NEWS

First lecture, Chinese conversation offered by Carolina Asia Center

CHAPEL HILL -- "The Making of an East Asian Popular Culture" will be the topic of a free public lecture at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Friday (Feb. 28) by an internationally known expert on Southeast Asia.

Dr. Beng Huat Chua, a sociology professor at the National University of Singapore, will give the talk from 3-5 p.m. in Toy Lounge, on the fourth floor of Dey Hall. Light refreshments will be served after the talk. Chua, who heads his university's Southeast Asian studies program, arrived Feb. 19 as a visiting professor at UNC through March 21.

The event marks the inaugural lecture of the Carolina Asia Center, created last fall in the College of Arts and Sciences to coordinate and promote Asian studies at UNC, said Dr. Steven I. Levine, center interim director and adjunct professor of international studies.

The center serves as an umbrella organization designed to administer research, teaching and partnerships in Asian studies at UNC and abroad. It promotes interdisciplinary research and study of Asian history, languages, societies and cultures by Carolina faculty, graduate students and undergraduates

"We work in partnership with the curricula in Asian studies and international studies, the honors program, the study abroad office and other colleagues throughout the university," said Levine, who specializes in contemporary Chinese politics and foreign relations. Levine created a teacher resource kit on contemporary China, The China Box, that was distributed to hundreds of schools nationwide. Levine is returning to UNC, where he taught history and political science from 1994-96.

Among center activities is a weekly Chinese conversation lunch hour called the Tang Dynasty Club, Levine said: " 'Tang' is the name of a famous Chinese dynasty. 'Tang' also means 'soup' in Chinese. We serve Chinese soup and have Chinese conversations."

Begun in January, the club has had five meetings, including a Chinese karaoke session. The high-intensity practice sessions for Chinese language students meet from 12:30-1:30 p.m. Tuesdays or Wednesdays in West House, the center's temporary home. The sessions alternate days each week so that students with different schedules have opportunities to attend.

"In the next few weeks, we'll have a lecture in Chinese on Chinese basketball, given by Evan Tong, a Chinese Ph.D. student in recreation and leisure studies," Levine said. "We received a small but much appreciated intellectual life grant from the academic enrichment fund of the James M. Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence to keep us in soup."

For more information, call Levine at 843-0130.

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Contact: Dr. Steve Levine, 843-0130, silevine@email.unc.edu