Royal Asiatic Society China in Shanghai

RAS China in Shanghai - Newsletter Vol 3 No 4 – April 2012
4
After a record number of consecutive wet and grey days, the sun shone (in more ways than one), Deke
Erh, his wife Liling and our esteemed member Tess Johnston, were incredible hosts for our RAS
Weekender, in the practically untouched and less known water town of Jinze. Our bus driver’s schedule to
carry a larger group of people later in the day, meant that we were able to accommodate a few more than
expected members and guests on this experience of a walk along the canal and through the village, to a
picnic lunch held in the ambling complex of Deke’s
individual vision and efforts, having collected,
established and built this unique research centre.
The insights into late Qing dynasty legal codes,
dialogues and commentaries on homicide and
homosexual rape of the period
held the attention and focus of
an intimate audience during
Jeffrey Riegel’s lecture on
the subject. After both the
audience and speaker were treated to a host of interesting questions, answers and
dialogue.
We would like to thank our contributors; Gretchen Liu of Singapore, Jonathan Fenby of
London, Alice Xin Liu and Eric Abrahamsen of Beijing, Jeffrey Riegel of Australia and
Michael Tsang, Deke Erh and Tess Johnston of Shanghai for their presentations. Their
support and contributions have made this past month’s
programme rich and diverse, creating depth to
the fabric of our lives in Shanghai.
This past month has seen special efforts which
are due thanks; Bill Dodson for hosting a record
group at the 1 st anniversary celebration and
Michael Broom for joining us from RAS Hong
Kong for both the RAS Weekender and RAS Film
Club. We appreciate your support.
Last, but by no means least, thanks are due to
Katie Baker, Linda Johnson and Sandy Strand for
their time, efforts and dedication in the focus
groups as well as support for the programme.
To members and
friends of the RAS we thank you for your
support and look forward to continuing
attendance of our April events.
We will look at addressing acoustics in some
of our venues and ask you for your support
in letting us know if there is something you
would like us to cover. If you can make a
suggestion as regards presentations, venues
and formats for the future, these would be
most welcome.
Michelle Blumenthal
Hon Programme Director