Macau Ricci Newsletter 11

No. 11 － June 2008

Commemorative Plaque to Remember Patronage

On April 15, a commemorative plaque was unveiled in acknowledgement of the financial support granted by Banco Nacional Ultramarino, S.A., Macau, over the years, to the Library of our Institute. We were very pleased to have the honor of the presence of three representatives from the Bank, Dr. Rodolfo Lavrador, the Executive Director of Caixa Geral de Depósitos from Portugal and Chairman of B.N.U., Macau, Dr. Herculano de Sousa, the Chief Executive of B.N.U., Macau, and Dr. Luís Neto, the Non-Executive Director of B.N.U., Macau. Upon a brief speech by Fr. Wardega to express our Institute’s heartfelt gratitude for their generous support, over the years, the ceremony of the plaque’s unveiling was presided by Dr. Lavrador, followed by the reading of the plaque’s text by Mr. Jerónimo Hung.

Forums

On January 23, Dr. Lam Lai Sing, collaborating scholar of the MRI and life Fellow of the International Biographical Association as well as a Deputy Director General of the International Biographical Centre in Cambridge, presented to us his latest publication: The International Environment and China's Twin Models of Development (Peter Lang AG, Switzerland, Oxford, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt am Main, New York, Wien, 2007, 287 pp.), the concluding volume of his series of research on Mao Zedong’s Thought.

On February 20 our first monthly Forum of the year was held in our Institute’s conference room.  The speaker was Prof. Christopher Kelen and the topic was related to “Macao Poetry Today”.

On March 10, a second Forum, co-organized by the Macau Foundation, was held. Prof. Roderich Ptak from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany, presented the topic “The Perception of Maritime Space in Southeast Asia and Indian Ocean during Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties”. Dr. Wu Zhiliang, representing the Macau Foundation, was also present. The event attracted about 30 participants.

On April 15, another forum took place for the launching of the book “Guide des Temples Bouddhistes de Chine” (French version). Fr. Christian Cochini, the author and former member of the MRI, gave a power point presentation to introduce the guide of 157 selected Buddhist Temples which he has visited during the three years in Mainland China. Our Institute has announced a plan to produce the English version of the book later this year.

On April 23, the Institute held another Forum related to the Beijing Olympics, with Mr. Vincent Heywood as the speaker and the topic was “China’s First-ever Team Appearance at an Olympics – the Footballers’ Adventure of 1936”.

On May 6, we were honored to have Mdm. Valery Garrett as the speaker who made a nice presentation on the topic entitled “China Rules: Chinese Dress from 1644 to the Present”.  There were 35 participants to attend the Forum which ended with the autograph of her latest book.

On June 11 Prof. Eugenio Menegon from Boston University (USA) presented the topic “Clearing the Heart, Seizing Time and Opportunity: European Allegorical Prints in late Ming China and Literati’s Reception” at our monthly Forum, which explores the importance of religious images in the propagation of the Christian faith and the Western symbols in China.

For the forum on the Chinese Cross Currents on May 27, see the following section.

神州交流― Chinese Cross Currents (CCC)

On May 21, our Institute held the monthly Forum, whose topic was “Chinese Cross Currents as a Cross Cultural Meeting Point between Chinese and Foreign Intellectuals: Past Approaches and Today’s Challenges”. The speakers were Fr. Yves Camus, Fr. Dominique Tyl, Prof. Jean-Pierre Cabestan and Mr. Guo Yidun. There were also some invited guests as discussants namely, Prof. Gary Ngai, Dr. Frederico Rato, Prof. Betty Wei, Mr. Cyril Law, Mr. Tudor Vladescu and Mr. George Wei. Among other registered participants, there were several well known persons such as Prof. Louis Ha, Dr. Patrick Taveirne, from Hong Kong, Dr. & Mrs. Bettembourg, Mr. & Mrs. Ian Smith, etc. etc.

Two issues of Chinese Cross Currents have been published since the last newsletter.  The first issue (January 2008, 5.1) can be best described as practical but also philosophical, since it covers philosophy issues as China enters the global economy, as well as recent developments in philosophy in Europe. Chen Xinhan argues that fetishism is the important root of the “landslide” of current social ethics in China. While having limitations the institutional analysis is very inspiring. Yang Hengda raises problems for developing business ethics in China, while Stephan Rothlin considers a “chance” for international business ethics in the Chinese context, with “face” possibly playing a crucial role.

The second issue (April 2008, 5.2) comes after the Russian presidential election, with three texts analyzing the direction of Russia’s democracy and reviewing the eight-year rule of the ex-president Vladimir Putin, followed by Liu Gangfang’s introduction to the new Chinese Real Right Law. It also contains two texts on Michał Boym and the northern route taken by the Jesuits to China respectively, and covers the past MRI International Symposium.

Researchers' Activities

On January 19, Artur Wardega, Director of the MRI and Chris Choi went to Guanzhou for a meeting at the Guangdong International Cultural Exchange Center with Ms. Zhong Bing, director; Mr. Wang Yan (vice-director) and Mr. Zeng Jun (deputy secretary).

On March 1, Fr. Wardega, gave a lecture to 30 students coming from French schools in Hong Kong and guided by Mr. Hubert de Richemont. The topic was related to the beginning of Macau St. Joseph’s Seminary and to the life of Fr. Mateus Ricci in Macau and China.

On March 18, Dra. Tereza Sena participated to the International Symposium on Robert Morrison and the Sino-Foreign Cultural Exchange where she was invited to present a paper on that topic. The Symposium was held at the Tourism Activities Centre for 2 days (18th and 19th of March 2008).

Fr. Camus went to Beijing to attend the “World Conference on Sinology” (April 26-27) at Peking University to deliver a paper on “Jesuits’ Journeys in Chinese Studies” and met Prof. Yang Huilin.

On May 22-23 Fr. Wardega participated in the Colloque International entitled “Utopie: mémoire et imaginaire” at the Université d’Artois, Arras, France, and presented a paper entitled “Prose utopique ou un essai critique: une communauté hakka dans le roman « La Ferme du Mont Li » de Zhong Lihe (1915-1960)”. During his stay in France, meetings were arranged with Prof. Jin Siyan and Prof. Charles Coutel. Both of them would later on come to Macau to further discuss the possibilities of kind of collaboration for certain academic projects.

Symposium on Polish Jesuit Missionaries

On April 27-29, the Macau Ricci Institute together with the Sun Yat-sen University of China and Poznan University of Adam Mickiewicz from Poland co-organized and participated in a three-day International Symposium dedicated to Polish Jesuit Missionaries in Chinese history.

The Symposium was held in Dongguan City (Guangdong Province-China). Our Institute cooperated and facilitated to the agreement signed between the two Universities in terms of exchanging lecturers and the organizing yearly joint-Symposiums, one in China and one in Poland.

Our Institute was represented by Fr. Artur Wardega, Fr. Yves Camus, Dra. Tereza Sena and Mr. Chris Choi. Both Fr. Wardega and Dra. Sena had presented their papers during the Symposium. Earlier on January 18 Fr. Wardega and Chris Choi went to Sun Yatsen University, with Thierry Meynard and Prof. Ni Liangkang to meet Dr. Slawinski, Consul of Poland, and his spouse, in preparation for the conference.

A letter of appreciation was later received from the Director of Collegium Europaeum Gnesnense, Gniezno, Poland, Prof. Dr. Aleksander W. Mikolajczak, together with a draft for an agreement between Poznan University and Macau Ricci Institute for academic cooperation and exchange.

Publications

Our fifth volume of the MRI Studies series, History and Memory: Present Reflections on the Past to Build Our Future, collecting papers presented during the International Symposium in December 2005, was launched in May.

Visits

On February 5, a delegation from the Macau Science Center, with Chief Curator Mr. Yip Chee-kuen and Exhibition Officer, Mr. Choi Chi-keong, and Fr. Howard Lui, Jesuit Superior of Macau Community, paid a visit to the MRI.

On March 18, Dr. Manuel Serrano Pinto from Universidade de Aveiro of Portugal came to visit our Institute and to exchange some interesting opinions with us.

On April 2, Prof. David Shive who is teaching Greek and Latin in Zhuhai (UIC) and Ms. Jan Lancaster (Library of Congress), who is working for the Prints Division of L.O.C. and her field is the History of Arts of 19th century, came to visit our Institute. Upon introducing them our Institute and Library, they appreciated our facilities and activities. Dr. César Guillén-Nuñez was present at the conversation and has exchanged valuable points of view with the visitors.

Interviews

On February 14, a reporter from a German COCO Film Production Company, Mr. Friedrich Kluetsch came to the MRI to interview Dra. Tereza Sena. The Production Company is preparing a movie about the life of Fr. Adam Schall von Bell, S.J. to be launched in the year 2009.

On March 3, Fr. Wardega and Dra. Tereza Sena were interviewed by a German reporter, Mr. Jochen Faget of German Radio who is residing in Portugal. The interview was related to enquiries and information about the history of Francis Xavier, S.J. as well as the activities of Macau Ricci Institute.
On 31st of March 31, the Mr. Robert Guégan, a journalist, paid a visit to the MRI looking after some materials related to the plants in China.

On June 16, Mdm. Catherine van Moppès, the journalist of “Sources d’Asie” and writer, and her husband Mr. Marc Menguy, the former Ambassador President of “Société des Amis de Qufu” came on the 16th (Monday) to pay a visit to our Institute.

In Memory of a Founding Member…

Fr. Bernard Chu, one of the Founding Members of the Macau Ricci Institute, passed away on February 8. A Holy Mass in his soul and memory was held at St. Augustine Church on February 15.

New Staff

On January 2, Mr. Chris Choi came to the MRI and started working as executive assistant of the Institute.