Click here to download a PDF of the current calendar of events or here for the Members' Book Club & Film Club brochure
Members’ events
January to April 2012
Sunday 15th January at 2pm
Global Nomad: China (Episodes 3 & 4)
Documentary screening
Episode 3
West from the Great Dam is Yunnan Province, bordering on Tibet. Bounded by the snow capped Himalayas, Yunnan is the source of the great Yangtze and also home to 52 of China’s 56 distinct ethnic groups. Manchán talks with three minority cultures who are still thriving after centuries of persecution, including the Mosu, one the last surviving matriarchal cultures in the world.
Episode 4
Northwest from Yunnan is the Xinjiang Province. Although its capital Urumqi is 3000 miles from Beijing the clocks here remain set to Beijing time. China desperately needs to control this harsh region and is migrating millions of people out there to colonise the under populated Gobi Desert. But Xinjiang is quite distinct from modern China, closer to Afghanistan than Shanghai, the people mostly Muslim Kazaks and Uighers. It is both one of the hottest and coldest regions on the planet.
Saturday 21st January at 1.30pm
Springtime in a Small Town
Film Club screening
After a long, harsh, dark winter, at last springtime has come to a small town in Southern China. The year is 1946 and the war had come and gone leaving a mark on the psyche of the people and a pitted and devastated landscape. A semblance of normalcy has just returned. At the Dai family house, life has resumed its slow leisurely pace. However, there are stirrings within the walls of the house, which are soon to test the limits of love, commitment, lust and sacrifice. A young woman must choose between her sickly husband and an old flame who turns up on the doorstep. The serene cinematography makes this enduring love story a spell binding experience.
Friday 27th January at 2pm
Tai-Chi – talk and demonstration
Tai-Chi describes a way of life and a system of healing and exercise which combines physical training with spiritual growth and mental discipline. Its history can be traced back to the development of Buddhism circa 500 BC. The philosophies of this practise became very popular and were embraced throughout the East, including China.
***Come along for the talk and take part in the demonstration.
Saturday 18th February at 1.30pm
Global Nomad: China (Episodes 5 & 6)
Documentary screening
Episode 5
Taiwan – is it truly another culture and country or simply a small local province of China? Despite having no real international standing, Taiwan is the 18th wealthiest economy in the world with an extraordinary history. Travelling through the island Manchán discovers an extraordinary element of Taiwan’s history. Thousands of years ago it was colonised by Polynesian people whose ancestors still live in underground typhoon proof dwellings and sing the songs of their culture.
Episode 6
As China reaches out to the rest of the world, it faces an internal struggle between the traditional forces attempting to sustain China’s ancient culture and the ever increasing capitalist tendencies of the new Chinese generation. It is an almost impossible challenge in the face of an ever-liberating economy and fresh engagement with the world. Manchán visits Tongli, one of China’s few remaining traditional towns and contrasts it with Shanghai, the most western of all China’s cities. Somewhere between Tongli and Shanghai lies the real China of the 21st century.
Saturday 25th February at 1.30pm
Red Cliff
Film Club screening
Full of exhilarating action this Chinese epic war film is based on the famous Battle of Red Cliffs (208-209 AD) which changed the course of Chinese history and inspired many Chinese writers and artists over the centuries. The film is based on one of the great classical novels of Chinese literature, Luo Guangzhong’s 14th-century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which combined historical records with myths and popular stories about the turbulent times near the end of the Han Dynasty and beyond.
Friday 9th to Sunday 11th March
Weekend trip to London
We will enjoy visits to the following temporary exhibitions:
Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam at the British Museum
One of the five pillars of Islam central to Muslim belief, Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca that every Muslim must make at least once in their lifetime if they are able. This major exhibition charts the history of this deeply personal journey.
Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination at the British Library
The hidden jewel in the British Library’s collection is a unique treasure trove of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts assembled by English kings and queens over 700 years.
We will also enjoy private guided tours of the Petrie Museum (one of the greatest collections of Egyptian and Sudanese archaeology in the world) and the fascinating Sir John Soane’s Museum.
Saturday 31st March at 11.30am
Guided tour - Introduction to the Chester Beatty Library
New Members are invited to this special guided tour to learn about the Library’s world renowned collection.
Saturday 31st March at 1.30pm
Le Grand Voyage
Film Club screening
To tie in with the trip to London to visit the Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam exhibition at the British Museum we are delighted to present a screening of this very moving film. This is the first fiction film permitted to shoot inside Mecca’s holiest shrines during the Hajj.
This compelling film portrays the relationship between a father and son as both embark on the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca covering thousands of kilometres by car through 10 countries. As their journey progresses they meet several interesting characters along the way and their once icy relationship begins to thaw as they gradually come to know each other.
Saturday 21st April at 10.30am
History on our doorstep – Government Buildings
Guided visit to the seat of the Irish Government
We will have an opportunity to see the office of the Taoiseach (subject to availability) and to view the numerous works of art that are to be found in various rooms and corridors.
Saturday 28th April at 11.30am
"The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet" by David Mitchell
Book Club meeting
The year is 1799, the place Dejima in Nagasaki Harbour, the Japanese Empire’s single port and sole window onto the world, the farthest outpost of the war-ravaged Dutch East Indies Company and a de facto prison for the dozen foreigners permitted to live and work there. To this place of devious merchants, deceitful interpreters, costly courtesans, earthquakes, and typhoons comes Jacob de Zoet, a devout and resourceful young clerk who has five years in the East to earn a fortune of sufficient size to win the hand of his wealthy fiancée back in Holland.
But Jacob’s original intentions are eclipsed after a chance encounter with Orito Aibagawa...
***Join us for tea, coffee and refreshments and then enjoy a lively chat about the book.
Saturday 28th April at 2pm
Discoveries, Encounters and Exchanges, 1500 – 1800
Talk with Ruth Starr, Lecturer, Arts of Japan, Trinity College Dublin
To tie in with Hanami, the Cherry Blossom Festival, and our Japanese themed Book Club choice we are delighted to welcome Ruth Starr to give this fascinating talk.
From the time Asia and Europe began to discover each other, it was not only the opening up of a new global market but also the beginning of far reaching changes in both continents’ tastes and lifestyles, influences that can still be seen today. This talk will explore the dynamic period from the 1500’s – 1800 through the fascinating objects that are a legacy of this encounter.
***For further information about any of these events and to find out about membership please contact Mary Dowling on (01) 407 0759 or members@cbl.ie