Rencontre avec Mark O'Neill : La vie remarquable du Docteur Hu Shih
Doctor Hu Shih (胡適) was the most remarkable Chinese intellectual of the 20th century. He was most notable for pioneering vernacular Chinese (白話文) which replaced the classical version (文言文) that had been the written language for many centuries. He delivered lectures at Beijing University and elsewhere, authored 44 books and countless articles, and influenced tens of thousands of Chinese.
His influences went far beyond the literary circle. He promoted family planning, equality for women and freedom of marriage and whether to have children. He said China should solve its many problems through scientific research and analysis, not “isms” (主義). As China’s ambassador in Washington from 1938-42, he was instrumental in persuading President Franklin Roosevelt not to sign a peace agreement with Japan and helping China to win the war.
Mark O'Neill, the author of "China’s Great Liberal of the 20th Century – Hu Shih, Founder of Modern Chinese Language" (開風氣而為之師 —— 中國偉大的知識分子胡適) , will join us at AF Library and talk more about the extraordinary life of the man.
There will be a small amount of the book for sale (both the English original and Chinese translation) and a book-signing session at the end of the talk. You may also purchase the book in Joint Publishing bookstores (三聯書局).
.jpg)
Author/Speaker: Mark O'Neill
Mark was born in London, England and educated at Marlborough College and New College, Oxford. He worked in Washington D.C., Manchester and Belfast before moving to Asia in 1978. He has lived here ever since. After a long journalistic career working for BBC, Reuters and other media, in 2006 he turned to writing books and has completed 12 so far in English, of which 7 have been translated into traditional Chinese and three into simplified Chinese. He speaks French, Mandarin, Cantonese and Japanese and lives in Hong Kong with his wife. He works as an author, teacher and columnist and is now busy with new books and hopes to bring them out in the coming years.
You may go to his website to find out more about his works:
*Participants must follow the anti-pandemic measures and arrangements by the Organiser. The arrangement of activity is possible to
be changed in light of COVID-19 and government measures.
1. A face mask must be worn at all times and your body temperature must be checked at the entrance on the ground floor at the reception
before entry.
2. The use of the “LeaveHomeSafe (LHS)” app is mandatory. You must also present a valid printed or digitally stored COVID-19 vaccination
record or Medical Exemption Certificate QR code as instructed by our staffers.
3. All Vaccine Pass (VP) requirements will be observed (unless
you are exempt):
for further details,
please click here.
4. The decisions of Alliance Francaise de Hong Kong will be final and prevails.