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Wednesday, Mar 9 2011

When a Billion Chinese Jump

Travelling the length and breadth of the country and drawing on more than 200 interviews with senior politicians, scientists, businessmen and individuals, Jonathan Watts, Asia Environment Correspondent for The Guardian, takes a down and dirty look at China's ecological challenges and a bird's eye perspective on why they are different from anything experienced by other countries during a similar stage of development. Ticket price includes a 3-course lunch.

Club Lusitano, 24/F, 16 Ice House St, Central, www.festival.org.hk. Wed 9, 12pm; $480.

Clash of Civilisations

Two books being published this year offer, in different ways, a counter argument to the notion of a “clash of civilizations” between Islam and the rest of the world. In The Perfumed Palace: Islam's Journey from Mecca to Peking, Michael Aldrich has traced the long history of the Muslims of China's capital city who, over twelve centuries, have developed a harmonious synthesis of two great civilizations. The Convert by Deborah Baker is the story of Maryam Jameelah, an American woman who became a militant voice in Islam’s argument with the West, but whose letters home to her Jewish parents belie any possibility of dividing the world neatly in two. Moderated by Stephen McCarty, Editor-in-Chief of the Asia Literary Review. 

Central Library, 66 Causeway Rd, Causeway Bay, www.festival.org.hk. Wed 9, 5.30pm; $130.

Chocolate's Brown Study in the Bag

Rupert Chan's story told from his toy poodle Chocolate's point of view will be launched at this event. Chan will talk about Chocolate's autobiography and other animals in literature. Moderated by Gillian Bickley. Also at this event, co-founder of the Proverse Prize for unpublished writing, Verner Bickley, will announce the Proverse Prize winner(s) (2010). Ticket price includes canapés served from 7 to 7.30pm.

The Helena May, 35 Garden Rd, Central, 2259 3456 www.proversepublishing.com Wed 9, 7pm; $300.

River Town to Open Roads

Arriving in China as a volunteer teacher with the Peace Corps, he eventually spent more than a decade in the country, writing about his experiences in three books: River Town, Oracle Bones and his new book, Country Driving. For Country Driving, Peter Hessler started a 7,000-mile road trip in a jeep, following small roads along the path of the Great Wall. Along the way he picked up hitchhikers — farmers on their way to market, truckers whose rigs had broken down and dozens of young people who were in the process of migrating to the cities for work. Join Hessler as he describes how this journey gave him a new perspective on rural China and the way it’s being changed by the nation’s rapid development.

Duke of Windsor Social Services Building, 15 Hennessey Rd, Wan Chai, www.festival.org.hk. Wed 9, 7.30pm; $130.

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