SDCHM

Family Moon Festival
Saturday, September 6, 2008, 12:00 - 2:00 pm.

Celebrate the brightest full moon of the year with the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum!
Each year, the Chinese celebrate the Moon or Mid-Autumn Festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month. It is a time to appreciate the bounty of summer, enjoy the full moon, and eat delicious mooncakes. Children in our annual celebration will help prepare these traditional treats, and children volunteers will help museum staff retell Chinese legends of Chang Er and the Jade Rabbit while the cakes are baking. Festivities will also include Chinese paper cutting, a calligraphy demonstration and the chance to sample mooncake and Chinese ice cream flavors. Reservations are encouraged.

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Sanxingdui and the Ancient Shu Culture of Sichuan: A Mayanist’s view of a Bronze Age Chinese Civilization.
Lecture by Professors Joseph W. Ball and Jennifer Taschek.
Saturday, August 23, 2008, 2:00 - 4:00 pm.

Sanxingdui 三星堆, one of the great archeological finds of the twentieth century, was first discovered in 1929 when a farmer outside of Chengdu 成都, Sichuan 四川 found jade artifacts while digging in a ditch. Despite decades of archeological excavations, this site was not well known until 1986 when another man uncovered ancient sacrificial pits containing hundreds of 3,300-year-old bronze and jade artifacts fashioned with artistic style and depictions of people distinct from any found in China before. This discovery in the ancient Shu 蜀 kingdom shook up the traditional view that Chinese civilization first developed further east along the Yangtze River 長江. The “official,” national view is that the Shu were an alien people from the distant west who were heavily influenced by Shang 商朝 and Zhou 周朝 cultures before being absorbed into mainstream Chinese civilization. But some scholars contend that the Shu was actually a parallel indigenous people, forming part of a multiethnic base from which Chinese civilization emerged. This presentation by Professors Joseph W. Ball and Jennifer Taschek will summarize their contributions to a conference in Chengdu examining these issues. They will discuss the anthropology of Shu culture using the Maya, Olmec and other ancient New World civilizations as a model to discover the significance of the Sanxingdui discovery.

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A Hidden Chinese Art: Snuff Bottles
Exhibit Opening July 26, 2008. 2:00- 4:00PM.

From the 1600s until the early 20th century when the rolled cigarette became more popular, it was a common social custom in China for friends to exchange tiny spoonfuls of snuff tobacco from each other’s bottles when meeting. Snuff bottles were an essential accoutrement to the upper class lifestyle; people would ostentatiously carry them everywhere, like women’s handbags or men’s pocket watches. Bottles were made from various materials such as carved stone, jade and ivory, metal, porcelain, cloisonné and glass, with the latter often featuring exquisitely detailed paintings on the interior. The wealthy would collect dozens of bottles to use on different occasions and complement various outfits. Though seldom used today, collectors still adore snuff bottles for their fine artistic value and delicate craftsmanship. This exhibit showcases forty-two 19th and early 20th century snuff bottles that Mrs. Peg Evans collected between 1937 and 1939 in China. In addition to this collection there will be some modern pieces on display. The museum is deeply grateful to Mrs. Evans’ eldest daughter, Joan S. Campbell, as well as her brothers and sisters for donating their collection to the Chinese Historical Museum.

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