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CONTENTS

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UK CHANCELLOR george osborne:MAKING THE CHINA UK RELATIONSHIP SECOND TO NONE

THE CHINA UK RELATIONSHIP IN FOCUS

- UK AMBASSADOR on PRESIDENT XI’S VISIT

china’s new cohort ofoverseas students

- MAYOR OF LONDON on bilateral trade

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p6BUSINESS IS GREAT

YOUNGER & YOUNGER

business through cultureand culture through business

britain and the rmb p18training the next generation p25

the academic opinionsoft power & cultural diplomacy

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a british writer’s take on writing historical fiction in china

A musical conversation through time

a voice to join britain and china

CHINA GETS A TASTE OF THE FAB FOUR

President Xi Jinping’s State visit to the United Kingdom marks the first such visit by a Chinese president to the UK in a decade. The visit comes fresh off a successful year which saw the first ever UK-China Year of Cultural Exchange, and a commitment from the UK to become one of the founding members of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, an initiative spearheaded by China. Looking to build on these ties, UK Chancellor George Osborne visited China in September in the hope of drumming up business. The relationship between these two countries is without a doubt burgeoning, and the benefits to be gained are great for both sides. But in or-der for the relationship to progress, there is certainly a need for greater cultural un-derstanding from both sides. This issue of China Plus explores the foundations of the China UK relationship, and shines a light on the path ahead. It highlights the growing awareness of Chinese culture within the UK and vice versa. The issue also presents thoughtful analysis on economic issues relating to the Chinese currency and cultural diplomacy under-taken by both nations.

Editor’s Message

Editor-in-chiefStuart Wiggin

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During his trip to China, in October, the UK Chancellor George Osborne said that his country is willing to further deepen economic cooper-

ation with China and to become China’s best partner in economic development. Osborne said that as an open economy, the UK wel-comes Chinese investors and is trying to attract more Chinese investment.

Speaking at TechTemple, a Beijing start-up scheme set up to encourage tech entrepre-neurs, Osborne said, “There is so much more we can do together, Britain and China. And there is a phenomenal potential here in this country. And where some people are cautious about getting more involved with China; we say quite the reverse.

We want to get more involved with China. We think this is going to be a source of jobs and growth of both our countries. And we want to have a golden decade and we want Britain to be China’s best partner in the West.”

The Chancellor stated that a higher level of bilateral cooperation will benefit both coun-tries. According to Osborne, China is not only a place with huge potential in terms of the traditional economy, but also in the emerging new economy.

As Osborne explained, “We want to make sure that the British-China relationship is second-to-none. And I think we’ve started off well. Britain gets more investment from China than many other European countries all put together.

We export a huge amount to China and exports are increasing. So, there is also a change in the kind of old pattern of the economy, as China itself changes and becomes that more consumption-led, service-driven economy.”

China has become Britain’s fourth largest trade part-ner, and Britain is China’s second largest trade partner within the European Union. Osborne says China cur-rently is going through a transition; but it is still very important for global growth, which actually provides opportunity for Britain.

Osborne told reporters at the Beijing based startup, “Britain’s strengths which are high-tech manufactur-ing, great services, these things are exactly the kind of things that the economy of China is becoming; it’s going need more of. And there are fantastic British businesses here. Everything from advertising agencies, television production companies, insurance compa-nies, and this is what Britain is good at.”

Osborne arrived ahead of President Xi Jinxing’s planned state visit to the UK; the first such visit by a Chinese president to the UK in a decade. Treasury minister Lord Jim O’Neil, Business Secretary Sajid Javid and Energy Secretary Amber Russ accompanied the Chancellor on his China trip, which also saw him travel to Shanghai, Chengdu and Urumqi.

We want to get more in-volved with China. We

think this is going to be a source of jobs and growth of both our countries. And

we want to have a gold-en decade and we want Britain to be China’s best

partner in the West.”

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CHINA-UK

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"there is so much more we can do together"

George OsborneUK Chancellor of the Exchequer

Beijing , September 2015

United Kingdom’s Chancellor of the Exchequer: Making the China UK Relationship Second-to-none

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CHINA-UK

China and UK carried out its latest round strategic talks in Beijing in August, 2015. Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi and British Foreign Secre-

tary Philip Hammond co-chaired the dialogue.

Speaking at Peking University, Hammond said, “The global stability we seek as the fundamental underpinning to our continued prosperity is best realised through the framework of laws, norms, and institutions that together constitute the rules based international system developed after the second world war. Like China, the UK takes very seriously its responsibly as a P5 member of the Security Council for stewardship of that system and is deeply committed to maintaining and strengthening it through careful evolution while protecting its essential effectiveness.”

Shen DingLi, Associate Dean of Institute of Inter-national studies at Fudan University talks about the UK China relationship with China Plus. UK China strategic dialogue started in 2005. Why did it come about and how useful is it in promoting China UK ties?

The UK is a first generation superpower. It is no longer a superpower but it is still a regional and global heavyweight. America is a second gen-eration global superpower. China is certainly a regional and global power and is looming to be a third generation of a new type of great power and possibly a benign super power. How could these powers peacefully coexist?

Expand common interests, working together to stabilise the region, Eurasia, the middle east and Asia, and fighting together against terrorism and the spread of weapons of mass destruction. And also incorporate China as the new rising status quo power to lay a proactive role in stabilising global economy, trade and finance. That is the impetus of the UK China strategic dialogue.

What are the shared areas of interest?

There are two main areas. Security and the Economy. UK and China need resources. We are both resource rich but we also need to import resources. We depend on energy, oil and gas, from elsewhere, especially from the middle east. if some countries would spread weapons of mass destruction in the region, that would upset regional stability or possibly pro-voke regional tension. UK has a stake not to allow anyone in the region to attain nuclear weapons. That coincides with the interests of China so we will work together.

China UK strategic cooperation does not allow anyone in the middle east to have such weapons, be it Iraq, Libya, Iran, Israel, we don’t allow it. But our two countries need to talk and need to censure a country like Iran in the name of the UN, and the UK would also use the EU platform to punish those who do it. We work with Iran, eventually , with other members of the P5 plus Germany, we succeed. That’s how a first generation power and a looming third generation power have common interests. Not only for themselves, but for every member of the international community. The next step is we need to implement the joint comprehensive plan of action.

As for the economy, China wants to stabilise Eurasia, wants stabilise Asia by developing Asia. China proposed the AIIB. The UK warmly embraced the idea to join it. First, it’s a common interest. We have a lot to stabilise and make the region prosperous.

Phillip Hammond mentioned during his trip, while speaking at Peking University, that China might be particularly influential in bringing about a similar agreement like the one achieved with Iran in relation to North Korea and their nuclear weapons progreamme. How influential might China be?

China has been doing this for ten years. A decade ago, Chi-na proposed a peaceful programme to make North Korea free from nuclear weapons programme, but also to strength-en its security and development. We played host for all 6 countries including ourselves. We have made the commit-ment that the entire Korea peninsula will be rid of nuclear weapons. But this is a package of three items. 1, peninsula free of nuclear weapons. 2, North Korean security would be respected. 3, how to make the entire region to have security. So, it’s a package.

North Korea insists if it had no nuclear weapons who would guarantee its security? The US is unwilling, even in the 6 party framework, to offer a security guarantee; even in the North Korean US bilateral framework, to offer North Korea a security guarantee. So, despite China’s best ideas, similar with that of the programme with Iran, other partners are not cooperating. China cannot make this good idea bear fruit. Now we can see that China’s approach has been applied to Iran and has been kind of successful this time. So, could we

revert to this idea to give North Korea a security guarantee? China, Russia, the US, others would do it together, they would pledge to North Korea that at any time they would not attack North Korea in the first place. And if anyone would attack North Korea, they would go to the UN Security Coun-cil to make a joint decision on how to defeat the aggression.

Hammond suggested China find a “rules based solution” to solve maritime disputes in South China Sea. What is your interpreta-tion of this comment?

He is using both good and ambiguous language. Rules based, meaning that the UN charter is the biggest international public law. So, we should abide by the UN charter, which means that if there is a dispute, the (parties involved) should find peaceful means to help solve the dispute; not resort to violent means.

So, China should not use violent means to handle Vietnam and the Philippines, and Vietnam and the Philippines should not use violence to impose war on China. They should smile, shake hands, drink and negotiate to find a deal. So, this is good. But at the same time it’s ambiguous, because the UN also allows a country to defend. If it’s my territory, I don’t need to go to the UN to defend my territory. When Japan carried out the rape of Nanking, we wouldn’t have needed to go to the UN, though it did not exist at that time; we have the right to self defence.

So, China has the right to use violent means to defeat aggressors, because they use violent means to occupy Chinese territory. So, he has eluded that despite the fact that Vietnam has invaded Chinese territory, China should still accommodate Vietnam

to respect the reality that they have taken your island, you should still smile and shake hands with Vietnam. And we say that a dispute could develop. You take my island, but we need to develop fisheries and oil together in the region; that’s what Vietnam denied. That would make real trouble. So, he is both saying nice things, but is also trying to restrain the freedom of China’s options.

Were the Chancellor’s words damaging to China UK relations?

This is diplomacy; he does not say that China cannot do anything, so this is how it’s ambiguous. But he tried to say, “Even though there is a dispute, don’t use violence.” So, that is something to restrain China’s freedom of action. If Viet-nam has invaded why can’t we use our national sovereignty to resolve this problem. But China UK relations has a vast spectrum: trade, mutual investment, middle east, AIIB. The South China Sea is a tiny, tiny portion of the relationship.

That does not involve the UK’s direct interests in the region. UK’s commercial shipping to the region may pass the South China Sea. Even if it passes (the region), our dispute with Vietnam may not affect it. Even if it is affected, that would be due to Vietnam’s fault. Even if it is Vietnam’s fault, that is a very tiny portion of the China UK relationship. So, we should be able to cope with various aspects of the relation-ship to make it stable; to make it largely productive.

Is the UK losing out on high spending Chinese tourists by not being part of the Schengen visa zone?

It should (allow Chinese tourists with Schengen visas to enter the UK). It’s not a subject of whether it should or not. It should! Otherwise, China will lose. Chinese people who are rich enough to spend in the UK will find it harder to get a UK visa, therefore they will lose the opportunity to spend in the UK; it’s our loss. In the meantime, they have lost an opportunity, because these rich Chines people can go to France or Belgium to spend. So, why should they lose out in this competition with France or Belgium etc… Even though they are not a part of Schengen, they could make a new rule that they would join Schengen, only in the sense that it would be applicable to Chinese tourists, meaning any Chinese citizen with a Schengen visa would automatically qualify to enter the UK without an additional UK visa. They should make the change.

The China-UK Relationship in Focus

Even though they are not a part of Schengen, they could make a new

rule that they would join Schen-gen, only in the sense that it would be applicable to Chinese tourists.

CHINA-UK

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We’re delighted that President Xi Jinping has accepted the invitation from her majesty the Queen, Queen Elizabeth, to pay a state visit to the United Kingdom. It’s something

that happens maybe once every ten years for the UK-China relationship. So we want to make this a really very successful visit by President Xi Jinping. We want to use it to showcase the strength and depth of the cooperation between our two countries. And we want to use it to show, too, a new level of am-bition, as we approach together the challenges of the twen-ty-first century, both of our partnership on the UN Security Council, our partnership in trade, the challenges we face around climate change, around wider global development, as well as the commitment we are making to the next generation of young people. So I think it will be a very exciting and a very memorable state visit. And we are very much looking forward to welcoming President Xi Jinping to the UK.

Earlier this year, the Mayor of London led a business delegation to China to explore closer business collaboration, spending time both in Hong Kong and

the Chinese mainland. The Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Alan Yarrow, says despite the recent depreciation of the Renminbi, the currency is still on a course of internationalisation. In reference to the devaluation of the Chinese currency, Yarrow said, ”You use these tools to make sure to manage your economy. The RMB devaluation I think is just purely a stage on the journey, it is a perfectly natural position if the government feels it would enhance economic growth; not so surprising. So I do not think in any way the government, particularly in the UK, will take a different view towards the Renminbi because of its devaluation. “

The RMB is now the world’s fifth largest payment currency and Hong Kong handles about 70 percent of international RMB transactions. Yarrow says London will remain the hub of offshore RMB busi-ness, despite increasing competition from other cities worldwide, stating, ”We believe in high levels of services to customers, the British rule of law, the time clock, the Lingua Franca, English language; we have a huge advantage. I think it is fair to say that everyone wants to be involved in the interna-tionalisation of the RMB, and the more the merrier as far as I’m concerned. But at the end of the day, we will be the largest Western hub in the interna-tionalisation of RMB. “

During Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the UK, the first visit from a Chinese President in a decade, the Lord Mayor will host a banquet in the City to cement even stronger ties between the two countries. “It is important to make sure that the President, the Prime Minister, and the Queen, inevitably, have those senior levels diplomatic links open. We are very supportive of lot of the changes that are taking place, we want

to be involved, particularly in the City of London, in helping China, supporting China to its next development, particularly in the financial services. “

The United Kingdom is among the first European econo-mies to embrace China’s new initiatives including the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank and the “One Belt, One Road” initiative. Yarrow also says the UK has a lot to offer in the process and is keen on promoting bilateral cooperation in financial and professional services.

Business is Great: Promoting Bilateral Cooperation in Financial and Professional Services

UK Ambassador to China, Barbara Janet Woodwardon President Xi’s UK visit

I do not think in any way the government, particularly in the UK, will take a different view towards the Renminbi because of its devaluation

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We used to hear a lot about Chinese high school or middle school students going overseas on study tours. But now it seems that more and more elementary school students are joining these tours. From your own work experience, is that the case right now?

Yes, that’s true. Senior high school students are (still) the majority in these programmes, but now, more and more junior high school students and el-ementary school students are participating in these tours. Their ages range from about 6 to 8.

What programmes or activities are included in these study tours?

In general, the summer programme includes the EFO courses, activities like sports, art, and also cultural tours. That (gives them) a taste of overseas education. Usually these programmes take place a long way (away), so Chinese (students) can also learn how to be independent, self-disciplined, and learn some leadership (qualities).

How can children learn about leadership through these kinds of tours?

In one group, we have 30-40 children. We will divide them into different small groups, so in one group, we usually have two student leaders who will be the assis-tants to the group leaders, (helping to) manage the students. The small group leaders also help each other to manage their small groups. That is leadership.

Why can’t they achieve these kinds of skills through domestic tours? Why do they have to go overseas to practice leadership?

In China, whether the students are in school, or a classroom, or at home, they have teachers to look

after them, or parents look after everything. So, the students who participate in these overseas education tours, they will look after themselves and also look after one another. We travel to different places, like London, New York; you need to look after each other and be disciplined.

You mentioned London or New York. So what are the favoured destinations for these young students?

At the moment, because most Chinese schools teach En-glish, so the English-speaking countries are the favoured destinations of the education tours, like America, a very popular country, and the UK, because they have boarding schools, which are good places for summer programmes, and also Europe. At AcademicChina, we have programmes including a two week stay in UK boarding schools, or one week in other European countries. They are very close.

So what do the students usually do when they go to those countries? For instance, if they go to the US, what would they do?

Usually they have English classes. They will be hosted by (and stay with) local families. America is very different from the UK. The US does not have many boarding schools, so for the summer programme, usually, the students will be hosted by host families. They stay with the American fami-lies, they meet American children or local students; they can understand more about American culture.

How much do these tours cost?

Two weeks or three weeks are very popular. The two-week (programme) in America costs 30,000 RMB. For the three-week (programme), that’s over 40,000 RMB.

By staying in an overseas country for two to three weeks, do you think these students can actually learn anything, culturally speaking, or can they actually im-prove their language skills?

From my 17 years of experience, for the most part, students do experience positive changes after the pro-gramme. We have a boy who is about 12 years old. He did not like English because he said ‘I am Chinese. Why should I learn English?’ That’s a young boy. They attend our programme going to the UK, to a class with English teachers. For the younger ones, the English class plays games; they use games to learn English. They love it.

During the stay with students and teachers, they enjoy (themselves). They feel that English is not that difficult and it’s very useful, because yes, we are Chinese, but we can’t speak Chinese in the UK, because local people, most of them, can’t understand that. When he goes shopping, to buy a drink, to buy ice cream, English is so useful. When he came back, he told his mother that he wanted to go to the English class by himself.

Are there any challenges in carrying out these tours? The students are quite young. Do you find them hard to manage overseas?

Yes, it’s a big challenge. Usually we want the stu-dents to be prepared in advance. The education tour, I don’t think it is the same as general travel-ling. We encourage students to be prepared to learn more about the information; about all the itiner-aries. When they go there, they can learn more, feel more and get more. Another (aspect) is safety, because the students, most of them, will have their first (experience) of being independent.

And they need to look after their clothes, their mobile phone. They need to be aware of their own safety. Be-cause it’s education, education, education; we design the programme, we have the courses suitable for the students, and we have to find very good local families, like in America, to be the host family. Before depart-ing, we provide training for the students. Our group leaders are also trained intensively.

China Plus also spoke to Dr. Wolfgang Arlt, director of the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute, which is headquartered in Germany.

According to your research, why do you think it is becoming popular for Chinese elementary school students to go on overseas study tours?

I think this is something we have seen in the past few years, happening more and more. It is connected, first of all, to the general trend of outbound tourism from China, which has been growing more and more. China is now the biggest outbound tourism market in the world, so travelling overseas has become for the more affluent people in China, part of normal con-sumption pattern in the last ten years.

So I think, firstly, from the experience of travel-ling overseas, it is becoming apparent that it is not dangerous (for children) to go to another country. (Parents) dare to send their children abroad, and are confident nothing will happen to them. This is something that has become much more normal to think about. As we can see, more families are trav-elling, and more Chinese travellers take their chil-dren with them. Very simply, in the last few years, the number of people in China who can afford to have this idea has been growing. And with the one-child policy, as most children in China grow up in a single child family, all the money (goes towards a family’s) one child, that’s another reason.

China Plus provides a series of inter-views focussing on the growing trend of Chinese parents sending their young children abroad to learn. Our

first interviewee is Sui Jin’e, managing director at AcademicAsia China, an overseas studying consulting firm.

Younger and Younger, China’s New Cohort of Overseas Students

But China is relaxing its family-planning policy. Many couples are now able to have a second child. Do you think, even with that relaxation of the family-planning policy, the trend will continue?

Yes. Because we can see that even now many couples are allowed to have two children, especially in the cities and especially among richer people. There are still many couples that have either one child or no children, because everything in China is quite expensive. If you have high expectations, if you think your child should be the best in class, should have piano lessons and dancing lessons, or like everyone else in the world, like people living in big cities, have a chance in business, having more than one child will not change the trend.

Do you agree that if a student’s family can afford the fees, it is necessary for the child to study overseas for two to four weeks at an expense of 20,000 to 40,000 yuan? Is it more about receiving western education or more about travelling abroad?

I would agree, if you can afford it, it’s a good thing to have the experience of going abroad. Of course, it’s quite different if you learn English just in school, for examination purpos-es. If you are in unfamiliar surroundings, (you) find that English is necessary, children gain the experience that not everybody in the world speaks Chinese.

It’s quite useful. It is not only about language; as we all know, a lot of the children (from one-child families) are rather spoiled; they are growing up in a situation where they don’t hear ‘No’ very often. So, I think it will be a different situation when they are abroad; they will find that not everything is always goes their way; so I think it is a useful experience. Of course, staying two weeks, four weeks, will not be a big step for one’s formal education. What you’ll learn is not (related to) formal teaching, but it’s a very good way to learn about

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In the year of the first-ever UK-China Year of Cultural Exchange, what’s new when it comes to trade cooperation between the two nations?

Dr. Catherine Raines, Minister at the British Embassy in Beijing and Director-General for UK Trade and Investment in China discusses some of the

new trends in Sino-UK economic relations.

British Institutions as a Benchmark

It is true that since 2010, goods exports to China have more than doubled. This is partly because the economies of China and the UK are kind of converging in the sense that the things that we’re really good at in the UK, particularly around creativity and innovation, across all the sectors – not just those sectors that are typically thought of creative – some of the areas in particular for example might be healthcare. China of course has an enormous population and is very proud of the fact that it provides universal healthcare to everybody.

The challenge now for China, I think, is very similar to that in the UK; you have an ageing population. Healthcare is an expensive thing to provide. You want to be able to provide it in a way that is equal for ev-erybody. The UK has the most fantastic model in the National Health Service, recently described as the best healthcare model in the world, and we’re very keen to share our experience of developing that with China. So, there are lots of areas where we can collaborate.

Core Competencies of Chinese Enterprises

One of the things that I think is tremendous here is the innovation and the appetite and the ambition. It’s one of the things that I first noticed when I came to Shanghai in 2006; the energy of the place. Everybody works very, very hard; very diligent. I think people work very hard in the UK as well, so I think that’s a really good match. But one of the other things that I think we have in common, which will be a strong point for Chinese businesses, is that our creativity is based on a real respect for our culture.

I was talking to the chairwoman of Wensli, the big (Hangzhou-based) silk company the other day; we were talking about how fantastic it is to have that culture un-derpinning your creativity and really take that to a new

Business Through Culture and Culture Through Businesslevel. We were talking about her company and I was drawing a com-parison with a company called Gieves and Hawkes in the UK, which is a gentlemen’s fashion design company. They’re doing a similar thing; they’re really taking the very best of heritage designs and putting a modern twist. So, actually, I think Chinese companies will find it very easy to integrate with the UK just because we have this deep under-standing of culture but a real drive and ambition to put a modern twist on it and go forward into the 21st Century with that.

Challenges that Chinese Companies Face in the UK

Of course, any country that is a long way away and has different systems, then you have to get to know those systems. And you have to be aware of what the market is, and you have to be aware of how to operate in that market; different culture, different rules. One of example of the cultural differences that I can give you is that public relations are very, very important in the west. It’s less important here in China. So there are differences like that.

We’ve got a great scheme at the moment at one of our universities in the UK. Chinese students are now being given placements in UK companies and the reason we’re doing that is because we want to try to get over the problem that are inherent in the question (of what challenges Chinese companies face). We think that if Chinese students go to work in British companies, then that’s a real win-win.

The Chinese students will learn about what it’s like to work in a British company, and the British company will get the benefit of having a Mandarin speaking employee that also understands the Chinese way of doing business; so everybody benefits from that. There are 135,000 Chinese students in the UK, more than any other foreign nationality actually, where we’re really getting this fantastic cross-collaboration between our two cultures, between our two nations. I really believe that education is hugely important.

Cultural Exchange in 2015

We were talking about education and how important that is. Cultural exchange is the same really. It’s almost the twin, if you like, of education because it’s the other way that we can really share experiences together; really get to know one another. The cultures are different and it’s very important to be respectful of those cultures. But there’s a famous saying about friendship first, business second. So I think culture, it’s sometimes referred to as soft power.

I don’t really always like that quite so much, because it makes it sound like a power thing, which I don’t think it is. I think it’s a relationships thing actually. The more that we can have really great, really constructive relationships and friendships, and many of those are created over cultural activities, it will really help us in a number of ways. It will help us do business through culture and culture through business; it’s both.

BUSINESS

how other parts of the world (function). In Europe, this is quite common, that for 15 to 16-year-olds to go on exchange programmes where you can go for one semester to a school in another European country, or go for summer holidays and do some holiday jobs. That’s quite common.

I think the difference is that in Europe, these are supported by national programmes or by Euro-pean Union programmes; it is not only for kids of rich families who can do that. There is also a big chance for talented children from poorer families to do that. Certainly in Europe, everybody agrees it is a good idea for children to be exposed to other countries, to other surroundings, so that they have a wider view of the world.

That means, it should not be a summer camp where all the pupils are again Chinese; it only works if it is organised in a way that this is a mixed group, in the daily life, encountering people from other countries, maybe from many different coun-tries on a daily basis.

How are those tours received by local people, especially by local business people?

Of course, this is part of the overall outbound tourism wave, which is coming at the moment. People are now becoming aware of the fact that more and more Chinese are coming here and Chi-nese children are coming here for summer schools or some other schooling. And of course they are welcomed and we are happy to receive them. For some companies, they can earn money from this (trend), either directly by organising the activities or indirectly by having them as customers.

So, as I said before, many of these children have to accept that something cannot be done the way they like it to be done. Things are different from how they are organised in China. Of course, they are welcomed here by those people who organise the summer camps. From my point of view, these pro-grammes are useful for children who are at least 14 years old. I do not think it is a very good idea for an 8 or 10-year-old; it may be too much of a shock, being in a faraway place. So I think it is a useful thing to do for children who are 13 or 14 years old.

There are actually a number of reports about these young tourists spending a lot of money on buying sportswear as well as toys. I want to know your take on that.

I think a lot of people in western countries are astonished at how much buying power these chil-dren have. They spend a lot of money when they

are here, obviously the reason is that they come from really affluent families and it is a good opportunity to buy things, which either cannot be bought in China or are more expen-sive in China. From the general public’s point of view, this is not noticed too much. But it is part of the overall awareness that there are more and more Chinese people coming to the western countries.

Finally, China Plus gained the views of Ma Zhengmei, who sent her 8-year-old daughter to a local summer camp in Oxford, Britain last year.

So, can you tell us, what did your daughter do in the sum-mer camp in Britain last year?

My daughter attended a summer camp course which I chose that aimed to give children creativity. The main activity is prac-ticing children’s handicrafts. The teacher gave the students a rough idea and asked them to hand-make the objects according to their own understandings. She is very happy there.

So what do you think she learnt through as a result of attending a course outside the country?

I think the biggest achievement for her was that she made full use of her imagination. She became much more self-confident. Through this course, my daughter came to realise that she was very capable and she even thought her hands were magical. She became much less afraid to try new things and I think that is a very precious quality.

Did she improve her English as a result of staying in Brit-ain and attending the course?

During the course, she also made a lot of new friends and greatly improved her English. So, her ability to commu-nicate with her classmates and her English level is much better now. (Her classmates) were all British and they spoke English every day, every minute.

I understand that your relatives have also sent their chil-dren on study tours organised by domestic travel agents. How would you evaluate those tours?

My opinion is that they are solely businesses, so the organisers won’t put the children’s study needs as their top concern. I know one regular activity of these tours is visiting campuses, but it’s usually summer time when the kids go there, so there isn’t much to see apart from empty buildings. I do think those study tours have their own value as long as the parents can afford it. It’s still worth paying the money to let your child go abroad and have a taste of foreign culture. But I would suggest that those study tours learn from local summer camps in the UK and really put the effort into nurtur-ing children’s studying abilities and creativity, so that the tours can really be worth the money.

EDUCATION

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Fans of the Beatles are situated all over the world. China is no different, and you would be hard pressed to find someone living in a major Chinese city that hasn’t

heard the songs “Hey, Jude” and “Let It Be.” Earlier this year, images and detailed stories of this exceptional British band were exhibited in Shanghai.

Chen Luying, a coordinator of the exhibition titled “The Beatles, Tomorrow” at the Lafayette Arts Centre in Shanghai says that she was able to trans-port visitors back to the 1960s via the exhibition that came to Shanghai. It is a tribute to all things about the best-known rock n roll band.

“Several days ago, a visitor holding a white rose went in to the exhibition hall alone,” Chen explains. “After observing every item, he laid the rose beside the white piano on the third floor. John Lennon used that white piano to record one of his most famous songs, ‘Imagine’.”

According to Ma Chencheng, the curator of the show from Shanghai Media Group, visitors were able to see 100 photos and a large number of personal items of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison as well as more than 250 newspaper clippings and magazine articles about the Fab Four, from the time of the band’s establishment until they split up.

The exhibition, according to Ma, provided Chi-nese fans of the world’s most famous band with a chance to experience things up close and per-sonal, like never before. “It’s a show that you can experience with all your senses. Besides photos, there are also the band’s posters, records, news-paper features, a reproduction of The Beatles’ first US television show, the Ed Sullivan Show,

China Gets a Taste of the Fab Four

By Chi Huiguang

and the 3D scenery of their album cover, Abbey Road. In addition, we also broadcast the documentary of the Beatles.”

The reproduction of the famous Abbey Road album cover proved to be one of the most welcomed highlights of the show, allowing visitors to act out the iconic scene on the most well-known zebra crossing in the world, with a little help from their friends.

Another highlight was the Beatles lifestyle area, including a live house performance every night. DJs and bands from home and abroad performed at the venue each and every night while British style snacks and drinks were served to bring The Beatles era back to life.

Rather than just showcasing the band’s history, the curators of the exhibition wanted to be ambitious and tried to deliver an altogether different experience to visitors. As Ma Chencheng explained, “We pay much more attention to delivering a differ-ent lifestyle to our visitors by a specially designed show with rich content and connotation.”

The impact of the Beatles has often been noted. The “Fab Four” from Liverpool, England, startled the ears and energised the lives of virtually all who heard them. Their arrival triggered the musical revolution of the Sixties, introducing a modern sound and viewpoint that parted ways with the world of the previous decades.

Ma Chencheng, of Shanghai Media Group, notes that, “The Beatles were a great band because of their innovation. They were real pioneers. They set an example for the following bands and the youngsters at that time. Before, the process of creation and performance were separate. It was the Beatles that first merged the two concepts together.”

In a career that lasted less than a decade, the Beatles changed the course of rock and roll and popular music. After launch-ing the British Invasion of the United States and scoring 20 Number One hits, the Beatles went on to indulge their creative energies in the studio. They have always been considered the creative apotheosis of rock and roll, managing to make rock music a “serious art” without losing its sense of humour.

The group continued to break new grounds before calling it quits in 1970. All of the band members, from then on, went on to lead successful solo careers. In droves, fans of the Beatles would still flood to what them perform solo. As for the take of Chinese fans during this year’s Shanghai exhibition, the response was overwhelming.

One young female visitor claimed that, “It takes me back to the sixties and seventies. I believe the exhibition may remind many Beatles’ fans of the memory of their youth.” Meanwhile, even hardcore Beatles fans were surprised by the experience on offer. One young man noted, “I am a big fan of the Beatles. Actually I know a lot about the band, but it’s a different feeling to see the real photos and news reports with my own eyes.”

PLUS 15

MUSIC

16 17CHINA PLUS

The idea of nationalism was actually created in the 1920s. All the elements of China’s future

are in those ten years, but it is like a crucible, a sort of chemical experiment.

For many novelists, writing historical fiction is quite a challenge, since the fidelity of history must be shown while the story needs to be appealing to the

readers of today. When writing about the his-tories of other countries, the difficulties could not be greater. But British writer Adam Wil-liams is not afraid to make some bold moves and his engrossing China-themed trilogy is winning international acclaim as a result.

Williams’ most celebrated saga: The Emperor’s Bones, or in Chinese, “Qianlong De Gutou,” is a prime example of such boldness paying off. What would be the first thing to come to your mind at the mention of the 1920s? Gangsters and bootlegging? Or flappers in “The Great Gatsby”?

China did not experience the apparent glamour of the Roaring Twenties, so the answer to such a question would be starkly different from what you might expect an American or even a British person to say. Trapped in a power struggle, China was nearly torn apart by warlords and military cliques, while the Japanese troops lurked in the northeast in hope of getting a piece of the country.

Besides the history textbooks, very few literature works, even written by Chinese writers, have tried to reexamine that period extensively. Therefore, focusing on 1920s China, British writer Adam Wil-liams’ novel “The Emperor’s Bones” is a rarity.

As Williams explains, “The great thing about the 1920s is nobody knew what will happen. If you were taking a bet on the Communist Party in 1927, people would think you were mad. I mean they had been slaughtered in Guangzhou and Shanghai, they were running off to the mountains. How can they come to rule China? At the same time, with Japan slowly invading,

how would the big Japanese Empire be defeated? Nobody would know. I think it was so full of ideas. The idea of nationalism was actually created in the 1920s. All the ele-ments of China’s future are in those ten years, but it is like a crucible, a sort of chemical experiment. So I thought that was a very good time to test all sorts of differences in that chaos. It’s wonderful to have human stories.”

“The Palace of Heavenly Pleasure” is the first instalment of William’s China trilogy, which features the turmoil of the country in the late 19th Century. Loosely based on the experiences of his family, who lived in northern China during that period, the author creates an uneasy world similar to T.S. Eliot’s Wasteland. From the brutal battlefields of the Northern Expedition to the blood-soaked “Shanghai Massacre “ of 1927, the novel follows the eventful and thrilling lives of two young women to wipe away the dust and cobwebs of those long-gone days.

“Women are often victims of historical events in a sense, but the virtues of women are often more compassionate ones. So for the theme of my book, because the book is about suffering and strength out of suffering, I think some of the feminine charac-teristics are much stronger,” Williams points out. One of the protagonists is a feisty, enduring English woman named Catherine, who comes to China to find her father but gets caught in a love triangle with two brothers. Another key character is Catherine’s Oxford schoolmate Yu Fukui, a mistress of a warlord intelli-gence officer as well as an idealistic mole getting lost in the revolution of her country.

Occasionally, the paths of these two females would inter-lace together, but in most parts of the book, their fates and people around them are swept away in different directions. In that turbulent age, when love could be questionable and betrayal was regarded as routine, all those characters, whether fictional or not, were trying to find themselves and make changes, even though their endeavour or ambition always availed them naught.

Williams says he has no intention to pro-file paragon and stereotypical figures, but to showcase the complexity of humans without making any judgment. “I intend not to find people are good or people are bad, because people tend to be both. Everybody has their reason for doing things.

I mean nowadays in history textbooks, you have the sort of inevitable communist rise and the good people were communist revolution-aries and socialists of the time, the bad people were the nationalists. But it wasn’t so. You have idealists on every front. So I think it’s wonderful (that) in a novel, you don’t have to stand on this person’s side or that person’s side.”

Fast paced and tautly written, “The Emperor’s Bones” is a wondrous historical epic flavoured with adventure and romance and spiced with a dash of spy story. Thanks to its strikingly grand scenes, evocative language and richly illustrated characters, the book is hailed as the female version of “Doctor Zhivago” by the media.

But is the Chinese history portrayed in this book accurate or not? Williams’ take is that, “History is fantasy really ; you can’t write real history. Every generation will interpret history in a different way. You always interpret history according to the present. So actually when you’re writing history, you are writing (about the) world of today, our life and what it means.”

The above graphic is adapted from a photograph taken in 1913 featuring British medical missionary Dr. David Muir (man sitting) and his family on leave from China. Muir practiced medicine in northeastern China from the 1890s and received a medal from the Qing Emperor for his contribution of dealing with the plague. The girl standing, wearing white, was Muir’s daughter and Adam Williams’ grandmother, Catherine.

A British Writer’s Take on Writing Historical Fiction in China

By Li Shiyu

An exploration of the themes and motifs in Adam Williams’ historical novel, The Emporer’s Bones

Women are often victims of historical events in a sense, but the virtues of women are often more compassionate ones.

History is fantasy really; you can’t

write real history. Every generation

will interpret history in a different way.

HISTORY HISTORY

19PLUS18 CHINA

Ma Yue, Chair Professor of Finance at the City University of Hong Kong speaks to China Plus about the Brit-

ish government’s decision to issue Renminbi (RMB) denominated bonds.

Great Britain is the first country outside Greater China to issue RMB denominated bonds. Why is this deemed historically significant here in China and also in the UK?

This is the first western government to issue RMB denominated bonds. Although the amount

is relatively small, it is less than 1 percent of the British government’s new bonds to be issued this year, but it is a significant amount because it will have a benchmark ef-fect. After the British government issues the government Renminbi bonds, investors who have bought them may trade on the bonds market in London. This will set up a risk-free benchmark interest rate for other RMB bonds to be issued by private firms in the London market.

We can use a hypothetical example to illustrate this point. For example, if Rolls Royce would invest in China in the future and wished to raise its finance in London, Rolls Royce may just issue RMB corporate bonds, priced for

Britain and the Renminbi

example a few hundred basis points over the British government RMB bonds. So this is a benchmark effect; it’s very significant.

UK Chancellor George Osborne said the issuance of Chinese bonds will mean jobs and investment in Britain. How will RMB denominated bonds create jobs and investment in Britain?

Together with the recent RMB clearance ser-vice center in London, this is the British gov-ernment’s strategy to ensure that London will remain as the leading international financial center; to compete with New York, Hong Kong, Singapore and maybe Shanghai for the financial products and services.

That will create a lot of jobs and employment related to financial centers. Probably another question you may ask is what the British gov-ernment will do with this 2 billion RMB cash. Maybe it just adds it to British official reserves. Although it is relatively very small, less than 1 percent of their foreign exchange reserves, it is still quite a significant amount.

Some analysts say the bonds are likely to sit in quiet corners of investment account for years. With this in mind, is this issuance not just a drop in the ocean and more symbolic than anything else?

I don’t think this will be insignificant. As I mentioned, this will set up a benchmark for the private corporate bonds to be issued on the London market. Without the benchmark, which is a risk-free benchmark, then it’s very difficult for the private corporations to issue RMB bonds in London based on the benchmark reference interest rate. Then it will be difficult for them to issue the private corporate bonds.

Just look at the US New York market, it is ex-actly because the US government issued a huge amount of different maturities of government bonds, they set up a benchmark, interest rate free rate. That’s why the bonds market in the US is so active and so big. And so I think in order to kick start the RMB bond market, the British government issuance is important for establishing this benchmark so that the private corporate bond issuers can follow up. So, the significance is on the benchmark and not the amount of the issuance.

Do you believe that private corporate bond issu-ers will follow up in the future?

The London financial markets are relatively more devel-oped than the other markets in Asia. So, the financing cost is lower in London. So, that’s why British investors, or in fact any investors who want to invest in China and need to raise finance, they would prefer to raise the capital in London’s market because it is relatively cheap. So, after the British government sets up the benchmark interest rate, it is easier for them to set their own private interest rate for their own private corporate bonds to raise the finance to invest in China.

We know the Chinese financial market is relatively unde-veloped so far. So, there is still a long way for the Chinese financial market to catch up with the London market. I think that’s why the British government wants to take the lead, to issue the RMB bonds so that more foreign inves-tors may raise their finance in London’s market, so that the London market would compete with other interna-tional financial markets on the RMB financial products.

So far, the British foreign exchange reserves are denom-inated in US and Canadian dollars, Euros and Japanese Yen. And now according to the British government, the bond will be used to add RMB to Britain’s foreign ex-change reserves. How will the inclusion of RMB make the British reserves any different?

I think without a doubt, the RMB will make the British reserves more robust against any shock that may hap-pen in China. I think it’s beneficial for Chinese RMB to become an international reserve currency and also maybe an international currency. This will help the Chinese RMB to fulfill its internationalization process.

I think after the British government issued RMB bonds and puts RMB into their foreign reserves, without a doubt there will be more countries and more foreign gov-ernments follow suit. They will try to issue in their own financial markets the RMB denominated government bonds, and of course that will boost the private sector to hold RMB as assets or liabilities. This will push the RMB internationalization process further.

One of China’s mega state-owned banks, ICBC has been granted by Britain to expand its operations in Britain. Is this move connected with the issuance of the bonds?

I think all these are consistent with the RMB internation-alization process. With a clearing bank in London, then it will help the foreign traders, international traders to settle the services and payments in RMB. It will also help, of course, Chinese traders and investors to settle their service payments in RMB.

Then this will of course also encourage the Chinese gov-ernment to deregulate the control of our capital account and make the capital mobility more flexible to fulfill investment and international trade demands.

ECONOMY

20 21CHINA PLUS

Born in the 8th century, Li Bai is prob-ably one of the most prolific poets in Chinese history. His legendary drunkenness, playful imagery and ro-

mantic nostalgia have enraptured generations. Even to this day, his poems are widely recited and memorised by elementary school children and Chinese literature lovers. But what hap-pens when a Welsh folk singer lays his hand on those well-known verses?

Endowed with the title “the Immortal Poet”, Li Bai is unquestionably the Chinese equivalent of Geof-frey Chaucer. Although nearly 1,200 years have passed since his death, the works of this legendary bard are not only compulsory reading for Chinese schoolchildren, but also have become the inex-haustible treasury for many Chinese songwriters.

But when Welsh musician Gareth Bonello buck-led to those far-reaching verses, he married them off to the spirit of the 1960s British folk revival and Welsh melodies. As Bonello explains, “What I did was I took several different poems and read those to see what Li Bai says, and try to keep the mood of that poem and use some of his imagery, but then write a new song. So, most of the lyrics

are written in meters that you get in traditional Welsh folk songs. That meter basically forces you to write in a different way, because you have to try to make it rhyme in the right places..”

Wearing square-frame glasses and a pair of blue jeans, the curly-haired singer looks more like an average joe rather than a rising star in the British folk music scene. Awarded Composer of the Year in 2011 by BBC Radio Cymru, the 33-year-old guitarist is skilled at combining language, po-etry and melodies of his native Wales to produce ballads in both English and Welsh.

So when this budding artist was selected by the British Council and Performing Rights Society (PRS) for Mu-sic Foundation to come to China for music collabora-tion, he immediately went to poetry for his inspiration. Surprisingly, he found resonance with Li Bai, a Chinese poet from the 8th century, noting, “I always find that if you read poetry, you get a little bit into that culture’s characteristics. So I thought I was about to read some Chinese poetry, obviously in translation. Pretty soon, I found Li Bai’s poetry and really, really enjoyed it. His ways of saying really huge life-changing things with small sentences, small images and lots of very great metaphors really appeal to the way I write music and it’s very similar to things written in Welsh. As I read more about Li Bai, I realise his life was so interesting and because his poems are so biographical, that I would be able to actually do an album told (telling) his life story.”

Bidding goodbye to family and friends in Britain, Bonello arrived Chengdu, the populous provincial capital of southwest China’s Sichuan Province. For a newcomer, he was intrigued by everything, as he himself admits. “It was probably one of the biggest cities I have been to. Coming from Cardiff, it is a very small place with only 350 thou-sand people, so to me, it’s very big, bustling (and) busy. By part I was staying there, there were so many interest-ing places for me to go and see.

There were lovely teashops, parks, temples just around the corner. And of course –well, it’s going on, you got all the constructions and huge buildings going all around you as well. So it’s really kind of place where I can see the modern, expanding, growing China and traditional China right there next to each other. That was really fascinating to me.”

From the Wuhou Shrine, Dufu Thatched Cot-tage to the Sichuan Opera House and even the Panda base, the British singer sought inspira-tion in some of the most unexpected places. As a keen observer, he recorded some usually overlooked audio, such as common birdcalls, chatter in a teashop, the chanting of monks, and sounds of people playing chess, then carefully blended them together in the album, “The Immortal Bard”.

Bonello wanted to create a sound portrait of Chengdu, “to give people an audio idea about where I was when I recorded the album and wrote the album. To me, it was good. I can put all these sounds; I can see them telling a little bit of a story. The idea was they went from the city to the countryside and it would start off Li Bai’s story with him wondering around the countryside.”

Produced in a sort of biographical manner, the Welsh-language album “The Immortal Bard” traces back the eventful life of Li Bai. Delivered by the tender yet sturdy timbre of the singer, the musical journey starts off with the poet’s vigor-ous youth as a traveler, to middle age when he suffered loneliness and frustration after political setback, and ends with Li Bai’s mysterious death, when the poet fell from a boat while drunkenly trying to reach for the moon in the water.

Gareth Bonello says the life story of Li Bai actu-ally reflects some universal emotions of humans. “At the end of day, it’s all human story, isn’t it? The things he is dealing with and the things all

people deal with (are) the indecision of youth, the loss of being away from your loved ones, the ageing process and all that kind of thing. Li Bai in many ways is quite a vain man. I think that was particularly difficult for him. You can see that until the end of his life, he wrote lots of po-ems to do with ageing and how he doesn’t really believe that he is getting old.”

From “Quiet Night Thoughts”, “Question and Answer” to “Drink with the Moon”, many noted pieces of Li Bai have been borrowed by Bonello to pay tribute to the splendour of nature, joy of drinking, and the desolation of the heart. As the musician reads more about Chinese poems, he says many themes are echoed in ancient Welsh ballads.

As Bonello says, “(Li) also has lots of poems about love, his family, his wife and children. I need to tell that side of

A Musical Conversation Across Time: A Welsh Singer’s Discovery of Li Bai

By Li Shiyu

Li Bai’s ways of saying really huge life-changing things with small sentences, small

images and lots of very great metaphors really appeal to the way I write music and it’s

very similar to things written in Welsh.

(Chengdu is) a place where I can see the modern,

expanding, growing China and traditional China right there next to each other.

ARTS ARTS

22 CHINA

his story as well, not just his travelling side. That aspect is very similar to Welsh traditional music as well. You also have Wales surrounded by the sea so lots of men will go away to the sea and leave their wives behind. So lots of Welsh folk songs deal with that issue. “

The Welsh singer-songwriter worked with local musicians from the Chengdu Associated Theatre of Performing Arts, who accompanied him during his six-week residency. As Bonello explains, “The British Council had been sort of writing in advance to set me up with these musicians. So as soon as I met anyone who could do anything musical, I would ask them to play something and record it. And then I would get the guitar out and we would try to play some-thing together and all kinds of things.

I got to know some of the musicians, particularly Huang Weizhi, who is the director of the tradi-tional music in the theatre. Mr. Huang kept telling me to write something happy, because I have the tendency to write some quite morose, sad things, but that’s what Welsh folk music is generally. I had lots of suggestions from the musicians about what would work. They would give my encouragement (when) they felt that was the good representation of the works of Li Bai. So that gave my confidence carrying on working with it. “

The co-productions of Bonello and his Chinese counterparts are slick and flawless, as two totally distinctive styles dance around each other; teas-ing, lifting, swinging, and eventually spinning in unison. But the collaboration had a rough start as Bonello points out. “Obviously the language barrier is a difficult thing and also you got this sort of difference in music way. I am not a classi-cally trained musician.

I can read music, but when it’s written in Chinese traditional script, it is different to the western notation. So if someone showed me what this part means, I can’t really say because to me, it doesn’t make any sense. So I had to listen and it would take me a long time. I think probably musicians felt quite frustrating that I would be slow some-times with that kind of thing.”

Bonello was helped by 51-year-old Huang Weizhi,the director of Chengdu Folk Art Troupe who told China Plus, “When (Bonello) sang, I realised how different his style is compared with ours. So I helped him to write a score. I asked him to sing sentence by sentence and recorded the music in the Chinese way. Then, we hammered out a fixed tune based on his voice and pitch. “

During his cooperation with Chinese artists, Bonello says he even found some connections between eastern and western music. As Bonello discovered, “A lot of Chinese traditional music is written in a pentatonic five notes scale and this five notes scale is quite ubiqui-tous across large swathes of the world. These five notes are also the foundation of the blues in America, which then sort of vastly influenced the British folk revival in the 1960s. So it comes around in a whole circle. I think there is a connection that is longer than people realise, because the world has been connected for a lot longer than people think.”

Gareth Bonello’s residency in Chengdu only lasted for six weeks. Due to the time limit, he didn’t finish the record-ing of the whole album until he came back to Britain to continue the work with local composer and string quartet. He spent half a year going through the 20 hours of music that he recorded in China and trying to find the right mood to capture the essence of Li Bai’s poetry.

After two years on the road, the collective effort of Bonello and his fellow musicians finally came to fruition in the biographical record, “The Immor-tal Bard”. Reflecting the Welsh songster’s rendition of Li Bai’s poems and life, the 12-track album has received widespread critical acclaim and was award-ed the Welsh Album of the Year at the 2014 National Eisteddfod, a major celebration of Welsh literature, music and performance.

He performed his songs at venues around Britain but Bonello says he wished there was a Chinese ensemble to assist him in his performances. This year, that wish came true. In March, as part of the program of the China-UK Year of Cultural Exchange, Bonello was invited to visit China again to share his music with Chinese audiences.

And as for Bonello’s connection with Li Bai, the singer is sure that this isn’t the end. “Definitely I’ll carry on reading his poetry for inspiration, so I wouldn’t surprise if I write more songs based on his amazing poetry. I always like read-ing poetry to influence my music and writing.”

PLUS

The co-productions of Bonello and his Chinese counterparts are slick and flawless, as two

totally distinctive styles dance around each other; teasing,

lifting, swinging, and eventually spinning in unison.

23

ARTS

25PLUS24 CHINA24

Training the Next Generation of Film Talent in the UK & China

By Li Shiyu

The British film industry is no doubt the subject of admiration throughout the cinematic world. While Chinese inter-est in film suffered some bumpy days in

the past, the country has now overtaken Japan to become the world’s second largest movie market, behind the United States of America. However, there are few intersections between British and Chinese cinema. However, young film talent in Britain and China will soon have the chance to learn from some of the masters of cinema from each respective nation.

Being coached by Academy-award winner Ed-die Redmayne or learning tricks from Chinese ink-wash animation masters may sound im-plausible for newcomers in the film industry, but the British Academy of Film and Televi-sion Arts (BAFTA) has announced that it is no longer a far-fetched dream for Chinese talents and British nationals.

As part of the latest expansion of the Acade-my’s global scholarship activity, it is expected that from 2016, this leading British institu-tion will enable people from both countries in financial need to study film, television, or game design as an international student in the UK or the Chinese mainland respectively (The scholarship program in Hong Kong has been active since 2014).

In explaining why the academy chose to focus specifically on China, Anne Morrison, Chair of BAFTA said, “So much is happening in China and beyond. We really want and need to extend our reach to China, because it’s such a fast-developing industry here. China is second only to the United States in terms of box office revenues. So it’s a huge, huge market. Increas-ingly our members are looking to China as they develop their art forms. So we thought it’s a tremendous opportunity here to promote creative collaboration between people in Chi-na and in the UK.”

According to Tim Hunter, Director of Leaning and Events at BAFTA, successful applicants not only receive financial support for their tuition and living expenses, but more im-portantly, they will be appointed a personal mentor from the Academy’s large pool of distinguished members. As for what the role of mentor entails, Hunter pointed out that, “A men-tor is not only advising you on your study, on your career direction. They also become a champion for you. They can introduce you to their network and really show you how the industry actually works.”

More than four hundred students have applied for the British scheme so far, and even though only ten to twelve lucky ones will be selected, Hunter says the enthusiasm remains high, adding, “I think students nowadays are very aware that the industries become more global. Being familiar with all the aspects of China, being able to speak the language, being able to understand how these industries work and what audiences like and have a network with people having all those different things really set you above other people. It’s very much open to everyone. They can then become the ambassadors for the UK industry in China and the Chinese industry in the UK.”

According to Anne Morrison, Chair of BAFTA, since the key mission of the Academy is to identify, support and promote tal-ents; the scholarship scheme in China is merely the beginning. As the Year of UK-China Cultural Exchange proceeds, this creative collaboration will likely lead to further engagement among the next generation of filmmakers.

As Morrison explains, “You have all these agreements in the world, but you need people to know each other and get excited by a conversation, which might just spark an idea, then leads to an amazing film. So we are hoping to put people together. That’s what we are good at; running events, letting people network with each other and see each other’s work, and be exposed to different cultures. That’s our program over the next few years in China.”

The BAFTA programs in China also include the estab-lishment of master classes and online networking, which will allow practitioners from both Britain and China to share experiences.

Increasingly our members are looking to China as they

develop their art forms.

CINEMA

26 27CHINA PLUS26

Chinese people are among the fast-est-growing ethnic minorities in the UK. However, in areas such as arts, me-dia and politics, they are still the quiet

section of the population. But London-based writer, performer and broadcaster Anna Chen is reluctant to remain silent. Actively involved in comedy shows and radio programs, she is using her voice to conjoin the British Isles with the Middle Kingdom.

In a dimly-lit room in Beijing, accompanied with rhythmic music, stand-up performer Anna Chen rapped a trenchant, witty song about Anna May Wong, a Hollywood legend and one of the most misunderstood talents back in the Roaring Twenties.

Anna Chen sees a lot of herself in the image of Anna May Wong, a little known Hollywood starlet from China. “This is what fascinated me about Anna May Wong, who was a Chinese American movie star, Hollywood’s first Chinese superstar (and) the most famous Chinese woman in the world in the 1920s and 30s,” explains Chen. “The things she was up against then, I felt I was still bumping up against at the end of the 20th century.”

Off stage, Chen acts like a typical Londoner. Born to a Chinese father and British mother, she admits that she has always been conscious of her dual heritage. “I grew up as an English girl, feeling very English, but also very aware of the Chinese side of my family.

So, I always say that I have Beatlemania yelling at me in one ear, and Red Guards yelling at me in the other. It’s a very, very strange mix, but I think it’s quite interesting,” says Chen.

Immersing herself in the cultural extravagan-za of 1970s Britain, Anna Chen developed a strong interest in the entertainment industry at an early age. But when she started to go to

auditions, this fledgling performer was not satisfied with the stereotyped roles being offered.

Chen thinks back to her early auditions and recalls, “One of the things that I came up against was (that) there were no parts written for Chinese women. The only Chinese women you saw on the screen, either on film or on TV, were very demeaning roles. See, (it was) either the Dragon Lady: evil, being destructive; or else you were the Lotus Blossom: very delicate, in need of help, and a little bit feeble; or else, the third thing (was) you are completely invisible. So after a while, I wrote my first show called Suzy Wrong-Human Can-non.”

In 1994, Chen took her show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the largest arts festival in the world and thus became the first British Chinese comic to do so. A few

years later, she also made her acting appear-ance in Stewart Lee’s Fist of Fun. That experi-ence not only granted her as the first Chinese comedienne to show up on British television, but to a certain extent, it also promised her fu-ture opportunities in broadcasting, particular-ly after successfully launching her first radio program on the subject of Yoko Ono.

“I started to make programs for BBC, for Radio 3 and for Radio 4. One of the things I always enjoyed was making programs about Chinese culture and Chinese people that showed a positive light. I always said that if you dehumanize a group, if you make them just a blank canvas, if you create a vacuum and all sorts of really unpleasant monsters fill the vacuum. So, I think it’s very important to humanize. Because we are! That’s the reality.”

Besides offering her voice as a regular guest talking about Chinese matters and current af-fairs, such as the Morecambe Bay cockling disas-ter and the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Anna Chen has also written and presented China-related documentaries and dramas for BBC and Lon-don-based radio station Resonance FM. From her screen heroine Anna May Wong, China’s manufacturing industry and its relationship with Britain, to Chinese sci-fi and chinoiserie clichés in music; the topics are diverse while her style is frequently labeled by critics as “witty, wisecrack-ing and sophisticated.”

One of her most well-received programs is a ten-part BBC series named “Chinese in Brit-ain”. Present in an anecdotal manner, the pro-gram explores the lives of Chinese people who came to the UK before the immigration boom

in the 1960s and unveils some lesser known truths. For example, the earliest Sino-UK cultural exchange can be traced back to the 17th Century, when the Jesuit scholar Shen Futsong met King James II; while during the First and Second World War, there were a great of number of Chinese sailors who joined the British merchant navy and contributed significantly to British victories during that turbulent time.

As Chen proudly points out, “I do get people coming up saying: ‘You know, we really, really enjoy your program.’ Because it’s such a rarity! Be-cause what you normally get is that if they do look at Chinese, it is normally from the outside, from their point of view looking at something strange, rather than what we did, which is saying: ‘This is us. Look, this is us telling you our story and just making it normal.’”

From stand-up, theatre to poetry and radio, this multi-talented artist is using her voice, as Chen claims, to “grapple with issues of politics and identity, sub-vert stereotypes and poke the status quo with a sharp stick.” Thanks to her projects, Chinese people are no longer the takeaway owners or inscrutable Kung Fu experts, but ordinary people with diverse characters. Chen says her role model is Prometheus, who inspires her to do her best to conjoin Chinese people with the rest of the world.

“I think I am planting seeds. Whether (they) germinate, I don’t know. But this is how I think of myself. I think with this next generation, we are starting to see more people coming up. So I think time is on our side.”

A Voice to Join Britain with China

By Li Shiyu

This is us. Look, this is us telling you

our story and just making it normal.

Anna Chen sees many similarities between herself and China’s first Hollywood starlet, Anna May Wong.

Photo provided by Anna Chen

VOICES VOICES

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As the UK-China Year of Cultural Ex-change reaches its conclusion, CHINA PLUS presents the views of two aca-demics from the respective countries,

assessing the use of cultural activities as part of achieving foreign policy.

Prof. Gao Jian, deputy director of the British Studies Centre at Shanghai International Studies University

The role played by soft power and cultural diplo-macy in the foreign policy of the UK

In the past few decades, soft power has been a popular term in political studies. It was first raised by Joseph Nye, the American scholar. Highly relative to soft power, we have the term Cultural Diplomacy; which has been regarded as one of the important parts in terms of foreign policy. Previously, especially in the Nineteenth Century, and in the early part of the Twentieth Century, the UK used to be a very powerful, influential nation (both) politically and econom-ically. However, after the Second World War, obviously the UK declined politically.

Therefore, Cultural Diplomacy is a very import-ant policy which was fully adopted previously (up until) now in the UK’s foreign policy. We all know they have a very important organisation named the British Council, which focuses on the export of language and culture. We all know English has been a world language, and the UK’s cultural industry has been regarded as one of the most leading (examples) in the world. Therefore, I would like to say Cultural Diplomacy has been regarded as extremely important and indispens-able in terms of UK foreign policy.

If Cultural exchange is ongoing, why do we need a high-profile event at the official level like the UK-China Year of Cultural Exchange?

The year of cultural exchange is a very good high-light of the importance of culture. We all know obviously (there is a) kind of misunderstanding be-tween Western and Chinese culture. Therefore, in order to ensure a promising future for the bilateral relations between China and the UK, we have to

have a better, deeper and more profound mutual understanding culturally, besides economic and political (relations). So we say cultural mutual understanding would lay a consolidated foun-dation for the China-UK bilateral relations’ future.

I would like to say that the Year of Cultural Exchange would expedite and enhance the deeper and more pro-found mutual understanding between the UK and China. Another thing I would like to emphasise is that today we say culture is business. Today, in terms of the bilateral relations between the UK and China, business plays an extremely important role. Therefore, I think the Year of Cultural Exchange would be very meaningful not only culturally, but also economically and commercially.

What is your take on the theme “Next Generation” for the UK activities in China?

The UK is a very experienced country in terms of foreign policy. Today they focus on the subject of the future, because they’ve titled it the Next Generation. I think it’s a very skilful and successful term to describe their strategy. I would like to elaborate the Next Generation (concept) from two perspectives.

Number one, if you refer to all the activities hosted by the UK parties, these are very much characterised by innovation and creativity. They have creative industries, cultural industries, design, fashion shows, animation and movie dramas. These are (examples) of innovation and creativity. The second part I want to emphasise is that between China and the UK, there’s a very important program focusing upon the exchange of youth; called Generation UK.

(The UK) wants to send more and more young students to go to China and study and work in China in order to get more familiar with Chinese culture and Chinese people. So, between the UK and China, we have an agreement that we should focus on our future and our generation of youngsters would be extremely important for our future bilateral relationship. So I think Next Generation is very meaningful as a choice.

The Importance of Royal Figureheads

The visit of Prince William is really a shining part and should really arouse tremendous interest, not only official-ly but from the ordinary Chinese people, because Chinese people have a fantasy about the Royal Family of Britain. Let me give you an example; do you know which brand in Britain is the most commercially profitable brand? It’s the Royal Family.

The Royal Family as a brand in commerce is very market-able. It’s quite easy for the Royal Family to arouse attention from the public. It’s really very skilful and successful for the British Government to choose William as a kind of selling point to enhance the UK season in China, during their Next Generation programme.

Cultural Diplomacy, Soft Power and Foreign Policy:The Academic Opinion

POLITICS

Chinese Creation is the theme for the second half of the Year of Cultural Exchange. Will the stereotype of China as the “world’s factory” have a negative impact on efforts to promote Chinese cultural creativity in the UK?

I agree that previously China’s image very much related to a “world factory”, or “Made in China”. I’m not going to deny there’s some kind of nega-tive impact if we are still going to be regarded as a country like that. But I would like to say that it would be very narrow-minded if we have no notice of China’s progress in high technology and creative industry in the past few years.

China is not as China was in previous years. If you refer to some high technology in China, you will find that actually we have been making a lot of progress in a lot of creative industries and hi-tech industries. The programme we are going to hold in the next few months will be a very im-portant opportunity and chance for us to modify and change our national image in terms of being the world factory.

UK Embracing Chinese Cultural Exports

We should be patient. Sometimes, there are a lot of stereotyped ideas in terms of the interpre-tation of China. As far as I know, especially in the past 4 or 5 years, China’s image in this part has very much changed. I have articles from the leading newspapers in the UK that say ‘we

should learn a lot from China in terms of high technology; because China has made a lot of progress.’ However, I’m not going to deny that we still have a long way to go and to cov-er. So, we should be open-minded and we should be active in the mutual communication.

Gary Rawnsley, Prof. of Public Diplomacy at the Depart-ment of International Politics, Aberystwyth University, UK

Assessing China’s Soft Power Profile in the UK

I think that China is more visible now in the UK than at any time in the past. We are more familiar with China; we’re fa-miliar with Chinese food and cinema. We have thousands of students from China in the UK now. I think that the British people are becoming more familiar with China, becoming more comfortable about interaction with China.

I think that China’s profile is doing very, very well. Soft power is different. Soft power means that China would be influencing the way that people think about China and I’m not sure that there has been enough research yet to understand whether people’s behaviours and attitudes towards China are changing because of China’s activities in the UK.

The Pros and cons of Cultural Activities led by Governments

There can be difficulties when these kinds of activities are led by governments. Whichever government it is, whether it’s Brit-ish, American, Chinese or whatever, there is often a suspicion that what is happening is the government is pursuing its own political agenda. And obviously, then the horrible word of ‘pro-paganda’ can often arise in terms of those activities.

Photo: Tom Eversley isorepublic.com

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At the same time, even with non-governmen-tal level cultural relations, governmental in-volvement is important because they are often the ones that provide the infrastructure for non-governmental activities to take place; in terms of arranging things, in terms of visas, in terms of funding perhaps, in terms of facilitat-ing some of the exchanges that take place.

I think what we have here is a very direct ex-ample of how governments can be involved in cultural relations but they’re not directly pur-suing a political agenda. I think the fact that the British Council is also very involved with this activity shows that this is not as political as perhaps some people would claim it to be.

Explaining the “Next Generation” Theme

There are multiple ways of understanding the theme of Next Generation. In purely practical terms, I think that this demonstrates that we’re thinking about the next generation of cultural actors; the next generation of artists, musicians, cultural actors, the innovators I think, and the creativity that is now being seen in the next generation of artists.

I think that we need to remember that public diplomacy, soft power, cultural diplomacy work on a long term basis; it’s not something that can happen overnight. The theme of Next Generation highlights that very well. What we’re doing is devel-oping relations between China and the UK for the next generation of British and Chinese subjects. We are deepening relations that will be long-lasting and I think that that’s the most important aspect.

With regard to the Chinese season in the UK as part of the Year of Cultural exchange, are there barriers to overcome in terms of the Made in China label?

I think that there are fewer barriers now than there were in the past. Obviously, China is still seen as the exotic other; it’s seen as something that is less familiar perhaps than our European neighbours. People are still a little bit wary of the language for example, and the cultural barriers to understanding Chinese cultural products. At the same time, Chinese culture is be-coming far more popular in the UK than it was before. People are watching Chinese films in ever greater numbers; Chinese restaurants are flourishing; we have exhibitions by Chinese artists.

So, I don’t think that there are too many barriers now. I think people are much more receptive to engaging with foreign cultural products than at any time in the past. Rather than talk about barriers, we have to talk about opportunities, and I think there’s a wonderful opportunity here for deepening relations between the UK and China on a non-political, cultural level.

Cultural Exchange = Business Opportunities?

I think we’ve already seen the fact that it’s not just about making money. I think that culture is a vital part of today’s economic environment. People depend for their jobs on culture. Economies depend upon cultural exchanges and business can be a very profit-able byproduct of cultural exchange.

I think that what is happening now is the fact that culture is first and foremost the priority of our relationship this year in the Year of Cultural Exchange and business will be a side issue. I don’t think it’s possible to say that we should be very cynical about this and say that this is all about profit and business. I think that people who are not involved in business and not in it to make money will be engaging both with Chinese and with British cultural products, and enjoying those cultural products when not making money.

PPhoto: China Foto Press/Rob Stothard/Getty Images

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Editor-in-chief Stuart Wiggin

Design Stuart Wiggin

Executive editor Xie Qiao