LinkChinese UK News

Xu Bing’s exhibition at Albion Gallery, London

News Editor — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:06:41 +0000

The work of New York-based artist Xu Bing, highly regarded because of his innovative and playful use of Chinese and English calligraphy, or what appears to be akin to it, will be on show in London at the Albion Gallery. This is Xu Bing’s largest and most comprehensive gallery show to date and will bring together nearly 40 works as well as the more recent Book from the Ground, shown at MoMA, New York, in 2007.

The exhibition is held at

Albion Gallery
8 Hester Road
Battersea, London SW11 4AX
Tel: 020 7801 2480

until 23 June 2008.

Bringing the best of Chinese healthcare to the market in the West

News Editor — Thu, 08 May 2008 21:46:19 +0000

Scotsman newspaper interviews Christian Hogg, founder and chief executive of Hutchison China MediTech (Chi-Med), which develops Chinese medicines and healthcare products, and bring them to the Western market.

Hogg, who grew up in Jedburgh and went to school at George Watson’s College in Edinburgh, founded Chi-Med in 2000 and became its chief executive in 2006, when the company floated on London’s alternative investment market (Aim).

Read the full story.

BBC 5 Live Breakfast Zao Dian on 8 May

News Editor — Wed, 07 May 2008 10:01:47 +0000

According to BBC 5 Live Breakfast website:

On May 8th, exactly 3 months before the Olympic Opening Ceremony and an auspicious date according to Chinese numerology 5 live Breakfast becomes 5 live Zao Dian (which means “informal breakfast” in Mandarin).

Throughout the morning, the programme will attempt to “demystify” China ahead of the Games, through the eyes of the Chinese community here in the UK.

We’ll explore some of the issues both about the Olympic Games and about the country itself, everything from training techniques and pollution, through to culture and politics while enjoying a traditional Chinese breakfast.

Pearson’s expansion plan in China

News Editor — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:27:43 +0000

Mark Kleinman reports in Sunday Telegraph about Financial Times’s publisher, Pearson’s expansion in China. According to the report, Pearson’s plan includes the purchase of LEC, a group of private schools in Shanghai, and the launch of a Chinese-language magazine Rui targeting Chinese business elite.

The deal, likely to be announced this week, underlines Pearson’s aim to expand its Chinese operations as the country’s economic growth presents opportunities for foreign companies. Demand for English language tuition is at an all-time high in mainland China as a result of the country’s continuing integration into the global economy.

China currently accounts for less than 1 per cent of Pearson’s revenues. The group, led by Marjorie Scardino, its chief executive, is keen to tap into the rapid growth in Chinese education spending. Government expenditure is rising at an annual rate of about 15 per cent, while private education spending is growing even more rapidly, at about 25 per cent.

Read the full report.

“Chinese People in Northern Ireland” declaration

News Editor — Mon, 05 May 2008 10:46:54 +0000

LinkChinese UK News received the following letter from the authors of the “Chinese People in Northern Ireland Declaration” regarding the recent comments made by MLA Anna Manwah Lo about Tibet. For further information, please contact ericinqueens@hotmail.com or shadow0312@gmail.com.

DECLARATION

To Whom It May Concern

We are writing to clarify the fact that, Ms. Anna Manwah Lo does NOT represent the voice of the Chinese community in Northern Ireland over the Tibet issue.

As the Chinese society in Northern Ireland, we are extremely disappointed with Ms. Lo’s recent comments over the Chinese democracy in Tibet affairs, which we consider to be irresponsible, inconsiderate and misleading.
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MBL charity event: Edinburgh Marathon 2008. Call for runners and supporters

News Editor — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:42:49 +0000

MBL has registered as an affiliated member of the Edinburgh Marathon 2008 which takes place on Sunday 25th May. We need runners to join the MBL team.

This is a great opportunity to raise funds and awareness to support Chinese orphans and disabled children and children in rural areas who do not have access to education. In the past the money raised by our marathon runners has helped us to sponsor a primary school in Qinghai by paying for tuition fees, a rural school library, food and transport for children whose families were unable to do so. We have also provided medical care for disabled children and sponsored life-skills programmes in various orphanages in China. Past funds have also been donated to Tongjiang in the Sichuan province to help families affected by the summer flooding to rebuild their homes and schools. To learn more about our projects please visit our website www.motherbridge.org.

Your participation in the 2008 Edinburgh Marathon can make a big difference to the lives of disadvantaged children in China. If you are interested in joining our team, or may know of someone who would be, please contact us.

If you are not able to run in the marathon but would like to support our work please consider giving financial support at: www.justgiving.com/mbl or to support an existing runner teams: www.justgiving.com/rbsjames or www.justgiving.com/brianskinner1

If you are interested to join our photography team please contact headoffice@motherbridge.org

MBL is a partner of LinkChinese UK

Ocean Devil by James MacManus

News Editor — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 15:09:13 +0000

Giles Whilttell reviews the George Hogg biography by James MacManus on the Times. The biography, Ocean Devil, has recently been adapted into a film, Children of Huang Shi, starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh.

And the great rolling convulsion that seized China for 23 years, devouring tens of millions of innocents but leaving Mao triumphant, was another. This was a maelstrom of overlapping wars, famines, floods and generalised destruction fuelled by the greed of warlords, Japanese fascism, paranoid Chinese nationalism and overcooked Marxian ideology.

Through the chaos ran the fragile threads of countless individual stories, but few can have been more astonishing or, in the end, uplifting, than that of George Aylwin Hogg.

James MacManus, then a foreign correspondent for the Daily Telegraph, first heard about Hogg in an eavesdropped conversation at the British Embassy Club in Beijing in 1984. The account that he has pieced together since is of an Englishman abroad, but hardly of the cliché those words suggest.

Hogg had the prodigious stamina so often traced to the rainswept playing fields of English public schools, and he stood out in China for other obvious reasons, including his height, his hair, his “high nose” and the colour of his skin. But more than any of his compatriots who immersed themselves in war-torn China, he stands out for something else entirely: his goodness.

Read the full story.

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School of excellence: Grantown Grammar

News Editor — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 20:07:39 +0000

Claire Smith reports in Scotsman:

THREE years ago, teachers and pupils from Grantown Grammar went on a trip which had a profound influence on them and the school.

Eight pupils and two teachers travelled to Beijing to take part in a three-week language and culture course run by the British Council which for many of them began a fascination with all things Chinese.

Today, visitors are often surprised to see examples of Chinese calligraphy on the walls – and to learn this small school is one of the first in the UK to offer a chance to learn basic Mandarin.

Read the full report.

Chinese community protest against BBC biased reporting in Manchester

News Editor — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 21:36:28 +0000

(Manchester April 19, 2008) More than 2000 Chinese students and professionals gathered outside BBC’s office in Manchester, protesting against biased reports during recent events in Olympic Torch Relay and Lhasa riot.

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Academy of Life Sciences for Chinese in the UK founded in London

News Editor — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:35:59 +0000

On April 6, 2008, the same day as the auspicious snow welcome the Olympic torch relay in London, the Academy of Life Sciences for Chinese in the UK (ALSC-UK) announced its official foundation in the Education Section of the Chinese Embassy based in London. ALSC-UK is the senior members club of the Chinese Life Scientists Society in the UK (CLSS-UK) and is the brainchild of Minister Counsellor Mr Yongda Wang of the Education Section of the Chinese Embassy.

At the inauguration meeting, Professor Mingqing Du from Cambridge University introduced the principles of this new initiative and the meeting agenda. Dr. Wei Wang from De Montfort University described the preparing processes of the meeting and the ALSC-UK. Dr. Henglong Hu from GlaxoSmithKline presided over the discussion on the Chinese and English names of the Academy and the titles of its members in both Chinese and English, as well as the structure and leadership of the Academy. Professor Xin Lu from Oxford University led a warm discussion on the unique opportunities, rights and responsibilities of the members of the ALSC-UK.

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