Opening Lecture | Student-Created Media | Feature Films | Student Experience | Partners
THE IRBY B. BROWN LECTURE
Named in honor of the late University of Richmond professor of English and stalwart ChinaFest partner with Rose Chen, the annual Irby B. Brown Lecture features thought leaders on China who serve as keynote speakers to launch each ChinaFest.
Talk to Talk and Walk to Walk: Can Communication and Understanding Facilitate Accommodation in the US-China Relationship?
Thursday, February 1 at 7 p.m.
Carole Weinstein International Center
2024 ChinaFest’s opening event will feature Suisheng Zhao, Professor and Director of the Center for China-US Cooperation at Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver. He is the founder and editor of the Journal of Contemporary China and the author and editor of more than two dozen of books. His most recent book is The Dragon Roars Back: Transformational Leaders and Dynamics of Chinese Foreign Policy (Stanford University Press, 2023). Despite recent high-level exchanges between the US and China, including visits to China by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, the US-China relationship has remained at the lowest point since President Nixon's historical visit to China in 1972, with hawkish tones and disputes over Taiwan and tech-war becoming the new normal. How has the relationship gotten to this point? Zhao’s talk will seek answers to many important questions.
Co-sponsored with the UR Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.
FEATURE FILMS
ChinaFest Film Weekend
Each year, ChinaFest offers a variety of Chinese films, both classic and contemporary. Three films will be screened on campus at Ukrop Auditorium in the Robins School of Business.
Dir. Yoyo Yao, 2016, China, 108 min.
Lin is at the top of her high school class. During a test, she resorts to cheating and is spotted by Gao, a struggling student. When the teacher suspects that students have been cheating, Gao claims responsibility. Grateful to not get caught but feeling guilty for Gao’s troubles, Lin strikes up a friendship that later leads to a date. Circumstances and time end the relationship, but after university, Lin plans a trip hoping to reconnect with Gao. See the trailer.
Introduction by member of the UR Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA).
Friday, February 2, 5 p.m.
Ukrop Auditorium, Robins School of Business
Dir. Felix Chong, 2018, Hong Kong, 130 min.
A series of robberies and crimes involving exceptionally-sophisticated counterfeit money have the Hong Kong Police Force actively pursuing the gang of perpetrators. Through the extradition of former gang member Lee Man, the police are hot on the trail of Chow, the gang’s mastermind. As other former gang members turn up dead, Lee Man finds himself fearful of a similar fate. See the trailer.
Introduction by member of the UR Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA).
Sunday, February 4, 1 p.m.
Ukrop Auditorium, Robins School of Business
Dir. Samantha Cheng, 2023, USA
Visual artist Dora Fugh Lee was born in 1929 to a traditional Peking (Beijing) family and grew up during an extraordinarily tumultuous era in China’s history: experiencing the abdication of the Emperor, twice; invasion of China by the Japanese; and World War II and a civil war between the Chinese Nationalists and Communist Party. Documentarian and journalist Samantha Cheng explores why Lee’s artwork is so compelling and how her life and evolution of art shed light on the Chinese and American experience.
Introduction and post-film discussion led by director Samantha Cheng.
Sunday, February 4, 3 p.m.
Ukrop Auditorium, Robins School of Business
STUDENT-CREATED MEDIA
The Hometowns Project
The Hometowns Project features quaint introductions and guided tours of cities in China that UR students calls home. Interact with the map and videos to learn more about our students' hometowns in China and some of their favorite places to hang out with family and friends.
Coordinated by the UR Chinese Students & Scholars Association.
Ready, set, Go
University of Richmond student Silvia Chen has been playing Go as long as she can remember.
“My dad showed me the pieces when I was only a month old,” she said, “and I’ve been playing ever since.”
Chen attended school in China specifically to train in Go from when she was 2 until she was 15. Go is an ancient Chinese boardgame, played with two opponents, who each have... (continue reading)<
ADDITIONAL CHINAFEST RESOURCES & PARTNERS:
The Rose Group for Cross-Cultural Understanding
About ChinaFest
&
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA)
ChinaFest Family Day