Dear friends of CCC:

Hope you all have spent a great time celebrating Christmas and New Year!  It is also getting near Chinese (Lunar) New Year (29th January 2006), the Year of the Dog. Please find here enclosed our program of events before the Spring Festival.

All CCC friends travelling to Harbin lined up along the whole train car aisle to celebrate the New Year eve. photo by Dirk Soete

This weekend:

Talk: Contemporary Chinese Poetry
Saturday, January 7, 2pm 

Bei Ta, famous poet and translator, will give a talk (in English) on the evolution of Chinese poems from classics to modern ones, and its relations with foreign poetry.
 
Illustrated Talk: Mosuo Minority & Lugu Lake
Sunday, January 8, 2:30pm

John Lombard will give another talk on the Mosuo, one of the most remote and unique minority groups in China, living in the area around Lugu Lake, high in the Himalayan mountains.  They are known for their matriarchal culture, follow Tibetan Buddhism and they do not practice marriage.

Courses and workshops

mahjong (Jan.11, 2pm) 
making lotus lanterns (Jan.15, 2:30pm) 

Please find in the below calendar other courses such as  calligraphy, taichi and Chinese painting.
 
Dining Out:

Beijing style Hot Pot ( Jan.12 & 15, 12-2pm) 

Travel

Beijing Amblers: Fort Walls, Archway and Villages ( Jan. 14, 9am-5:30pm)

Weekend Trip to Harbin--Snow World (Jan.13, 8pm-16, 7am)

Rural Beijing New Year Tour during the Spring Festival and travel programs of February will be announced next week.