RAS STUDIO
Tuesday 13th October, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.
‘Factory’ Building 4 No. 29 Shajing Road HongKou (opposite 1933)
上海市虹口区沙泾路29号4号楼
THE E’YA PROJECT
Liu Wei and Mike Nethercott
E’ya is an ethnic Naxi village of 2,000 people deep in the mountainous west of Sichuan bordering on Yunnan. While the cultural hub of Naxi, who, according to Dr Joseph Lock the legendary doctor-turned-anthropologist, boast the only living hieroglyphic language in the world, is centered in Lijiang, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site attracting over 2 million tourists a year, this isolated Naxi tribal community continues to practice a combination of polyandry, polygamy, monogamy, multi-husband/multi-wife matrimony, and Anda ( Naxi for ‘friend’), a euphemism for socially accepted out-of-wedlock sexual relationships. And Dong-Ba, the traditional Naxi religion whose rituals are now only staged for tourism in Lijiang, is still very much a part of everyday E’ya life. Fascinating as it may appear to anthropology, the ‘preservation’ of this culture is clearly the result of sheer poverty, its annual cash income per capita being only 500RMB, or $65. There is no road leading to the village and most of the population there has never seen a wheeled vehicle.
Liu Wei and Mike Nethercott are both involved in ethnographic and charity work regarding E’ya. An eighteen-minute documentary film recording the conditions of the people of E’ya and the speakers’ work will be shown.
Liu Wei is professor of History and Politics at Zhejiang University and concurrent professor for the universities of Long Island (US) and Torino (Italy). He hosted a literary program at China’s national television for 7 years and now is a free-lance producer. Among his academic works are A History of Modern International Relations and Environmental Protection and Political Sensibility in China, and his recent TV work is a 30-episode World War II documentary for the CCTV. He was vice-president when the RAS was re-established in Hangzhou in 2006 and is currently honorary vice-president of the RAS China in Shanghai.
Born in London, Mike Nethercott has lived and conducted business in Indonesia, El Salvador, Central America, the USA and Germany, and been involved in cultural and charity activities throughout. Hehas lived in Shanghai for over ten years and is Managing Director of MSD Advisory Services Co.Mike has played an important part in reviving RAS China in Shanghai, of which he has been Vice President since its inception in 2007. He also doubled up as treasurer during its first year of operation.
Mike was introduced to the E’ya project in 2005.
ENTRANCE: RMB 30 (RAS members) and RMB 80 (non-members) Those unable to make the donation but wishing to attend may contact us for exemption, prior to the RAS Lecture. Membership applications and membership renewals will be available at this event.
DIRECTIONS FOR UNDERGROUND
From Line No. 4
Get off at Hailun Lu station
Come out of Exit No. 2; as you leave the station exit you will be facing Tongjia Lu
Turn right and go along Tongjia lu until you reach a T Junction and you will be facing Hailun Lu,
Turn left on Hailun Lu until you reach Liaoning Lu (next to the creek)
Turn right into Liaoning Lu and walk along the creek until you reach the 2nd bridge (its black where as the previous ones are blue)
Turn left across the bridge and 1933 is in front to left hand side and FACTORY is on the right hand side.