RAS Lecture
TUESDAY 10th March 2015
7pm for 7.15pm
Tavern at the Radisson Xingguo Hotel
ALISON CONNER
Courtroom Drama - Chinese Style?
This presentation will analyze the 2013 courtroom drama Silent Witness. An exciting example of the trial genre, the film was directed by Fei Xing and stars Hong Kong's Aaron Kwok as well as Sun Honglei and Yu Nan, two of China's best known actors. The talk will compare Silent Witness to other courtroom dramas with Chinese characteristics, including Christmas Rose (also 2013), a Hong Kong-China co-production set in Hong Kong and coincidentally (or not?) starring Aaron Kwok as the prosecutor. These are of course commercial movies, but they may still shed light on the Chinese legal system and popular ideas of justice. Can justice be found at the trial alone, or only outside it?
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Alison Conner earned her PhD in Chinese history at Cornell and her JD at Harvard Law School. She taught law in China, Singapore and Hong Kong for twelve years and is now Professor of Law at the University of Hawai`i/Mānoa. Her articles on law and film include "Don't Change Your Husband: Divorce in Early Chinese Movies" (2008); "Movie Justice: The Legal System in Pre-1949 Chinese Film" (2010); “Images of Justice (and Injustice): Trials in the Movies of Xie Jin” (2013); “The Lawyer Who Haunts Us: Yin Zhaoshi and the Bright Day” (2014); and “Trials and Injustice in Awaara: A Post-Colonial Movie on Post-Revolutionary Screens?”(2014).
RSVP: to RAS Bookings at: bookings@royalasiaticsociety.org.cn
ENTRANCE: Members 70 RMB, non-members 100 RMB
Includes a glass of wine or soft drink
MEMBERSHIP applications and membership renewals will be available at this event.
WEBSITE: www.royalasiaticsociety.org.cn