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Greenberg-Starr Department of Chinese Language and Literature

Chinese CHNS

Writing in the Age of the “Ultra-Unreal”: A Talk by Chinese Novelist Ning Ken

Sponsored by:
Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs, Greenberg-Starr Department of Chinese Language and Literature, and East Asian Studies
“Ultra-unreal” (chaohuan) is novelist, essayist, editor and blogger Ning Ken’s coinage to describe contemporary China, where the speed and scale of change is disorienting and the news full of stories of prosperity, progress, corruption, and inequity that defy imagination. Ning Ken is the author of five novels, including the “Heaven / Tibet,” of which Nobel Prize for Literature winner Mo Yan said, “Ning Ken combines keen political critique with penetrating analysis of human nature.” Ning Ken will talk about writing fiction about an “ultra-unreal” time and place.

Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room

Free
Open to the Public

The Chinese Safari: Cultural Identity and Wildlife Conservation in Kenya’s Tourism Industry

Sponsored by:
Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs, Greenberg-Starr Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Environmental Studies, and East Asian Studies
“The Chinese Safari: Cultural Identity and Wildlife Conservation in Kenya’s Tourism Industry,” a talk by Amanda Kaminsky (class of ‘13). Ms. Kaminsky will talk about the social and environmental consequences of Chinese tourism in Kenya, which she has been studying as a graduate student at the Univesity of Michigan. In her Master’s thesis Ms.

Adirondack Coltrane Lounge

Open to the Public

Poet and Translator Fiona Sze-Lorrain Reads at 51 Main

Sponsored by:
Greenberg-Starr Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Literary Studies, and NEW ENGLAND REVIEW
Poet and translator Fiona Sze-Lorrain will read from and discuss her new collection of poetry, The Ruined Elegance, and her translations of Chinese poetry, in particular Sea Summit, the new collection by Yi Lu. Doors open at 7 for reception with light refreshments; reading begins at 7:30. Books, cocktails, and other beverages will be available to purchase. The event is free and open to the public.

(Private)

Free
Open to the Public

Introduction to the Chinese Guzheng (zither) with Fiona Sze-Lorrain

Sponsored by:
Greenberg-Starr Department of Chinese Language and Literature and Music
Fiona Sze-Lorrain is a poet, translator, editor, and classical guzheng musician who has performed worldwide at such prestigious venues as Merkin Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall, Maison des cultures du monde, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, and the Musée Cernuschi. In this presentation, she discusses the history of the guzheng and guzheng music, and plays representative pieces, joined for some of the session by Middlebury College students. In English and Chinese with translation.

Mahaney Arts Center, Olin C. Robison Concert Hall

Free
Open to the Public

Female Directors: Two Recent Films from China

Sponsored by:
Greenberg-Starr Department of Chinese Language and Literature
“Female Directors” – Director: Yang Mingming; 2012, 43 min, Chinese w/English subtitles. Two brilliant young women, art school graduates with deliciously profane vocabularies and supreme confidence, talk sex, cinema, and power, as they wield their shared video camera like a scalpel. “Egg and Stone” – Director: Huang Ji; 2012, 98 min, Hunan dialect w/English subtitles. Set in rural Hunan province, Egg and Stone is a powerful autobiographical portrait of a 14-year-old girl’s attempts to come to terms with her emerging sexual maturity.
Open to the Public

Female Directors: Two Recent Films from China

Sponsored by:
Greenberg-Starr Department of Chinese Language and Literature
“Female Directors” – Director: Yang Mingming; 2012, 43 min, Chinese w/English subtitles. Two brilliant young women, art school graduates with deliciously profane vocabularies and supreme confidence, talk sex, cinema, and power, as they wield their shared video camera like a scalpel. “Egg and Stone” – Director: Huang Ji; 2012, 98 min, Hunan dialect w/English subtitles. Set in rural Hunan province, Egg and Stone is a powerful autobiographical portrait of a 14-year-old girl’s attempts to come to terms with her emerging sexual maturity.

Axinn Center 232

Open to the Public