The Department of Chinese and History proudly presents the student-initiated Festival “Inventing Traditions: Discoveries and Innovations in Everyday Life in Imperial China”, which was held on campus from 19 to 28 March 2019.

Photo 2: Mahjong Carving Workshop

Curators of the Festival aspired to have an interactive, educational and fun bi-weekly event in the open gallery at the Blue Zone of Yeung Kin Man Academic Building on-campus. Participants and visitors could participate in workshops, mini screenings, live performances and themed seminars. The Festival includes eight booths on Chinese craftsmanship and inventions, including Chinese calligraphy, Chinese lanterns, tie-dyeing, Chinese knots, Mahjong, Xiangyun Gauze, Chinese musical instruments and Peking opera masks.

“I am glad to share with the community what I learned in the Department’s course - Advanced Management for Cultural Professionals. Organising such an event is never an easy task, but we are lucky to have a dedicated team which made this Festival a great success,” said student leaders Beatrice TSA and Winnie WONG.

The Festival aims at turning heads of the community with sophistication of traditional Chinese crafts and the finely decorated open gallery on campus. Student designers of the backdrop, Cyrus CHU, Alex NG, Jane CHOI and Vero YAN, shared that they were inspired by the self-regeneration of Chinese crafts, and thus tried to illustrate the arts and crafts as “items” being delivered from a “factory” to the world figuratively.

Once grappled with the idea of “factory circulation”, visitors could freely trace the collectables of the Festival, which included eight coloured postcards in a set, Peking opera mask figurines, instant calligraphies and Chinese knot kits, etc.

Photo 3: Paper Fan and Chinese Calligraphy Workshop