Tuesday, June 22, 2010

EAL Lecture: Hakka Castle Dwellings -- UNESCO World Heritage Site

Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library, & Global Asia Studies
@ UTSC
jointly present


Hakka Castle Dwellings:

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Presented by Dr. Keith D. Lowe


Friday, July 9, 2010, at 2:30pm

Current Periodical Area, Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library



Speakers: Dr. Keith D. Lowe (羅金生)


Chair: Dr. Helen Xiaoyan Wu


Date & time: Friday, July 9, 2010 starting at 2:30pm. Light refreshments will be provided.


Location: Current Periodical Area, Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library

(On the 8th floor of the Robarts Library at 130 St. George Street, Toronto )


Registration: Seats are limited and registration is required. To register, contact Lucy

Gan by email (lucy.gan@utoronto.ca) or by phone 416-978-1025


Flyer: Downloadable


Language: All talks are in English


Abstract

Utilizing many photographs and diagrams, Dr. Keith Lowe presents a survey of Hakka castle dwellings. He focuses on the tulou (土樓), or round earth castles common to the mountainous Hakka heartland where eastern Fujian adjoins northwestern Guangdong and southern Jiangxi province. He shows how the architecture reflects various stages of Chinese and Hakka history and culture. In 2008, UNESCO declared a group of tolous in Fujian a world heritage site.

Bio of Dr. Keith D. Lowe

A graduate of Harvard College (magna cum laude), Lowe gained the Ph.D. in modern English and American literature at Stanford University. He was a professor at Howard University, Washington DC, and at the University of California at San Diego. He is also an educator specializing in curriculum development and a consultant in multiculturalism.



Dr. Lowe is a descendant of the Lowe clan which devoted three generations to building Crane Lake New Residence near Longgang city in the Shenzhen region. This magnificent walled villa was completed in 1817. The villa is reputed to be the largest five-phoenix villa in GuangdongProvince and possibly in all of China. In 1996, the Shenzhen municipality converted the villa into the Museum of Hakka Customs.


A former president of the Ontario Multicultural Association, Dr. Lowe served two terms as a director of the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto. He headed the first and second Toronto Hakka Conference held at York University in December 2000 and December 2004.

No comments:

Post a Comment