Notes from Asia Library

The CHOP (China Ongoing Film Perspectives) film series returns with an in-person showing of Tyrus (2015; 73 minutes) with Q&A on November 2, followed by an online lecture about it on November 3. Tyrus is a documentary about the renowned Chinese American artist Tyrus Wong, whose paintings became the inspiration for the classic animated feature Bambi.

I’m delighted to be able to announce, finally, that all of Asia Library is open for use. Our hours are the same as those of Hatcher Library. Asia Library has undergone a significant renovation: the creation of the Mayumi and Masao Oka Tadoku Room.

Dr. Mary M. Cutler, one of the early shaper's of Seoul's Ewha University, graduated from the U-M Medical School.

The 90-minute documentary Beethoven in Beijing will be screened at the Michigan Theater on Monday, February 21, at 7:00 PM, followed by a discussion with the co-director and producer.

A virtual film festival of works by Chinese director Wu Hao.

In the wake of the deplorable rise in violence against Asians and Asian Americans, there has been an outpouring of support and sharing of information about resources to help those affected by this. Here we repost and link to messages shared within the University of Michigan.

Our next Deep Dive into Digital and Data Methods for Chinese Studies will take place in Friday, March 12, 2021, from 11 am to noon. The presenter will be Haihui Zhang, Head of the East Asian Library an Chinese Studies Librarian at the University of Pittsburgh.

Several centers at the U-M International Institute have collaborated with University of Michigan Press and the U-M Asia Library received a Humanities Open Book program grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, enabling them to make 100 important backlist books broadly available again.

The next entry in the CHOP Film Series is Last Train Home, a 2009 film that documents a couple embarking on a journey home for Chinese new year along with 130 million other migrant workers.

Thanks to a generous Korea Foundation program, Asia Library is able to welcome a full-time intern from Korea to its staff every year. These bright, motivated young people learn many facets of library work while here, making this a win-win situation for both parties. This year's intern, Seohyun Kim, kindly joined me via Zoom to talk about her experience, which appears below. She was a trooper in every sense of the word because she had been in the US for just one month when the pandemic hit. Fortunately for us, the Korea Foundation decided to leave the interns in place, even though they had to experience the internship remotely. Seohyun made the best of a very disappointing situation, doing library work that we were able to teach her via Zoom and email. She participated in our meetings fully and always appeared cheerful and upbeat, even though she must have been quite lonely at times in an off-campus rooming house and knowing that her parents were sick with worry. We look forward to welcoming her back sometime in the future, when no pandemic restrictions apply.