Moon Festival
Wai-te-ata Press hosted a lively Moon Festival celebration on 4 October which brought together members of the Chinese community plus supporters, donors, and funders of Victoria’s Chinese Scholars’ Studio and Chinese Heritage Type restoration project.
Attendees viewed the only surviving collection of Chinese metal types in New Zealand, on long-term loan from the Dominion Federation of NZ Chinese Commercial Growers. MA in Literary Translation student, Ya-Wen Ho, demonstrated how we are using a high-powered microscope to capture individual sorts, flip the images, then use a web-based programme and touchscreen to hand draw and digitally identify each character for our inventory. A bookmark using the types was set up and participants were able to handprint a unique Moon Festival greeting. Tea, dumplings, and moon cakes rounded out the occasion.
An exhibition of choice books, scrolls, and other rarities from the J.C. Beaglehole Room and private collections continues at Wai-te-ata Press on Level 0 of the Rankine Brown, Kelburn Library through to Chinese Language Week 16-22 October.
For more information about the project, please see the Chinese Scholars' Studio webpage.
Image above: Rebecca Needham, Director Confucius Institute and Tony Browne, NZ Contemporary China Centre viewing the Chinese Heritage Type collection.
Image below: Ya-Wen Ho in discussion with Rev Henry Yap, Chinese Anglican Mission, Wellington.
