Trinity celebrates Chinese New Year 2021
Posted on: 10 February 2021
Trinity’s front façade will light up red this Friday to celebrate the Chinese New Year of the Ox.
Welcoming the new year, the Trinity Centre for Asian Studies is hosting a public online talk as part of the Dublin Chinese Lunar New Year festival on Thursday 11 February at 6pm.
Chaired by Trinity’s new Sam Lam professor in Chinese Studies, Professor Nathan Hill, the topic to be explored is ‘A Good Year to Found a Republic: The Year of the Ox, 1949.’
The year 1949, when both Ireland and China established new republics, was a year of the ox, associated with strength and hard work. Projecting strength was a priority for China as it overthrew the shackles of foreign colonialism, at the same time as Ireland formally disengaged from its former colonial ruler. Building a strong economy would take time and hard work, as China launched a period of state capitalism while capitalists fled from the mainland to Hong Kong. At the same time, a programme to spread literacy and national unity through simplifying and standardising Chinese fundamentally changed the language. This panel event explores these three facets of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
Dr Isabella Jackson – “The Chinese people have stood up!” Anti-imperialism and the founding of the People’s Republic
Dr Peter Hamilton – A Strong Economy for a Strong Nation: Early State Capitalism in the People’s Republic
Dr Ning Jiang – New China, New Chinese language: standardising and simplifying Chinese in the new People’s Republic
All are welcome to attend this free event, please register here
The zodiac sign Ox sits in the second position in the Chinese Zodiac. According to one myth, the Jade Emperor said the sequence would be decided by the order in which they arrived to his party. The Ox was about to be the first to arrive, but Rat tricked Ox into giving him a ride. Then, just as they arrived, Rat jumped down and landed ahead of Ox. Thus, Ox became the second animal. If you want to find out more about the Year of the Ox, please click here
Professor Lorna Carson, Head of the School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences said:
“Trinity looks forward to expanding further its Chinese Studies courses in the autumn, with the launch of a new Languages for Employability programme for postgraduates funded by the Human Capital Initiative. The new Chinese programme has a specific trade and industry perspective, delivering content-based language learning for specific. Trinity has engaged with a range of Irish and Chinese industry partners in its design and delivery of these new Chinese modules for postgraduates”.
