…and looking back
Off to Beijng in a couple of days but before that, some looking back at developments over the past couple of months.
In April, Natasha, Ruru and I visited Guangzhou, Shanghai and Hong Kong supported by a Development Grant from the China:UK Connections through Culture programme. Our aim was to lay the foundations for expanding 100 Words across mainland China and Hong Kong, identify potential partners and gain a greater understanding of the specific culture of each city.
It was a fabulous trip, greatly exceeding expectations. All the organisations that we visited responded extremely postively to 100 Words. The fact that we had already run workshops in both China and the UK grounded the project and made it easier for potential partners to understand. They were able to relate it to their own organisations, establish areas of mutual interest and identify what the next steps might be. We left Guangzhou and Shanghai with concrete plans for activity later this year, while useful connections were made in Hong Kong.
In Guangzhou, we kicked off with a visit to the Guangzhou Overseas Chinese Foreign Language School and met the dynamic headteacher, Qin Jinhua, and her team. The school has had a specialism in the teaching of foreign languages for three years and has aspirations to expand beyond English. It has established links with a couple of schools in Birmingham, Moseley and St John Wall, and will be hosting some of their students on a summer camp when participants will have the chance to stay with a Chinese family. It runs a weekly English Corner, which we were invited to attend – for around an hour, we took part in lively discussions about what students might want to be when they finish their studies. The school has invited us back to run a two day workshop for around 25 teachers, which we’re very excited about.
Other highlights of our stay in Guangzhou include visits to the Guangzhou Repertory Theatre Company and Guangdong Museum of Art. We also managed to get a good feel of the city, visiting Shaiman Island (the first area where Westerners were allowed to live), wandering round the Chinese medicine market and going on an evening river cruise. Guangzhou had a relaxed feel to it, reflecting its location in the far south of China near Hong Kong and its role as a trading hub. The latter was very much in evidence with our visit coinciding with the 101st Canton Fair – trains were heaving, hotel accommodation scarce and very expensive. British Council Guangzhou staff were extremely helpful, as ever, and we look forward to continuing to work with them.
It was then off to Shanghai and a packed schedule of meetings with Shanghai Theatre Academy, Shanghai Jingju Theatre, Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre, Shanghai World Foreign Language Middle School, British Council Shanghai, Grass Stage and Neocha. There was the chance to meet up with some ‘lao pengyou’ including Nick Yu from Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre and Zhao Bingbing, the Mayor of London’s Chief Representative in Shanghai. It was also great to make new contacts including Jon, Sean, Cy and B6 from Neocha, which has recentlly launched www.neocha.com as a Chinese language platform aimed at China’s creative community. Ruru, as a ‘Shanghai-ren’ who grew up in the city and trained at Shanghai Theatre Academy, was a fantastic guide, showing us hidden secrets such as restaurants where she used to eat and local food markets as well as the more well known sights including views from Pudong at night. We left Shanghai with plans to return to run workshops at Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre, Shanghai Theatre Academy and the Shanghai World Foreign Language Middle School.
We then returned to Hong Kong for a few hours before catching onward and return flights. We had stopped off briefly on our first day, when we were shown round the stunning facilities at Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts and travelled on the near vertical tram up to the top of Hong Kong Island for a delicious dim sum lunch. On our return visit, we visited British Council Hong Kong’s Teaching Centre to discuss ways in which 100 Words might be integrated with its work.
Since our return home, there have been many meetings - with Arts Council England, Birmingham REP, the British Council, Southbank Centre and Norfolk & Norwich Festival with whom we’re exploring the rather intriguing link between Norfolk and Xuhei District in Shanghai. There have also been many hours spent at the computer, pulling all the various strands of 100 Words together in the form of a development plan for the project which will act as a blueprint for our vision and ambitions. And, of course, planning a return trip to Beijing with the National Youth Theatre, more of which shortly…
Rachel