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"Red Star Over
China" and author Edgar Snow
WHEN: Tuesday, Oct. 15 and Wednesday, Oct. 16
WHERE: Various locations on UMKC campus and Fairmont Hotel (banquet)
The Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. Yang Jiechi will be the keynote speaker at the Edgar Snow Symposium hosted by the University of Missouri-Kansas City's Edgar Snow Memorial Fund. This year's symposium titled "Advancing the Partnership Between China and United States in the 21st Century" will take place Tuesday, Oct. 15 and Wednesday, Oct. 16.
The biennial Edgar Snow Symposium (venue alternates between Kansas City and Beijing) provides a forum for continuing dialogues between scholars and public figures in China and the U.S. The symposium also provides citizens of both countries the opportunity to participate in those dialogues and to forge greater exchange and understanding of each country's culture.
Highlights of the two-day symposium include:
Panel Discussion, 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 15 in White Recital Hall, UMKC Performing Arts Center, 4949 Cherry St. Yabo Lin, a partner at Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin, LLP, will moderate a discussion on China-U.S. relations. Panelists are: Fan He, deputy director, Research Center for International Finance and editor-in-chief, Journal of World Economy; Gao Shangquan, president, China Research Society for Restructuring the Economic System and chairman, China Reform Foundation; Robert Kapp, president, U.S.-China Business Council; Ling Qing, formerly China's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, vice chairman of the China Society for People's Friendship Studies, and executive vice president of the China Society for Foreign Friendship Studies. There will be a reception after the discussion in the lobby. The event is free and open to the public.
Banquet, 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 15 in Fairmont Hotel, 401 Ward Parkway. Ambassador Yang Jiechi will deliver the keynote speech at the banquet. Internationally recognized composer, Chen Yi, Lorena Searcey Cravens Millsap Missouri Distinguished Professor in Music Composition at UMKC's Conservatory of Music will perform. Cost of the Banquet is $75. Reservations are required. Call (816) 421-5058 to make reservations.
"Chinese Theater Today," 9 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 16 in Room 106, University Center, 50th Street and Rockhill Road. Claire Conceison, assistant professor, Department of Dramatic Art, University of California, Santa Barbara, will give a presentation on contemporary Chinese drama. Conceison is a director of both English and Chinese plays that examine the relations between the East and the West. Her book Significant Other: Staging the American in China (University of Hawaii Press) will be available at bookstores soon.
Chinese Painting Exhibit, 11:15 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 16 in Room 203, Fine Arts Building, 5015 Holmes. A selection of scrolls collected from throughout China will be on display.
Taste of China, 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 16 in Royall Hall Patio, 800 E. 52nd St. Catered Chinese food will be available. Free and open UMKC faculty, staff and students.
Film Premiere: Mao Zedong and Edgar Snow, 2 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 16 in Midland Theater, 1228 Main St. This is a documentary about Edgar Snow, a journalist and Kansas City native who interviewed Mao in 1936 and later wrote the best-seller Red Star Over China. Carol Koehler, associate professor of Communication Studies at UMKC, will lead a discussion after the film. Koehler researches and writes extensively about the history and production of documentary films. The event is free and open to the public but reservations are required. To make a reservation, call Central Ticket Office (816) 235-6222.
The Edgar Snow Memorial Fund was set up to foster friendship and understanding among the peoples of China and the U.S. in the same spirit which marked the life and works of Kansas City-native Edgar Snow. Snow was the first western journalist to interview the leader of the Red Army Mao Zedong which resulted in him writing the best-selling book "Red Star Over
China". Mary Clark Dimond, late wife of E. Grey Dimond, M.D., founded the fund in 1974 that was incorporated in 1980 and affiliated with UMKC. In 1985, The Snow Research Room was dedicated at UMKC's Newcomb Hall. On permanent display there are portrait photographs of each Edgar Snow Visiting Professor. The Snow Fund and UMKC hosted the first Edgar Snow Visiting Professor in 1979. Each year, a distinguished Chinese professor, researcher or performer has held an appointment at UMKC for a semester or more. The rest of the collection features scholarly materials related to the life and times of Edgar Snow including his personal photographs and correspondence.
For more information on the Edgar Snow Symposium, call (816) 235-5251.
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