Program

Preliminary program in pdf format (744 KB).
The symposium will take place at the Geneva Haute école de musique, 2, rue du Général-Dufour.

Day 1 – Thursday 11 April 2024

From 12:00


2nd FLOOR
HEM
Général-Dufour

Registration

Participants are kindly requested to register at the Symposium Desk, opened from 12h00 on.

13:00 – 14:00


2nd FLOOR
HEM
Général-Dufour

Inauguration of the exhibition

The exhibition Traces and Oblivion recounts the history of the Bibliothèque Sino-Internationale. It showcases documents relating to the library’s activities in Geneva from 1933 to 1950.
Presentation by Dr. Estelle NIKLÈS VAN OSSELT, curator of the exhibition.

Welcome and opening

  • Mme Béatrice ZAWODNIK, Director, Geneva Haute école de musique (HEM).
  • Prof. Nicolas ZUFFEREY, University of Geneva, Chinese studies.
  • Prof. Xavier BOUVIER, Geneva HEM.
14:00 – 17:00


ROOM GD-20
HEM
Général-Dufour

The BSI at the Château de Montalègre. From Chine Illustrée no 9

Session 1 : The Bibliothèque Sino-Internationale

20:00


MOVIE THEATER GD-03
HEM
Général-Dufour

阮玲玉 Ruan Lingyu in Love and Duty.

Film Screening : Love and Duty (1931)

Directed by Bu Wancang and starring Ruan Lingyu and Jin Yan, the 1931 film Love and Duty 恋爱与义务was long considered lost, before its 1990s rediscovery in the BSI holdings in Montevideo. Wonderfully restored by the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute, the film was almost immediately hailed as one of the greatest Chinese silent films.

The screening will be accompanied by musicians from HEM Silk and Bamboo Ensemble.

Day 2 Friday 12 April 2024

09:00 – 12:00


ROOM GD-20
HEM
Général-Dufour

In front of the veranda of 武康路Wukanglu 393. Wu Zhihui, Cai Yuanpei, Chu Minyi, Zhang Renjie, Li Shizeng.

Session 2 : People

14:00 – 17:00


ROOM GD-20
HEM
Général-Dufour

大路 The Great Road (1934).
Photo from Chine Illustrée, No 3.

Session 2 (continued) : People

Session 3 : Theater and films

19:30


LES SALONS
6, rue Jean-F. Bartholoni

From Xiao Shuxian : Kinesische Kinderfreuden 1946. Illustrations from Xiao Shufang.

Concert : An evening at the BSI

Chinese Musical and Theatrical performances in Europe, 1920-1950

This concert draws its program from musical and theatrical performances that took place in Switzerland and in other European countries at the time of the Bibliothèque Sino-Internationale and in the period immediately preceding it. Scenes from Chinese Opera will be performed by Maestro Hu Wenge and musicians from the Jingju Theater Company of Beijing. Various ensemble from HEM will play Chinese instrumental and vocal music performed in Switzerland and Europe at that time.

Day 3 : Saturday 13 April 2024

9:00 – 12:00


ROOM GD-20
HEM
Général-Dufour

Children drawing from the BSI collection. Now at Pestalozzianum, Zürich

Session 4 : Visual arts and Music

12:00 – 13:00


ROOM GD-20
HEM
Général-Dufour

Farewell Session

Content to be announced

From Xiao Shuxian : Kinesische Kinderfreuden 1946.
Illustrations from Xiao Shufang.

20:00


MOVIE THEATER GD-03
HEM
Rue du Général-Dufour

Film Screening : Yulan, the destiny of a Chinese schoolgirl (1929-1930)

Yulan, la destinée d’une écolière chinoise / Yülan. Das Schicksal einer Chinesische Schülerin,
Silent film with French and German intertitles, 60 min.
Camera: Friedrich Paulmann.

This film is an adaptation of a feature film shot by an operator from the Berliner Missionsfilm-Genossenschaft (Berlin Mission Film Department) set up at the request of the Basel Missions. It tells the story of Yulan, a Chinese student forced by her family to marry a young man who turns out to be an inveterate gambler. Yulan is one of the ‘possessions’ he pawns and, after another losing game, she is forced to surrender herself to a new ‘husband’. But she prefers to run away and take refuge at the Mission, then convert and become a missionary herself. During a tour of the countryside, Yulan finds her husband, who has fallen into total desolation, and brings him to the Mission.

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