Talks

All year long we feature an eclectic salon of talks, readings, discussions, panels, and more. There are author talks and readings on a wide-ranging array of topics, from food to architecture and futurism to film, poetry and biography – really, anything that captures our interest and imagination!

Saturday, July 31, 4pm
Haim Dotan: Poetry & Architectural Philosophy from the Israeli Pavilion Architect
RMB 65, includes a drink

Israeli Pavilion architect Haim Dotan joins us for a discussion of poetry, photography, architecture, new urban design, philosophy and new visions, ecology -- and above all, about the dialog between human and nature, human and human in the crowded 21st century.  Haim will read from his book of poetry, "After the Rains" and show his nature photographs of architectural visions and philosophy.

Haim's two latest works, "After the Rain" and "Echo in the Desert", on architectural philosophy, are in Chinese, English and Hebrew.  This, he says, "is a tribute to my late mother, who was born in Shanghai, to my grandparents who lived in Shanghai, and to China and the Chinese people who saved my family's lives."

Sunday, August 1, 4pm
Anita Michaels Performs TS Eliot & Tennessee Williams
RMB 65, includes a drink

Actor Anita Michaels performs her acclaimed one-woman show featuring TS Elot's The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock (in its entirety), and Tennessee Williams women (Blanche and Alexandria Del Lago), as well her own China Poems.

Shanghai-born actor and writer Anita Michaels has performed her one-woman shows across Europe and the United States and is a founding member of Theatre Rapport in Los Angeles and most recently gave a reading of her China Poems at Shakespeare and Co. in Paris. Anita was born in Shanghai, in the former French Concession, to a Harbin-born mother and Italian father. She attended the French School until the family was forced to relocate in 1949.
 

Sunday, August 8, 4pm
CHINA: Portrait of a People with photojournalist Tom Carter
RMB 65, includes a drink

1 COUNTRY, 56 CULTURES
1.3 BILLION PEOPLE, 33 PROVINCES
2 YEARS, 56,000 KILOMETERS
A PHOTOGRAPHER AND HIS CAMERA

American photojournalist Tom Carter spent two years traveling and photographing all of China's 33 provinces and autonomous regions, creating a rich portrait of this diverse nation. Join us for a fascinating afternoon, as Tom shares his photographs and tells the remarkable stories of his 56,000 kilometer journey through a China that still remains unknown to the wider world.