Ferdinand Verbiest’s 400th Birth Anniversary Event at TBC
October 9, 2023, marked the 400th anniversary of the birth of Ferdinand Verbiest. On this significant day, HE Bruno Angelet, the Belgian Ambassador to China, along with Sinology experts and scholars from both China and Europe, alongside representatives from various fields, convened at TBC. Together, they traced the footsteps of Ferdinand Verbiest, reflecting on the remarkable achievements of this Belgian missionary.
BRIDGING HORIZONS: CHINA TOWN HALL AT TBC
This October, TBC is excited to be a Beijing partner of the CHINA Town Hall event series, held by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. We invite you to join us on Oct 12 from 7:00 am to 9:00 am CST, for the 2023 CHINA Town Hall program, which will feature Ambassador Burns in conversation with the National Committee on U.S. – China Relations President Stephen Orlins, followed by an on-site discussion moderated by TBC Director Simon Koo about U.S.-China relations and its impact on Higher Education in China.
Hong Kong Diocese Group Visited TBC
Under the invitation of the Hong Kong Liaison Office, Hong Kong Diocese Group Visited TBC on September 18th. The visit, spanning five days, was marked by a series of exchange activities in Beijing. As the only member institution of the International Association of Jesuit Universities (IAJU) in mainland China, TBC extended a warm welcome to the visiting delegation.
ENGLAND, CHINA, AND THE WEIGHT OF HISTORY: EVENT RECAP
How does history shape your impressions of other countries?
Dr. Liu Xin, an expert on Sino-UK relations and author of Anglo-Chinese Encounters Before the Opium War: A Tale of Two Empires over Two Centuries (2022), recently spoke at The Beijing Center about her in-depth study of that very question. After all, the first ever contact between China and the United Kingdom on record was a conflict. Was it fate, then, that the two countries should have entered into such a rocky relationship later during the 19th century?
MEMORIAL FOR DR. YANG HENGDA
It is with great sadness that TBC reports the passing of Dr. Yang Hengda, who was a great leader, academic, and friend. Professor Yang had an incredible impact on The Beijing Center for Chinese Studies and the world of literature, having translated many works by Friedrich Nietzsche and written many works of his own. He died July 12, and services were held July 27.
THE BEIJING CENTER RECEIVES BOOK AND ARTIFACT DONATION
The Beijing Center (TBC) has recently been honored with a donation of Sinology books and Han Dynasty artifacts from Mr. Mok. TBC spoke with him to learn a little more about him and his motivations for this generous donation.
EXPLORING RICCI’S LEGACY WITH MAY VISITORS
Matteo Ricci died on May 10, 1610, so it’s fitting that two groups of visitors to TBC in May were focused on learning more about him. On May 12, students from the Colegio Mateus Ricci in Macau came to visit, and on May 17 graduate students from Peking University got up close and personal with our rare books and treasures. TBC Interns and current UIBE students Laury Castro and Noel Atukunda reflect on the visits.
EXPLORING TEA AND CULTURE
Last month, The Beijing Center hosted a culture event titled “A Taste of Spring: Tea Etiquette and Culture with Dr. Meng” as part of our 25th Anniversary celebrations. This event drew participants from various countries, including the United States, Sweden, and China. Even some friends from Hong Kong were able to make it! The event took place in our newly renovated and redecorated tea room, which is equipped with the latest technology to enhance the learning and class experience.
BISHOP OF HONG KONG VISITS TBC
The Beijing Center for Chinese Studies, the preeminent Jesuit education center in mainland China, had the honor of welcoming Bishop Stephen Chow, SJ, to our campus on Thursday, April 20, 2023. Bishop Chow was previously the Provincial of the Chinese Province of the Jesuits and is a longtime friend of TBC, so it gave us great joy to welcome him again to TBC’s offices as the Bishop of Hong Kong.
UPCOMING EVENT: FRESH TEA AND TASTING IN TBC’S TEA ROOM
This April, The Beijing Center is hosting A Taste of Spring: Tea Etiquette and Culture with Dr. Meng. Our tea room has been newly renovated and redecorated to welcome visitors with tea paraphernalia (or wanju), excellent varieties of tea sourced by experts from around China, the latest technology to facilitate learning and classes, and a comfortable atmosphere.
MATTEO RICCI’S JOURNAL
The Beijing Center’s Anton Library has almost 30,000 books in English on and about China. In honor of World Book Day 2023 yesterday, we’ll introduce you to a rare book in our collection:
Trigault, Nicolas and Ricci, Matteo. De Christiana expeditione apud
Sinas Suscepta ab Societate Jesu. Lugduni: Horatij Cardon 1616.
GREEN BEANS RESTAURANT AND RECIPE
The Beijing Center is surrounded by over thirty restaurants, all bursting with good and interesting food. At many of them, especially the ones closest to campus, meals are fast, cheap, and most of all delicious.
A student favorite for many long years until it closed its doors in late 2017, the restaurant affectionately nicknamed ‘Green Beans’ was a great place to get a variety of warm and filling dishes – but most famous (and thought to be most delicious) of all was its Stir Fried Green Beans with Minced Pork.
CHINESE WUXING
Wuxing (五行), also known as the Five Elements, is a traditional Chinese conceptual scheme. It is used to explain an array of phenomena, from cosmic cycles to the interaction between internal organs. It originally refers to the five major planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Mars, and Venus) that create the five dimensions of earth life. The 5 elements of it are jin (metal), mu (wood), shui (water), huo (fire), tu (earth). These elements are normally around 73 days each and are used to describe various states in nature.
LIBRARY TOUR – RARE ATLAS OF CHINA
In the mid-seventeenth century, as the first full atlas of East Asia became available on the European book market, a dramatic shift took place in textual and visual representations of the Far East. The atlas, Novus Atlas Sinensis (1655), was the product of a cooperation between Joan Blaeu (ca. 1599-1673), who headed one of Europe’s foremost commercial publishing houses, and Martino Martini, a prominent Jesuit missionary to China.
CROSSING THE BRIDGE NOODLES – A YUNNAN SPECIALTY
Yunnan – a province of forests fills with native rhododendrons and azaleas, towns full of mud–brick houses with sloping tiled roofs, jungles teeming with monkeys and elephants, and a population that includes dozens of different Chinese minority groups, each with its own unique traditions and customs. The weather is usuallybeautiful and spring-like, with warm days and cool, clear nights. Even the pace of daily life seems calmer and quieter than in other parts of China. Kunming, its capital, is anidyllic city of eternal spring.
GRAIN RAIN
The sixth solar term – “grain rain” or “guyu” (谷雨) in Chinese – usually falls on April 20, and marks the end of spring. The old saying goes “Qingming ceases snow, grain rain ceases frost” (清明断雪，谷雨断霜). When this term arrives, cold weather finally ends, and the temperatures start to rise.
The Chinese name of Grain Rain originated from a classic folk story. When Cang Jie (仓颉), an official in the Yellow Emperor period, was hard at work creating characters that make up the written Chinese language, many grains miraculously fell from the sky, as ifrain. As a result, the Yellow Emperor dubbed this day “Gu Yu”, as the Gu means grains, and Yu means rain.
LIBRARY TOUR – RARE BOOK ON CONFUCIUS
Confucius sinarum philosophus, sive scientia sinensis latine exposita, published in 1687, is the first edition print of the three major Confucian classics to be published together in any language other than Chinese. It’s published in Latin, making it the first recorded example of Confucian texts published in any European language. The Latin title translates to “Confucius the philosopher of China, or, the knowledge of China translated into Latin.”
HAPPY CHILDREN’S DAY!
Children’s Day (兒童節) is an important holiday around the world. In China, Children’s Day is celebrated on June 1st, while Hong Kong celebrates on April 4th. Although it’s often celebrated on different days, they all share one thing in common: honoring children.
JINGZHE: THE AWAKENING OF INSECTS
Do you remember the spectacular opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics? It glittered with Chinese culture from the very start when a 24-second countdown performance was staged, with each second representing one of the 24 solar terms.
The 24 solar terms embody the ancient Chinese wisdom of observing nature, represent a picturesque landscape as the seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter change, and reflect Chinese people’s outlook on life and cosmology. Today TBC would introduce you to the third term of the 24 solar terms – Jingzhe (惊蛰).
LANTERN FESTIVAL
On the 15th day of the first lunar month, two weeks after Chinese New Year, another important traditional Chinese festival, the Lantern Festival (Yuanxiao Jie元宵节) is celebrated. It is the first full moon night in the Chinese calendar, marking (the anticipation of) the return of spring and symbolizing the reunion of the family. It also marks the end of the Spring Festival. It will be celebrated on Tuesday, 15 February in 2022.
During the Lantern Festival, Chinese people would do many interesting things to celebrate it.