Serbia | China
As member of the Far East Society since 1998, I participated in and supported organisation of various cultural events for promotion of Chinese culture in Serbia. Even my first ever translation was printed in the pilot issue of “Mei Hua” in December 1998, a short joke that I was able to translate after having learned Chinese for only about half a year by that time.
Pilot issue of Far East Society culture magazine “Mei Hua”, Belgrade 1998
Dandan came home from the kindergarten and told his mom:
“Mom, teacher said that Peking man has 500.000 years of history!”
“That’s correct!”
“And what about us Shanghainese?”
Culmination of each year’s efforts and activities of the Far East Society is celebrated with the Chinese New Year gala show in which all students can showcase their achievements in a Chinese-language play, usually accompanied with an exhibition and banquet, and regularly attended by the representatives of the Chinese embassy in Serbia and other public figures.
With Chinese ambassador Mr. Zhang Wanxue before the start of the Chinese New Year programme at DKSG, Belgrade 2012
In March 2006, together with fellow students from Philological High School and colleagues from Petnica, I was the main organiser of “Month of Chinese Culture”, that consisted of 26 lectures on various topics. The opening ceremony was hosted by the Cultural Affairs Attache at the Chinese embassy, Mr Liu Xinquan. The lectures were held in Belgrade City Library and several other locations, with an average attendance of 50 persons (maximum being nearly a 100 listeners) during the whole month.
With Mr. Liu Xinquan, Attache for Cultural Affairs at the Chinese embassy, at the opening ceremony of the Month of Chinese Culture, Belgrade 2006
In 2009, Far East Society partnered with Shanghai Library to establish a branch of Window of Shanghai cultural exchange platform in Serbia, together with the library of the Students’ City Cultural Centre (DKSG).
Opening ceremony of Chinese New Year gala show organized by Far East Society and Window of Shanghai, Belgrade 2014
In addition to a vast array of books, Window of Shanghai offers free Chinese language lessons to students of Belgrade University, and lectures about Chinese culture. Between 2010 and 2015 I taught several groups on different levels, and held lectures on various topics of interest.
Lecture about the history and significance of Chinese porcelain, Window of Shanghai, Belgrade 2011
In 2013 and 2015 I participated at the 5th and the 7th International Week Dedicated to Maths, organized by the Hellenic Mathematical Society in Thessaloniki, Greece, and held three lectures about ancient Chinese mathematics, “Maths, Logic and Chinese Characters” (2013), “Ancient Chinese Mathematicians” (2015) and “Ancient Chinese Mathematical Textbooks” (2015).
Lecture about ancient Chinese mathematicians, 7th International Week Dedicated to Maths, HELEXPO, Thessaloniki 2015
Interested in learning Chinese or something more about Chinese culture? Drop me a line.
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