Originating in Southwest China, tea is now one of the most popular drinks in the world. It is served differently from country to country. Visit our latest book display and explore the Asian Library collection on tea, its origin, history and culture.

The display is located at the Asian Centre foyer and will be up until March 7.

Date: April 23 – June 30, 2018
Location: Asian Centre (1871 West Mall) (map)
Hours: Asian Library open hours (see hours)

Mr. Yim Tse (謝琰), Chinese Librarian (1968-1999), passed away on March 16, 2018. Asian Library has set up a book display at the Asian Centre entrance in memory of this pioneer librarian and friend.

Born in Hong Kong in 1936, Yim Tse graduated from the University of British Columbia and received a graduate diploma in librarianship from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland.  He began to work at the UBC Asian Library as Chinese Librarian in 1968 and served until his retirement in 1999.  For more than 30 years of service, Yim was highly respected by UBC faculty and students for his knowledge and in-depth reference support. He and his family are also devoted supporters of UBC.

In addition to his contributions as a librarian, Mr. Tse was a renowned calligrapher. He studied Chinese calligraphy in his early years under Mr. Lam Chin Shek (林千石) and dedicated himself to studying and creating Chinese calligraphic art. Moreover, he undertook the promotion of Chinese calligraphy as his lifelong calling, and at the same time he played the role as a curator, writer, and translator. Over the years, Yim curated 10 collective and four of his own solo Chinese calligraphy exhibitions, as well as published and translated a number of books. Many of his works were shown in exhibitions and collected by the Canadian Museum of History, UBC, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, International Buddhist Temple in Richmond, BC, and Nankai University located in Tianjin, China.

Below is the list of items on display:

Proses:
《懷玉堂隨筆》 Essays from the Hall of Hidden Jade (PL2968 Y35 H83 2015)
《謝琰八十自述－談書法與人生》 Eighty Years of My Life: On Life and Calligraphy (2016)

Exhibition catalogues:
《翰墨因緣》 Karma of the Brush (ND1454.5 C3 V3 1985)
《翰墨因緣》 Karma of the Brush (ND1454.5 C3 V3 1995)
《尺素寸衷》 A Foot of Silk: A Bond of Friendship (ND1475 C56 T732 1998)
《聖言書藝展》 Calligraphic Art of Confucius Sayings (NK3634 A2 S532 2001)
《墨韻心聲》 Reflections from a Chinese Brush (NK3634 X54 A4 2007)
《書藝友聲》 A Gathering of Brushes (2009)

Calligraphic illustrations:
《墨花心影誦唐詩》 Ink Blossoms, Mind Shadows: Chanting Tang Poems (PL2531 M6 1999)
《獨陪明月看荷花》 Ode to Lotus: Selected Poems of Florence Chia-Ying Yeh (PL2924 C5335 D83 2007)
《去國偶吟：夏偉良詩詞集》 Casual Poetry Away from My Homeland by Joe Hah (2011)

English translations:
《論語百則》 100 Sayings from the Analects (collaboration) (PL2471 R468 2004)
《白日夢: 黃永強攝影集》 Day Dreaming: A Photo Collection by K.W. Wong (TR655 H82 2010)

See also:Remembering Mr. Yim Tse, Chinese Librarian 1968-1999

Date: January 23 – February 22, 2018
Location: Asian Centre (1871 West Mall) (map)
Hours: Asian Library open hours (see hours)

Visit the Asian Centre foyer in the New Year for a new art exhibit featuring artworks by a UBC Asian Studies alumni.

About the exhibition: Summoning the Senses

Summoning the Senses is a multi-media exhibit inspired by eighteen months of academic exchange and personal travels throughout India which aims to incite curiosity, encourage adventure, and bring vibrancy to winter’s wetness using sculpture, paintings, textiles, and unique modification of space with miscellanea. The heart of the display, an optically illusory mosaic sculpture made with thousands of spice seeds, has a mesmerizing allure rooted in the structure of mandalas and is centrally painted with Islamic geometric techniques. In the context of a wanderer’s eye passing through the kaleidoscopic Indian subcontinent, the exhibition ornately explores its diversity, the significance of the environment as it pertains to shaping agriculture and culture, and attempts to capture the dynamic process of learning and understanding through an abundance of senses.

About the Artist: Amy Ebrahimian

A recent graduate of UBC’s Asian Area Studies program, Amy Ebrahimian has nurtured a passion for visual arts alongside her education and is thrilled to be sharing her work with the students, staff, and visitors of the Asian Centre. Of German-Ukrainian heritage and raised in both the United States and Canada, her family has been on the move for several generations and the wandering rootlessness she has maintained has taken her across continents while studying (perhaps why it took a little more than eight years to complete her Bachelor’s degree). Her artistic practice is guided by a desire to cultivate and communicate an understanding of nature that can both expand the observer’s respect for its value and their motivation for its protection. Her process is a balance of free-flowing and systematic unfolding to depict natural elements, symbiotic relationships, and cycles in terms that are honest and relatable with a hint of the mystical. Joyfully compelled, she produces pieces in realistic, impressionistic, and abstract styles using scenery from firsthand encounters and dreams. Enlivened by the act of telling detailed stories and (un)tangling concepts, much of her current work features intricate arrangements of minutiae integrated with intense colour palettes into oil and acrylic, and is accented by a topographic maze of textures that tempts the eye into exploration.

To learn more about the artist and her works, please visit www.mehndinomadic.com or Instagram @amy_ebrahimian_arts.

Date: January 23 – February 22, 2018
Location: Asian Centre (1871 West Mall) (map)
Hours: Asian Library open hours (see hours)

Visit the Asian Centre foyer in the New Year for a new art exhibit featuring artworks by a UBC Asian Studies alumni.

About the exhibition: Summoning the Senses

Summoning the Senses is a multi-media exhibit inspired by eighteen months of academic exchange and personal travels throughout India which aims to incite curiosity, encourage adventure, and bring vibrancy to winter’s wetness using sculpture, paintings, textiles, and unique modification of space with miscellanea. The heart of the display, an optically illusory mosaic sculpture made with thousands of spice seeds, has a mesmerizing allure rooted in the structure of mandalas and is centrally painted with Islamic geometric techniques. In the context of a wanderer’s eye passing through the kaleidoscopic Indian subcontinent, the exhibition ornately explores its diversity, the significance of the environment as it pertains to shaping agriculture and culture, and attempts to capture the dynamic process of learning and understanding through an abundance of senses.

About the Artist: Amy Ebrahimian

A recent graduate of UBC’s Asian Area Studies program, Amy Ebrahimian has nurtured a passion for visual arts alongside her education and is thrilled to be sharing her work with the students, staff, and visitors of the Asian Centre. Of German-Ukrainian heritage and raised in both the United States and Canada, her family has been on the move for several generations and the wandering rootlessness she has maintained has taken her across continents while studying (perhaps why it took a little more than eight years to complete her Bachelor’s degree). Her artistic practice is guided by a desire to cultivate and communicate an understanding of nature that can both expand the observer’s respect for its value and their motivation for its protection. Her process is a balance of free-flowing and systematic unfolding to depict natural elements, symbiotic relationships, and cycles in terms that are honest and relatable with a hint of the mystical. Joyfully compelled, she produces pieces in realistic, impressionistic, and abstract styles using scenery from firsthand encounters and dreams. Enlivened by the act of telling detailed stories and (un)tangling concepts, much of her current work features intricate arrangements of minutiae integrated with intense colour palettes into oil and acrylic, and is accented by a topographic maze of textures that tempts the eye into exploration.

To learn more about the artist and her works, please visit www.mehndinomadic.com or Instagram @amy_ebrahimian_arts.