E-Newsletter
Recent Posts
Latest News
-
Talk and Taiji Quan workshop with Daoist Priest Zhou Xuan Yun and Curator Li Wang
|
Taoist Priest Zhou Xuan Yun 
Dr. Li Wang PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] – On Tuesday, April 3, 2012 from 2:30 to 5pm, Taoist Priest Zhou Xuan Yun and Brown University Library East Asian Curator Li Wang will discuss Chinese internal arts and the influence of Daoist philosophy and practice on Taiji Quan in the Crystal Room of Alumnae Hall. This interactive workshop, co-sponsored by the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, is free and open to the public.
Dr. Li Wang will introduce the workshop with a talk entitled “The Way for Energy, Harmony and Well-being: Philosophy, Principles and Methods of Chinese Internal Arts.” His talk will highlight traditional Chinese internal arts and their benefits, including self-cultivation in modern life. Then, Taoist Priest Zhou Xuan Yun will share his experiences growing up in a Taoist temple and teach sections of the Wudang Mountain traditional Taiji form.
Taiji Quan (T’ai Chi Chuan, Supreme Ultimate Fist) is approximately 1,000 years old, and the most popular Chinese martial art in the world. Many people today practice Taiji mainly for its health benefits, and as a kind of moving meditation. Taiji philosophy predates Taiji Quan. The “Taiji diagram” (known as the Yin/Yang diagram in the West) explains the dynamic way in which one thing changes into another through a “great ultimate” process, which makes a balanced and interlocking natural world possible. Taiji philosophy is one of the central concepts of Taoism (Daoism), which is the study of the Dao, or the Natural Way.
Taoist Priest Zhou Xuan Yun (pronounced Joh Sh-when Yoon), grew up in a temple on Wudang Mountain, China where he was a student and later an instructor of Taiji and Kung Fu. He belongs to the Orthodox Unity sect of Taoism, and is trained in ritual arts, chanting, divination, and internal alchemy. He is formally recognized as a disciple of Li Guang Fu 李光富 the Abbot of Wudang Mountain (武当山道教协会会长). Now based in Boston, he offers classes and workshops on the Taoist arts and teaches the traditional arts in classes around the world. More information about Zhou Xuan Yun is available on his web site www.DaoistGate.com
Dr. Li Wang, Curator of East Asian Collection in Brown University Library, is a specialist in Chinese philosophy and religion, especially Daoist history and inner alchemy. He is also a veteran master of Chinese internal martial arts and Qigong (meditation). He began to practice martial arts as a young man and studied from several famous Chinese masters. For the past 30 years, Dr. Wang has taught Chinese internal arts to hundreds of students in China and the United States. The programs he has taught include Chen style and Yang style Taiji Quan (Tai Chi Chuan), Taiji swordplay, pushing-hands, Xingyi Quan (Hsing-I Chuan), Bagua Zhang (Pa-Kua Chang), Dacheng Quan (aka Yi Quan) and Zhanzhuang Qigong (standing meditation). All these are known as internal arts that share principles and methods derived from traditional Chinese philosophy, martial techniques, and medical theories.
The Year of China explores the rich culture, economy, and politics of Greater China, investigating its past, examining its present, and contemplating its future. Throughout the 2011-2012 academic year, Brown will host public lectures, cultural events, academic conferences, and exhibits in an integrated exploration of China. For more information about the program and upcoming events, please visit: www.brown.edu/yearofchina
The Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology is Brown University’s teaching museum. A resource across the University, we inspire creative and critical thinking about culture by fostering interdisciplinary understanding of the material world.
Brown University Library is home to more than 6.8 million print items, plus a multitude of electronic resources and expanding digital archives serving the teaching, research, and learning needs of Brown students and faculty, as well as scholars from around the country and the world.
Contact: Jennifer Braga | 401-863-6913
-
Brown University Announces New Director of Special Collections
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] – Brown University has announced Thomas A. Horrocks as the new Director of Special Collections and the John Hay Library, effective July 9, 2012.Horrocks has been employed at Harvard University for the past fourteen years, eight as Director of the Center for the History of Medicine at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine and six as Associate Director for Collections at Houghton Library. During his tenure at Countway, he reorganized and expanded the special collections staff, managed the renovation of the special collections department, established an exhibition program, revived and revamped the Warren Anatomical Museum, designed the library’s first fellowship program, raised funds for various cataloging and processing projects, and created the Center for the History of Medicine.
At Houghton Library, where Horrocks is responsible for collection development, collection promotion, and collection preservation, he has been involved with several notable acquisitions, created the library’s first preservation program, revitalized the contemporary poetry department, produced the library’s first collection development guidelines, enhanced and streamlined the exhibition and fellowship programs, and, working with Harvard faculty and local cultural organizations, organized major national and international conferences on Abraham Lincoln and Samuel Johnson.
Before coming to Harvard, Horrocks was employed at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia for thirteen years, where he served as Director of Historical Programs and Director of the Library. Holding a library degree from Drexel University and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Pennsylvania, Horrocks has published many articles and has written, edited, and co-edited five books, including Popular Print and Popular Medicine: Health Advice in Early American Almanacs (2008), The Living Lincoln (2011), and Johnson After Three Centuries: New Light on Texts and Contexts (2011). He is currently writing a biography of James Buchanan and a book on Abraham Lincoln’s 1860 campaign biographies.
The Brown University Library is home to more than 6.8 million print items, plus a multitude of electronic resources and expanding digital archives serving the teaching, research, and learning needs of Brown students and faculty, as well as scholars from around the country and the world.
Contact: Jennifer Braga | 401-863-6913
###
-
A Short Interview with Walter Feldman
|
Please join the Brown University Library at 5:30pm, on Wednesday, March 21, 2012, as we celebrate the new limited edition publication BREATHTAKEN, a long poem by CD Wright with visual accompaniments by Walter Feldman.
Short interview: A conversation between Rosemary Cullen, Curator, American Literary & Popular Culture and Walter Feldman, celebrated artist and teacher (mp3 audio; February 15, 2012)
Images of collages and prints by Walter Feldman (below):