring your own to share with this small group.
If you wish to attend, RSVP to Crystyl Mo (y(at)crystyl.com) by Sunday February 22. This meeting is free of charge for FCC members, RMB 50 for non-members.
You can hear a radio interview with Mian Mian here:
Mian Mian's intro to her book Candy
An international phenomenon published in Italy, France, Holland, Spain, Greece, Brazil, Portugal, Japan, and now translated into English for the first time, this is a hip, subversive coming-of-age story about risk and desire in a world without guidelines. Based on the life of the author, the narrator of CANDY drops out of high school and runs away at the age of 17 to the experimental city of Shenzen, outside government regulations. She quickly falls in love with a young musician and they dive into a cruel existence of alcohol, drugs, and excess stripped of all comforts that fails to satisfy her craving for a love that will define her. As she navigates the temptations of the wild city swirling around her, she searches for a spiritual center in a world that has nothing to offer until finally she turns to writing as a "prescription" that will become her anchor.
Mian Mian's fresh, strident, and brutally honest voice illuminates the anguish of a generation and chronicles the search for hope in a vacant world. This sexy and subversive story is sex, drugs, and rock n' roll - in a modern China that you've never seen before. Mian Mian lives in Shanghai and works as a writer and nightlife promoter. Candy, her first novel, was banned in China---- with Mian Mian decried as a "poster child for spiritual pollution"---and became an underground bestseller. She has become a cultural icon to a generation of Chinese youth who value her authenticity and honesty in portraying the new future of Shanghai.
Mian Mian is perhaps China's most promising young writer. ... Her stories deal with issues - sexuality, drug abuse, China opening to the
world - that touch the core of her generation's experience. -International Herald Tribune
Mian Mian's realm is one of wretched love affairs, hard drugs, promiscuous sex and suicide. Her work is revolutionary for the People's
Republic, and her own tale is one of personal liberation, excess and redemption. -Sydney Morning Herald Magazine
Mian Mian's Bio
Born in Shanghai in 1970, Mian Mian first began writing at the age of sixteen. She dropped out of secondary school in 1987, and two years later went on her own to Shenzhen, a boomtown in the southern province of Guangdong. She spent five years there before returning to Shanghai, where she continues to reside.
After Mian Mian came home to Shanghai, she started writing again, and by 1997 her short stories and novellas were appearing in Xiaoshuo Jie (Fiction World) and several other widely circulated Chinese literary magazines. The milieu depicted in Mian Mian's work is drawn from her life experience, and many of her fictional characters are also inspired by the subculture she moved in, a subculture peopled by aspiring singers, drug addicts, prostitutes, homosexuals, gangsters, the mentally ill, slackers, and self-proclaimed artists. She became the first Chinese writer to describe drugs . Her style, characteristic of "cruel youth" and her simultaneously hip and introspective attitude towards self-reflection quickly attracted a large following of young readers. In July 1997, with the backing of the New Century Publishing House in Hongkong, Mian Mian published her first collection of short stories, La La La. Mian Mian's first novel, Tang (Candy), was published simultaneously by Zhongguo Xiju Publishing House and the prestigious literary magazine Shouhuo (Harvest) in January 2000. This novel created a stir in China's literary world and quickly became a best seller, with a large number of pirated copies produced and sold throughout the country. The publication of Candy was soon followed by the publication of two more collections of short stories, Every Good Child Deserves Candy (Huashan Publishers) and Acid Lover (Shanghai Sanlian Publishing House). In April 2000, the Chinese government banned Candy. Shortly thereafter, the rest of Mian Mian's books were also banned.
Through a Lens Lightly: China's Burgeoning New Media Art
Thursday, 19 February 2004, 7:30pm, Kathleens5
About the Event:
Since its genesis in the early 1980s, Chinese modern art has provided a window into the country's chaotic subconscious, documenting both its social changes and its people's reactions to them. For many years, Chinese contemporary art was dominated by a format known as "political pop", which often featured ironic depictions of Mao Zedong and other Communist era icons. Many artists in this genre became hugely famous internationally, some even in China, and they were long the known face of contemporary Chinese art. However, times changed and so did China; the young, post-reform generations, particularly in big cities like Shanghai, are more interested finding good jobs, getting dates, and buying stuff than in the past and its politics. Coming of age with computers as their playthings, the artists of China's new generation focuses on new media like photography and digital video. China's young media artists are haunted not by the g! hosts of Communist past but rather by fears of an uncertain future. Their country and their cities, their homes, families, lifestyles and morals have been rendered unrecognizable in just a few years by the lightning pace of development. Their works depict neither history nor ideology, just their own daily lives, with an attitude of optimism tinted with trepidation and a tiny bit of nostalgia.
On a trip to China a few years ago, Eloisa Haudenschild became intrigued with the eloquent ambivalence of these young artists, and along with a handful of other curators and collectors began working to bring their visions of China to America. In December 2003 and January 2004, she organized Zooming Into Focus, an exhibition in San Diego, California featuring an exhaustive sampling of China's best and brightest young new media artists. She has now arranged a repeat of that show at the Shanghai Art Museum, representing the largest and broadest exhibition of these young artists in China.
Mrs. Haudenschild, joined by Shanghai Art Museum curator Li Xu and media art pioneer Zhang Peili, will address the Shanghai Foreign Correspondents Club on the emergence of Chinese media art, its major artists and themes, and its growing prominence in international art circles. They will also talk about the Zooming Into Focus exhibition, particularly the challenges encountered in transplanting it to Shanghai.
Attendees of this event are highly encouraged to visit the Zooming into Focus exhibition prior to the talk, in order to better understand the art and artists to be discussed. The exhibition opens at 4:30pm on 18 February, and SFCC members interested in attending the opening can contact Laura Zhou (laurazhou(at)shanghart.com) to secure an invitation.
Kathleens5, located atop the Shanghai Art Museum, is providing the SFCC with a sneak pre-opening preview this event. Price is free for current SFCC members, 50 RMB for non-members. Standard 2-for-1 drinks and snacks provided. Space is limited, so RSVP no later than 17 February to events(at)fccsh.org or lmovius(at)hotmail.com.
About the Speakers:
Mrs. Eloisa Handenschild is a dedicated art collector and an important patron of the arts and education. She is the president of InSITE, a triennial, binational exhibition of commissioned, site-specific projects by artists from through out the Americas, administered by institutions in San Diego and Mexico City and presented in both San Diego and Tijuana. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the San Diego Museum of Art, and a former member of the Board of Directors of the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego. Mrs. Handenschild's commitment to multiculturalism is evidenced by her involvement with UCSD's Institute of the Americas, as well as many other regional projects. With her husband Chris Handenschild, she has supported several arts and educational institutions in the San Diego/Tijuana area.
Zhang Peili pioneered video art in China, and was among the first Asian artists to employ video as a medium. He is now a leading mentor to the younger generation of Chinese artists now working and the chair of the New Media Institute of the Hangzhou Art Academy. Zhang's work had been exhibited at the Venice Biennale three times in the last ten years, and has been included in all major international exhibitions of Chinese Contemporary Art, including those at MOMA in New York and the Pompidou in Paris. His solo exhibitions include ones at ARCO in 2000 (Madrid, with Art & Public, Geneva), Fukuoka Asian Art Museum in 2000, New York's Jack Tilton Gallery in 1999 and New York MOMA in 1998. He has lectured on Chinese art at events around the globe.
Li Xu is the Director of the Academic Department of the Shanghai Art Museum and a graduate of the Central Academy of Fine Arts' Art History Department. Mr. Li has co-curated many international art exhibitions, including the First Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art in Brisbane, Australia, the "Changes" Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition in Gothenburg, Sweden, and "Dali's Genius of the XX Century" here in Shanghai. He also co-curated the Third and Forth Shanghai Biennales.
What: Through a Lens Lightly: China's Burgeoning New Media Art
When: Thursday, 19 February 2004, 7:30pm
Where: Kathleens5, 325 Nanjing Xi Lu, Shanghai Art Museum, 5F (near Huangpi Bei Lu and People's Park), 6327-2221
Price: Members free, non-members 50 RMB
RSVP: by 17 February to events(at)fccsh.org or lmovius(at)hotmail.com
China's Investment Funds to 2010
Wednesday, 18 February 2004, 7:30pm, Sasha's Third Floor, 11 Dongping Lu (Near Hengshan Lu)
The SFCC will hold another of our regular forums in conjunction with AccessAsia. As usual, the format will feature a knowledgeable speaker, but with the accent on an open discussion. This time around, with China racing towards a record number of IPOs, and another year of economic growth, we are looking at the investment funds sector.
All commentators agree that China's economy will continue to grow apace, with many forecasts projecting that it will overtake Japan as the world's second largest economy within the next 20 years. This Forum assesses the size of China's investment funds market today, and will examine the outlook for the pools of capital and liquidity in the financial system to 2010. Economic growth, combined with changes in the investment market and the raft of SOE IPOs upcoming, should boost the investment funds sector in China at both institutional and retail level.
The main speaker at the Forum will be Rob Agnew, author of a new report from Matrix Services on China's Investment Funds to 2010. Rob, based in Hong Kong, has 10 years experience in the financial services and technology industries. Before joining Matrix, Rob was MD for Reuters asset management business in Asia, and previously led the finance function for Reuters for the China region. Rob has also worked as Reuters head of internal audit for Asia. He is a graduate of University College Dublin, a Chartered Accountant and has an MBA from Edinburgh Business School.
Admission is free for FCC members and RMB50 for non-members. Snacks will be available and all drinks RMB30 all night. RSVP to Crystyl Mo on y(at)crystyl.com by Sunday February 15.
Lunch with US Consul-General Douglas G. Spelman
Thursday, 12 February, 12pm
Consular Affairs Office conference room, Portman Room 532
Current Members Only, please show your membership card for admittance
Cost: 50 RMB
Membership Drive Happy Hour
Wednesday, 11 February, 7:30-9:30pm, JZ
Do you have friends or colleagues interested in or curious about the Shanghai FCC? Then bring them along to this happy hour and information session. Existing members who successfully sign up a new recruit will be rewarded with a free SFCC t-shirt or mug (50 RMB value, limited to one per member).
This happy hour is also one of the last chances for 2003 members to rejoin the SFCC before we start charging them being banned from members-only events and purged from the members-only mailing list at the end of February. Don't forget your passport-sized photo!
JZ will provide us with the usual snacks and half-price drinks, and stay after the event to enjoy one of the best jazz groups in town.
When: Wednesday, 11 February, 7:30-9:30pm
Where: JZ Club
RSVP to: events(at)fccsh.org by 9 February
Lunch with Jennifer Galt, PAO US Consulate
16 January 2004, 12pm, PAO conference room, Rm 540 East Tower, Portman
You met Jennifer Galt, public affairs officer at the US Consulate, when she first arrived in Shanghai. Now we have a chance to sit down with her again for an informal lunch and hear her thoughts after half a year here.
The lunch will be catered by Element Fresh, cost 50 RMB per person.
Annual Holiday Party
9 January 2004, 7:30pm, Jan Siefke's place
SFCC members and friends are cordially invited to attend our second annual holiday party. Held this year at Jan Siefke's elegant Art Deco apartment, it will feature the usual drinks and the scintillating company of your FCC comrades, plus dinner catered by Da Marco.
The party is also a chance to join or rejoin the SFCC for 2004, and new members can get in at member price, so please remember your dues (400 RMB journalist/media, 800 RMB associate) and passport photo. We also hope to have brand new SFCC coffee mugs available for sale at the party.
Date: Friday, 9 January 2004, 7:30pm
Venue: Jan Siefke's apartment, Anting Lu, No 43, 4F, Apt 12, between Jianguo Lu and Yongjia Lu
RSVP: to events@fccsh.org by 7 January
Price: Free for all 2003 and 2004 members plus one guest and 100 RMB for additional guests and non-members with timely RSVP. Without RSVP, it is 50 RMB for members and first guests, 150 RMB for additional guests and non-members.
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