USCPFA-Atlanta Spring Forum 2016

  Old Photos and People's History in China

presented by Prof. Hanchao Lu, Georgia Institute of Technology

and Dr. Edward S. Krebs, USCPFA Atlanta

4:30-6:00 p.m., Sunday, May 1

Teasley Lecture Hall, Bullock Science Center

Agnes Scott College, E. Dougherty St.

Decatur, Georgia 30030

Nostalgia swept through China in the latter half of the 1990s. The bimonthly magazine Old Photos went beyond nostalgia to reflection in telling hundreds of family stories and fostering individual views of China’s recent history. You’ll hear the story of Old Photos and see selected photos.

Please join us for dinner after the forum!

We will dine at Top Spice in Toco Hills

3007 North Druid Hills, NE

Atlanta 30329

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AfrikaansAlbanianArabicArmenianAzerbaijaniBasqueBelarusianBengaliBosnianBulgarianCatalanCebuanoChichewaChinese (Simplified)Chinese (Traditional)CroatianCzechDanishDutchEnglishEsperantoEstonianFilipinoFinnishFrenchGalicianGeorgianGermanGreekGujaratiHaitian CreoleHausaHebrewHindiHmongHungarianIcelandicIgboIndonesianIrishItalianJapaneseJavaneseKannadaKazakhKhmerKoreanLaoLatinLatvianLithuanianMacedonianMalagasyMalayMalayalamMalteseMaoriMarathiMongolianMyanmar (Burmese)NepaliNorwegianPersianPolishPortuguesePunjabiRomanianRussianSerbianSesothoSinhalaSlovakSlovenianSomaliSpanishSundaneseSwahiliSwedishTajikTamilTeluguThaiTurkishUkrainianUrduUzbekVietnameseWelshYiddishYorubaZulu

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25th USCPFA National Convention

September 11th -13th
Emory Conference Center and Hotel

We encourage all of our Atlanta Chapter members to attend the 25th USCPFA National Convention, which we are hosting. After discussing this for many months, it is less than two months away. Full info on the Convention is in the centerfold of your Spring issue of the US-China Review, or you can visit the Convention website at: 

https://uscpfa-national2015.org/

We will have a great program offering updates on many aspects of Chinese affairs. You will have the chance to enjoy interacting with USCPFA members from across the country. We on the leadership committee would love to see all of our members sign up for the full three days of the convention. While the convention fee may seem high, members from other chapters also have to pay for a plane flight to reach Atlanta. If you don't find this convincing, there will still be an opportunity to attend the convention for one day - Saturday, September the 12th, when we have a full slate of sessions in the morning and a visit to the Carter Center in the afternoon. That evening we will host a banquet style dinner with a fine presentation on Chinese art afterward. If you would like to sign up for this one day, please email of call Ed Krebs for particulars (edkrebs@hotmail.com or 770.949.5112).

We will need lots of volunteers, including members to greet attendees as they arrive on the afternoon and evening of the 11th and others willing to drive from the hotel to the Millennium Gate Museum on Sunday afternoon. (see post on I-Hsiung Ju's Brush Paintings)

Great Hearth Room at the Emory Conference Center and Hotel

 

I-Hsiung Ju's Chinese Brush Paintings at the Millennium Gate Museum and the USCPFA National Convention

An exhibit of Professor I-Hsiung Ju's brush paintings will open at the Millennium Ｇate Museum （http://thegateatlanta.com/） on July the 31st, 2015 and run through October the 18th, 2015. Professor Ju's daughter, Doris, has managed her her father's paintings since his death several years ago. Doris and her family, USCPFA members, will attend the convention on September the 11th - 13th and will also have a small display of Professor Ju's work in our exhibit room at the convention. The exhibits will be a great feature at the convention - you don't want to miss this!

We would like to arrange for convention attendees from out of town to see the Millennium Gate exhibit on Sunday afternoon if they wish. Please let us know if you can be available to take some of the conventioneers there and back to the hotel on Sunday afternoon, September the 13th.

Thanks for your help! 

 

Sichuan Opera Theater of Chengdu 
Special Performance  

Raging Waves in the Sea of Desire 《欲海狂潮》
based on Eugene O’Neill’s Desire Under the Elms
Directed by Zhang Manjun and produced by Lei Yin with music by Wang Wenxun
Adapted from the original by Xu Fen 徐棻

Saturday, Nov. 1 at 7:00 p.m.
Mabry Theatre, Carrollton High School - 202 Trojan Dr., Carrollton, GA 30117
 

All photos courtesy of the Chengdu Academy of Sichuan Opera

 

Plot Summary
The greedy and brutal Elder Bai treats his only son, San Lang, like a laborer. Having made a large amount of money, Elder Bai marries a young and beautiful wife, Pu Lan, who becomes San Lang’s lover.  Pan Lu bears a son, the child of San Lang,whom Elder Bai believes to be his own. Will Elder Bai discover the trueparentage of his youngest son, and to whom will Elder Bai leave his amassed property? When a passionate yet disobedient young woman, a lonely and indignant young man and a greedy and brutal old man meet in this world, urges and desires are sure to conflict.

In this performance are portrayed several overarching themes:family is bound by their blood,but family members can also become enemies and hurt each other, wealth can bring happiness and joy, but it can also create hatred and lead to disaster,and love can enrich and give hope to your life, but it may also lead to chaos.

From English Language Stage Play to Sichuan Opera
First staged in 1989, Raging Waves in the Sea of Desire is also the first Chinese opera adapted from an drama by Eugene O’Neill. Playwright Xu Fen creatively adapted the original English drama into an opera with themes and elements that would appeal to a Chinese viewing audience.Xu first changed setting and background of the story. The New England farm in O’Neill’s original is replaced by a wealthy rural household in China. Second, by incorporating Chinese operatic music and tunes, the playwright turned the western drama into a traditional Chinese operatic performance. Additionally, by having the performers speak the Sichuan dialects for dialogue and using local musical styles, Xu Fen successfully instilled into the play a strong Sichuan Operatic flavor that would resonate with local audiences.

To cater to the tastes of Chinese audience and to maximize the dramatic effect of the play, Xu Fen replaced two characters in the original drama with two new characters, the personified character of Desire and Qiezi Hua (eggplant flower), the teahouse owner. Finally, and more importantly, Xu rewrote the end of the story, which is completely different from the original, to make cultural sense to a Chinese audience.

Chengdu Academy of Sichuan Opera
With quite a number of talented players, the Chengdu Academy of Sichuan Opera has been one of the most influential local operatic theaters in China. Currently working with the Academy are famous playwright Xu Fen, and well known composer Wang Wenxun. Actors and actresses including Xiao Ting, Liu Yun, Chen Qiaoru, Sun Puxie, Wang Chao and Wang Yumei, have won the Plum Blossom Prize, the highest award for theatric arts in China, and there are many other excellent performers including Cai Shaobo, Ma Li and Ye Changmin.

Since the Chinese economic reforms of 1978, also popularly known as reform and opening up, Sichuan Opera has been gaining popularity across China, and is drawing more attention from the outside world. In 1993, the Chengdu Academy of Sichuan Opera was invited to France, giving 15 performances of The Tale of White Snake, a classic Chinese opera, in Paris and then touring 16 other French cities over 56 days. The Academy was twice invited to Spain, each time performing for 30 days. In 1994, the Academy was invited to perform in Germany, where they staged The Good Person of Sichuan, adapted from Bertolt Brecht’s original play of the same name. In 2000, the Academy was again invited to Paris with another play to attend the “Voice of Dragon Chinese Culture Season”, after which they traveled to Brussels to perform. In 2010, the Academy was invited to attend the “BeSeTo Festival” with Raging Waves in the Sea of Desire. In the same year, the Academy attended “The International Experimental Theater Festival” in Egypt, where it staged Lady Macbeth, adapted from Shakespeare. At the “Chinese Opera Festival” held in Paris in 2011, their performance of A Story of Red Plum got the premier Seine Award.The Academy has also attended the “Berlin Music Festival”, the “Zurich International Festival for Folk Arts” and the “Florence International Arts Festival” in Italy. The Academy has been invited to attend the “Asian Opera Festival” that will be held in Turkey in May 2015. In whatever nation the Academy has performed, its masterful displays of Sichuan Opera have been widely appreciated.

Year of the Horse Lunar New Year Banquet

The USCPFA Annual New Year Banquet and Fundraiser will be held on February the 1^st at Canton House restaurant located at 4825 Buford Hwy. Chamblee, GA 30341. We will gather at 6:30 for opening remarks, with dinner beginning at 6:45. The silent auction will be featured, a wonderful fundraiser for the Ida Pruitt Scholarship fund, and entertainment will be provided by the always popular Atlanta Shaolin Lion Dancers. Penny Blackford will be the ‘Year of the Horse’ forecaster, filling in for Peggy Roney, who will still be recuperating from surgery.

The menu will feature Ginger Scallion Shrimp, Salt and Pepper Whole Chicken, and Steamed Whole Fish as well as other delicious meat and vegetarian items. Banquet seating is $30 per person which includes tax and tip. Please send reservations, and a check made out to USCPFA Atlanta, to Penny Blackford, 2174 Essex Ave. SW, Atlanta, GA 30311. The reservation deadline is January the 27^th.

Call for Auction Items

We are blessed with a wonderfully large space for the Lunar New Year Banquet and have ample room for a large auction display this year. Donate your decorative, educational, fun or bizarre items to help low-income, secondary school girls in China gain an education that will benefit them, their families and their communities in remote and impoverished Gansu Province. Funds are disbursed to the Shandan-Bailie School in Gansu. For more about the school, scholarship fund, Gansu Province, or the life of Ida Pruitt, check out the Ida Pruitt Scholarship website at this link.

Please send auction donation descriptions and minimum bids to Christa Ernst at christa.ernst@gmail.com

Language Corner

Lunar New Year is the most important holiday in China. This 15 day long holiday is often referred to as the largest yearly human migration, as millions of Chinese return to ancestral homes to be with family. Here are some Mandarin phrases commonly used and heard this time of year.

Congratulations and Prosperity
gōng xǐ fā cái  恭喜发财
 
Happy New Year
xīn nián kuài lè    新年快乐

Wishing you prosperity every year
nián nián yǒu yú 年年有馀

Replace the old with the new (proverb) 
chú jiù bù xīn 除旧布新

Red Envelope
hóng bāo  红包

Set off firecrackers
fàng biān pào  放鞭炮

Good luck for the year of the Horse
mǎ nián xíng dà yùn  马年行大运
 

Lecture at GSU by Eminent China Scholar

Andrew Wedeman PhD

"Double Paradox: Rising Corruption and Rapid Growth in China"

Andrew Wedeman, Professor, Dept. of Political Science, GSU

Friday, February 15, 2013 2:00-4:00pm  Georgia State University, Troy Moore Library, General Classroom Building

Dr. Andrew Wedeman is one of the world's foremost authorities on corruption in China. For this talk, he will present finding from his acclaimed book "Double Paradox" which analyzes why the Chinese economy has continued to grow at a staggering rate even as corruption worsens. Using date from a wide range of sources, Wedeman argues that the Chinese paradox of growth with corruption is a combination of timing, the nature of economic reforms, and the Party's willingness to combat corruption.

Sponsored by the Asian Studies Center of GSU, the Department of Political Science GSU and the Asian Studies Club of GSU.

Chinese Film At AMC North Dekalb Mall

"LOST IN THAILAND"

Opening 2/8/13

Rating: NR (treat as PG-13)
Genre: Comedy Runtime: 105 minutes

Stars: Hong Tao and Bingbing Fan

Synopsis: Two Chinese colleagues racing to find their boss at a remote monastery in Thailand, battling bad traffic, gangsters, a snake, a kickboxer and, most important, each other, all in an effort to win the rights to an improbable invention: Super Gas, a liquid that turns a little bit of gasoline into a lot.

This film was a surprise hit in China, outselling Avatar and Transformers 3.

Film shown in Chinese with English subtitles. 
Runs through 2/14/13.
For showtimes and directions follow this link to AMC.