Prominent Taiwanese writer Lee Ka-hsiang (劉克襄) will spearhead a series of 'Green Formosa' lectures, concerts, and film screenings at the upcoming Week of Foreign Cultures in Paris (Semaine des cultures étrangères à Paris).
Lee, a nature writer and bird watcher who has been nicknamed "Bird Man,” was chosen to present a Taiwanese angle on this year's theme - our environment (nos environnements). The theme also heralds the upcoming 2015 Climate Conference that will be hosted by Paris in December.
Although he is best known as a writer, Lee has embraced nature as an ornithologist, environmentalist, and advocate as well. He will share his campaigns for national park construction, stray dog protection, and bird conservation in a seminar titled "The Ecology of a Big Island” on Sept. 29.
Lee will also recite several poems in the "Earth and Ocean: A Voyage through Music and Literature” concert on Sept. 30. His delivery will be accompanied by saxophonist Lee Shyen (李賢), pianist Lee Wen-hui (林文卉), and soprano Wei Tsui-ping (魏翠萍).
The writer will also introduce Taiwan's aborigines, especially the symbiotic relationship they maintain with their environment and their reverence for nature, on Oct. 1. His lecture will be followed by a screening of "A Year in the Clouds (司馬庫斯),” a documentary that follows the Atayal highlanders of the Smangus Village and their system of common ownership.
Other Taiwanese presentations at the Week of Foreign Cultures in Paris include a night of dance, saxophone, and electronic music on Sept. 28, in which Lee Ka-hsiang and saxophonist Lee Shyen team up with dancer Wu Wen-qin (吳文欽); screening of "The Lost Sea (刪海經),” a documentary using horseshoe crabs as an allegory for the ecological, economic, and political conflicts of Taiwan on Sept. 30; and an academic forum on the origins of Austronesian languages on Oct. 1.
Participation in the "Green Formosa” series is free. Please contact the Taiwan Cultural Center in Paris for further information.
Sept. 28 | Song of Light and Shadows
- Type: Performance
- Time: 7pm
- Featuring: Author Lee Ka-hsiang, saxophonist Lee Shyen, dancer Wu Wen-qin
- Repertoire: Waterwings, Ode to the Murdered Poplar Tree, Bird, Sacred Tree
- Venue: Bureau de Representation de Taipei en France
- Address: 78, rue de l'Université 75007 Paris
- Site:http://www.ficep.info/les-evenements/
Sept. 29 | The Ecology of a Big Island
- Type: Artist talk
- Time: 7pm
- Featuring: Author Lee Ka-hsiang
- Venue: Bureau de Representation de Taipei en France
- Address: 78, rue de l'Université 75007 Paris
Sept. 30 | The Lost Sea
- Type: Discussion, screening
- Featuring: French film critic Wafa Ghermani
- Lecture @ 7pm
- Venue: Bureau de Representation de Taipei en France
- Address: 78, rue de l'Université 75007 Paris
- Site:http://www.ficep.info
Sept. 30 & Oct. 2 | A Voyage through Music and Literature
- Type: Performance
- Featuring: Author Lee Ka-hsiang, saxophonist Lee Shyen, pianist Lee Wen-hui, soprano Wei Tsui-ping
- Sept. 30 @ 5pm: Henri Selmer Paris (18, rue de la Fontaine au Roi, Paris)
- Oct. 2 @ 2pm: L'Atelier-Conservatoire de Bordeaux Jacques Thibaud (rue Jacques d'Welles 33800 Bordeaux)
Oct. 1 | A Year in the Clouds
- Type: Discussion, screening
- Featuring: Professors Isabelle Rabut and Angel Pino, author Lee Ka-hsiang
- Lecture @ 2.40pm - 3.40pm
- Screening @ 3.50pm - 5.30pm
- Venue: Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales, INALCO
- Address: 65 Rue des Grands Moulins, 75013 Paris