Royal Asiatic Society China in Shanghai

RAS China in Shanghai - Newsletter Vol 1 No 3 - March 2010
NEWSLETTER
Royal Asiatic Society China in Shanghai
We provide a forum for the development and
expression of interests and expertise from
within the local community, and from around
the globe, to inspire and to enrich cultural life
in Asia’s most dynamic metropolis.
PRESIDENT’S NOTE
I am particularly pleased to announce that I was awarded my MBE by
HRH Prince Charles, Patron of the Royal Asiatic Society, at
Buckingham Palace on 16 February. Whilst in the UK I also had the
opportunity to meet two descendants of former members of the North
China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. I had the pleasure of meeting
Mr George McBain OBE, the namesake of his grandfather who was the
owner of No. 1 the Bund; as well as Nick Hide, whose great grandfather
was the proprietor of the Astor House Hotel and curator of the RAS
Shanghai Museum in the late 19th century. Other relatives of Mr. Hide
were also connected with the Shanghai branch in days gone by and I will
post details on our website history page in the near future. Last, but not
least, I had a delightful meeting with Alison Ohta, curator of the Royal
Asiatic Society in London, to promote our mutual cause. Alison
presented me with three valuable copies of the Journal of the North
China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society from around 1900, previously
missing from our collection, donated by Mr. J. Leach of London. It was a
fitting gesture, as they will now take their place in our library that is now
open to you as a member of the RAS China in Shanghai. For more news
on that please read on.
Peter Hibbard MBE
March 2010
Forthcoming Events
Saturday 4pm – 6 th March
T8 Club Lounge, 181 Taicang Lu
Imagining Confucius
Professor Jeffrey Riegel
Tuesday 7pm – 16 th March
Mesa-Manifesto, 748 Julu Road
The North Korean Nuclear Crisis
Mike Chinoy
Saturday 9am - 27 th March
Donghua University Costume
Museum
Textile Day
Fiona Lindsay Shen
Copy Deadline for Next Newsletter 20 th of this month
www.royalasiaticsociety.org.cn
RAS China in Shanghai is a Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland

RAS China in Shanghai - Newsletter Vol 1 No 3 - March 2010
PROGRAMME REPORT
Helga Ellemeet’s presentation on New
Discoveries: the Liangzhu Culture, was very
well received and has stimulated interest and
the idea of a weekend in Hangzhou to see the
new museum. Dr. Cristina Bertrand gave a
successful presentation on the Yi Jing. Duncan
Hewitt’s third walk on Yuyuan Road was once
again a great success.
Thank you to our wonderful presenters and
may we continue with the interesting and well
attended events in March.
RAS Council Members
President - Peter Hibbard MBE
Vice President - Mike Nethercott
Vice President - Justin O’Jack
Hon Secretary - Katy Gow
Hon Treasurer - Jan Flohr
Hon Programme Director - Michelle Blumenthal
Hon Editor - Spencer Dodington
Hon Librarian - Kim Taylor
Hon Research & Publications Director – Paul French
Council Member – Charles Johnson
Council Member – Isabella Jackson
Council Member – Alexandra Hendrickson
Council Member – Hugues Martin
Enquiries & Membership – Jennifer Wen - Ex-officio
Hon Vice Presidents
Carma Elliott OBE - British Consul General
Nenad Djordjevic – former Serbia Consul Gerant
Professor Liu Wei – Zhejiang University
Our first RAS Weekender Lecture will be held on Saturday the 6 th with Professor
Jeffrey Riegel’s lecture on “Imagining Confucius”.
We are extremely privileged to welcome Mr. Mike Chinoy who will be talking to us
on the subject of “North Korea Nuclear Crisis” on Tuesday the 16 th .
Our long awaited “Textile Day” led by Dr.
Lindsay Shen will be held as part of the RAS
Weekender series on Saturday the 27 th with
a full day focussed around textiles.
We are almost ready with the plans for the
long weekend in Kuling and will be emailing
you to gauge interest and commitment in
the next week or two.
We look forward to seeing you at some of
these events
Michelle
Peter meets with Alison Ohta,
Curator of RAS London – 17 Feb 2010
Enquiries & Membership – enquiry@royalasiaticsociety.org.cn