HKUL Book Talk
Y.K. Pao: My Father
By Professor Anna Pao Sohmen
Date: October 3, 2013 (Thursday)
Time: 7:15 - 9:00 pm
Venue: Special Collections, 1/F, Main Library, HKU
Speaker/Author: Prof. Anna Sohmen Pao
Moderator: Mr Peter Sidorko (Librarian – HKU Libraries)
Language: English
Registration: http://lib.hku.hk/friends/reading_club/bt2013_04.html
About the Speaker/Author
Alongside a successful business career, Professor Anna Sohmen has devoted herself to education and the promotion of culture and the Arts. She helped develop the Chinese International School in Hong Kong in 1982, one of the first schools in Hong Kong to offer a dual language curriculum in Putonghua and English. In 2007, to commemorate 10th year of the return of Hong Kong to China, she has established a bi-lingual Chinese School in Shanghai, named after her late father, Sir YK Pao. YK Pao School (YKPS) is a non-profit Year 1-12 school and together with her youngest son, Philip Sohmen, has pioneered in unchartered waters in education in China. In seventh years, YKPS has grown to 900 students. This year (2013), YKPS started the third year of secondary school which is boarding. Professor Sohmen Pao was appointed by the Hong Kong Chief Executive as Chairman of the Hong Kong Academy for performing Arts. During her terms, she helped built the Film School, the Centre for Chinese Opera and a masters program at APA (now with Six Schools). Her current and former positions include:
1. Chairman of YK Pao School(Shanghai)
2. Director, World Wide Shipping Limited (the family business, now BW Shipping run by her husband Helmut Sohmen and son Andreas Sohmen Pao)
3. Member of National CPPCC (Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference)
4. Standing committee member of Zhejiang CPPCC and Heilongjiang CPPCC
5. Honorary Chairman, The Chinese Manufacturers Association of Hong Kong
6. Former Trustee, Royal Opera House, UK
7. Chairman, Sino-British Scholarship Scheme
In Hong Kong, she has been involved with SME’s service, including committees in town planning, cutting government red tape, environmental issues in business and development of arts. She has been a trail blazer in conserving heritage buildings, like the 19th Century French church in Hong Kong, founding of an old people’s home in housing estates and liver donation program.
About the Book
Sir Y.K. Pao, rose from modest origins to become, by the mid-1970s, the world's largest private shipowner. His Hong Kong-based company World-Wide Shipping diversified into property, hotels, retail, media, telecommunications, airlines and banking--a hugely influential business empire at a time of rapid regional growth. A philanthropist with extensive international connections, Pao became an unofficial Chinese ambassador at large, forging a strong relationship with the architect of China's reform, Deng Xiaoping, at the dawn of China's economic transformation and during the discussions about Hong Kong's future.
Anna Pao Sohmen was at her father's side during important events and key meetings with leaders around the world. In this affectionate yet unsentimental account, she recounts the pivotal role played by her father at a key historical juncture and the balance he struck between Chinese and British allegiance, between business and politics, and between capitalism and socialism.
Media Contact: Mr. Gary Chin, Tel: 2859 2211 / Ms. Marina Yeung, Tel: 2859 8903
道法自然 ─ 饒宗頤道教美術展
香港大學饒宗頤學術館是次主辦「道法自然 ─ 饒宗頤道教美術展」，是饒教授第一次舉辦的道教書畫展覽。
饒宗頤教授的道教書畫可以分成幾類：第一類是他描繪的道教宗師及神仙的畫像，如老子像、張三丰像、八仙圖像等；第二類是他以道教名言為主題的繪畫；第三類則是他書寫道教經典名句的書法作品；第四類是他繪寫與道教有關的帝皇、學者詩詞的作品，如他所臨寫的宋徽宗秋花詩、宋高宗養生論、丘處機青天歌、楊鐵崖及白玉蟾等人的詩句；至於第五類則是與他的學術研究有關，例如他研究馬王堆出土的帛書，故他亦曾臨寫馬王堆出土的《老子》甲、乙本。
是次展品雖為數不多，但從中可見到他對道教的研究十分深邃而具開創性，這一類書畫亦別有一種神清氣淨的境界。
日期：2013年8月23日－ 9月30日
時間：9:00am－6:00pm (星期六、日及公眾假期休息)
地點：香港大學饒宗頤學術館 (香港薄扶林大學道2號2樓，研究生堂旁)
電話：2241 5598