Author: Eric

Near the River Cam in Cambridge, King’s College set up a memorial garden for
Xu Zhimo, a pioneer of modern Chinese poetry who studied at King’s College in 1921-22.  At the entrance to the garden, stands a white granite stone carved with the beginning and last lines of Xu’s most famous poem ‘Second Farewell to Cambridge’.  Xu wrote the poem in 1928 after re-visiting the university.  Three years later he died in an airplane crash at the age of 35.  Xu was one of the prominent intellectuals who pushed forward the New Culture Movement in China around 1920’s.  He wrote and promoted free verse poems and essays in vernacular Chinese, and was the first to introduce poetry works of western romantics to China.  His marriages and love affairs with three renowned women controversially illustrates his life time goal of pursuing love, freedom and beauty.  Under all this glamour, Xu is a learned scholar deeply influenced by both eastern and western cultures.  Before he went to study at the University of Cambridge, he learned Laws at Peking University, graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from Clark University, Massachusetts, majoring in Political and Social Sciences with a minor in History, and did graduate studies in Economics and Politics at Columbia University.  In 1925, Xu travelled to Moscow to observe the newly
established Soviet Union.  He left with vivid accounts of his observations
and insightful reflections, many of his forecasts only to be Proven later by
the history. [1]-[3] Continue reading “EAWLC Poetry Series: Decoding ‘Second Farewell to Cambridge’”

About the Lecturer

George Liang loves literature, history, and philosophy.  He reads and travels a lot, and enjoys writing traditional Chinese poems.  He has given series of lectures on the Shih-Ching in his spare time.  His profession is in the financial sector. A CPA and CGA since 2006, George has worked as an investment representative at RBC, a senior financial analyst  at CIBC, the CFO at Bombay/Bowring, and currently a financial advisor at Edward Jones.

Continue reading “EAWLC Poetry Series: The Introduction and Appreciation of Shih-Ching, the Classic of Poetry”

A poet, journalist, editor, and comparative religion scholar, Chime gave a
lecture on Tibetan culture at our club last year.  He was born in Ledu,
Qinghai, a Tibetan area in China.  His parents both came from the local
upper classes, one from a Tibetan family, and the other a Han tribe.  Continue reading “EAWLC Poetry Series: the Development and Appreciation of Modern Chinese Poetry”

The East and West Learning Club is thrilled to co-host a fabulous poetry series together with Sureway Culture Services and Lakeside Academy of Canada  throughout this Summer and Fall!

Continue reading “Poetry Series by Poets Laureate at EAWLC”

This week we are going to have an interesting dialogue on Silicon Valley
tycoons,  and how to become or raise a technology generalist.  An engineer
and an educator , also Two thoughtful and caring fathers, will lead the
conversation. Everyone is welcome to join them, and discuss over questions
like below:

*       What is a technology generalist?  What characteristics do we usually
see in
such a person?
*       Are those characteristics innate?  Can they be cultivated?
*       What can we learn from Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, and Bill Gates?
*       Why could these tech generalists establish themselves in their
twenties , while most entrepreneurs launched their first startups in their
middle age[1]?
*       What could be missed in our family and school education to foster
technology generalists?
*       What can we do to make up the missing part, and help ourselves
and/or our kids become a generalist?

Continue reading “EAWLC Zoom Dialogue on Technology Generalists — What, Why & How”

Dawei Sun came to Canada in the year of 2000, with a computer science background.  He got involved in the field of animation design when working as a software engineer, and found himself fascinated with it.  He went to a 3year program at Seneca College, and obtained a diploma in Animation. Since then he has been working in the Animation/VFX and Game industry for over 12 years,playing different roles, such as rigging artist, character effect artist and technical director.  He is currently a senior technical director who helps build pipelines for animation and visual effects productions at Tangent Animation, a Canadian studio that created the Netflix movie “Next Gen”.  Other movies he did include “Nut Job: and “Nut Job 2” by Toonbox Entertainment, and “A Christmas Carol” by Walt Disney Pictures.  He is also a mentor for juniors who are new to the industry and the pipeline in various studios.  Dawei likes playing basketball in his spare time.  He and his wife live in Milton, with their two kids.  He enjoys accompanying them, and playing chess or Go with the 12-year-old girl and 8-year-old boy.
Continue reading “EAWLC Zoom Learning for Curious People: Into the Animation World”

Update: Zoom meeting video

Since 1992 after graduation from Harbin Institute of Technology with a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture, Shaoxuan Zhou (Joe) has played various roles in the industry: an owner of an indie architecture studio, a project manager at CallisonRTKL Shanghai, and an urban designer for a couple of architecture firms in China.  In between of those roles he spent five years travelling and living in New Zealand.   and England.  Currently Joe lives in Toronto with his wife and their  10-year-old boy, and works remotely for a firm in Shanghai as their urban design director.  He enjoys every minute at work, very happy that he can make a good living by doing something he has been passionate about for almost 30 years, i.e., to be a frontline designer, and incorporate art, history, economy, and technology to make living spaces beautiful, comfortable and sustainable, with distinct community identities.  In his spare time, Joe loves outdoor activities, going to gym, and gardening.

Continue reading “EAWLC Zoom Learning for Curious People: Appreciation of Architectural Designs”

This is a much anticipated club meeting delayed from January due to winter illness and then the pandemic.  We are so happy that Ramya will make time for us and share her interesting experience as well as facilitate a very engaging event on Zoom now.  Everybody is welcome to join us.  It’s gonna be a fun evening!

Continue reading “EAWLC Zoom Learning Facilitated by Ramya Amuthan”