Warwick District U3A see in Chinese New Year with cultural exchange

Organised by U3A members the China Day took place in at the Dormer Place Conference Centre with academics from Warwick University giving talks.

Tony Zhou, who helped plan the day, introduced his fellow ex-pats - Juan Whiston spoke about her home city of Xi’an, starting point of the Silk Road and home of the Terracotta Army while Dr Jingzhi Huang dazzled the audience with photographs of the ice and snow sculptures in his chilly home city of Harbin.

An audience of over 70 heard about the art of Chinese paper cutting, which dates from the sixth century, before having a go themselves – with very mixed results.

The event ended with a Q&A session with the four speakers taking questions ranging from the impact on the Chinese-American relationship following Donald Trump’s election to the current state of Chinese theatre and the impact of the now discontinued ‘one child policy’.

Chris Forse, Chair of WDU3A, said: “We’re keen to develop ties with universities and to celebrate the diversity.”