FIRST SATURDAY PDX
  • Spring Fundraiser Banquet Lunch/ Auction 18 FEB, 2023
  • Upcoming Presentation 4 March, 2023
  • Welcome to First Saturday PDX
  • CURRENT SEASON 2022 - 2023
    • Quick Preview of Season 2022 - 2023
    • Season Schedule (2022 - 2023)
    • A Visit to the Soreng Gallery of Chinese Art ​at the ​Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art​, 10 September, 2022
    • ​China’s Last Imperial Frontier: Late Qing Expansion in Sichuan’s Tibetan Borderlands 15 October, 2022
    • Girls with Big Ideas: Gidget and Song of Youth 5 November, 2022
    • * DIM SUM/ YUM CHA BRUNCH!! 19 November, 2022 *
    • Following the Thread: China Along the Road of Silk 3 December, 2022
    • The Chinese Massacre in Hells Canyon 7 January 2023
    • Spring Fundraiser Banquet Lunch/ Auction 18 FEB, 2023
    • Inscribing Chinese Gardens: The Origins of Shutiaoshi 书条石 4 March, 2023
  • THE FIRST 20 YEARS
  • PAST SEASONS & PROGRAMS
    • Past Seasons & Program Highlights >
      • Season 2021 - 2022 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2021 - 2022
        • Season Schedule 2021 - 2022
        • The Oregon Chinese Diaspora Project, 2 October 2021
        • Connecting to our Natural World: The Portland Botanical Gardens, 6 November 2021
        • Lan Su Chinese Garden: ​The Vision of a Classical Chinese Garden, 4 December 2021
        • ​Re-visioning ​Chinese History, ​900-1350: ​The New Look of Song and Yuan, 8 January, 2022
        • Chinese New Year 2022/ Year of the Tiger 4720, 5 February, 2022
        • Auspicious Seals and Chops, 5 February 2022
        • The Erhu and Erhu Music, 5 March, 2022
        • Pictorial Naturalism and "Truth": Contextualizing the Eleventh-century Luohan Sculptures of Lingyan Temple in China, 2 April, 2022
        • Celebrated Stories in Sichuan Shadow Theater,7 May, 2022
        • The Daode Jing's Forgotten Forebear: The Ancestral Cult 4 June, 2022
      • 2020 - 2021 Season >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2020 - 2021
        • Season Schedule 2020 - 2021
        • Collecting Under Socialism: Philately in 1950s China, 12 September, 2020
        • Myriad Treasures: Celebrating the Reinstallation of the Soreng Gallery of Chinese Art Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, 3 October, 2020
        • The Real Mulan? Tales of a Female Rebel in 18th century China 7 November, 2020
        • Spice it Up! ​How the Chile Pepper Flavored Chinese Culture 5 December, 2020
        • A Century of Collecting Chinese Painting at Oberlin College 9 January, 2021 ​
        • Chinese New Year 2021/ Year of the Ox 4719
        • Artistic Exchange Between China and Europe in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries 6 March, 2021
        • The Scholar’s Retreat: Loss and Resilience in the Chinese Landscape and Garden 3 April 2021
        • Simmering, Whisking, Steeping: Methods for Preparing and Consuming Tea in Premodern China
        • Silk and Sericulture: Beauty Inspired by a Social Contract
      • 2019 - 2020 Season >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2019 - 2020
        • Season Schedule 2019 - 2020
        • Mawangdui: The Tomb of China’s Sleeping Beauty, 7 December 2019
        • Field Notes from Sichuan: Learning To Be a Foreigner, 5 October 2019
        • In Search of Korean Liberation in China, 2 November 2019
        • From an Architect's Perspective: 3, 5, 7, 9 Column Halls: Status and Hierarchy in a Confucius Society, 7 December 2019
        • China Under the Covers - ​A Bookbinder’s Journey to the Roots of Books 11 January, 2020
        • Lunar New Year Lunch, 1 February, 2020
        • Early Phonetic Rendering Schemes for Chinese Characters, 7 March 2020
        • The Garden of Elk Rock at Bishop's Close, 4 April 2020
      • 2018 - 2019 Season >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2018 - 2019
        • Season Schedule 2018 - 2019
        • Notable Women of Portland, 8 September 2018
        • Mooncakes: A Hallmark of Tradition of the Mid-Autumn Festival, 6 October 2018
        • Music: A Universal Language for Healing and Touching the Soul, 3 November 2018
        • China: In the Pursuit of Happiness, 1 December 2019
        • Babur's Gardens: An Illustrated Introduction, 5 January 2019
        • Chinese New Year Lunch 2 February, 2019
        • Living with Penjing: Three Dimensional Poetry, 2 March 2019
        • Discovering the Intellectual and Sensory Essences of Chinese Literati Gardens, 6 April 2019
        • Sino-Japanese Cultural Connections in the Yuan Dynasty, 4 May 2019 ​​
      • 2017 - 2018 Season >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2017 - 2018
        • Season Schedule 2017 - 2018
        • Developing Patronage: Chinese and Asian Pacific Heritage, 9 September 2017
        • Every Plant Has a Story to Tell: Bamboo, 7 October 2017
        • Wonders to Enjoy: Chinese Snuff Bottles, 4 November 2017
        • Sichuan Shadow Theater: Messages from Hell Courts, 2 December 2017
        • Legacy of the Qing Manchu Culture: The Sibe of Northwest China, 6 January 2018
        • Chinese New Year Brunch, 3 February 2018
        • Classical Tradition: Ancient Musical Instruments of China, 3 March 2018
        • Welcome to First Saturday PDX
        • Ancient Traders of the Silk Road: The Uyghur People of Xinjiang, 7 April 2018
        • "Poetic Exposition on Heaven and Earth": A Third-Century Chinese Verse on How the Cosmos Began, 28 April 2018
        • Word Play: The Art of Xu Bing, 2 June 2018
      • 2016 - 2017 Season >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2016 - 2017
        • Season Schedule 2016 - 2017
        • Contemporary Chinese Society: A View from the Films of Zhang Yimou, 6 May 2017
        • Chinese New Year Brunch, 4 February 2017
        • The Uyghurs: History of a People at the Center of Asia, Part 1, 4 March 2017
        • Creating a Tea Aesthetic ​in Tang Verse, 3 June 2017
      • 2015 - 2016 Season >
        • Season Schedule 2015 - 2016
        • Guzheng and Erhu: A Dialog Between the Strings, 2 April 2016
      • 2014 - 2015 Season >
        • Season Schedule 2014 - 2015
      • 2013 - 2014 Season
      • 2012 - 2013 Season
      • 2011 - 2012 Season
      • 2010 - 2011 Season
      • 2009 - 2010 Season
      • 2008 - 2009 Season
      • 2007 - 2008 Season
      • 2006 - 2007 Season
      • 2005 - 2006 Season
  • Videos
  • Partners
  • Join our Email List/ Contact Us
  • Zoom!
  • Stop Asian Hate Resources
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​2014-2015 Schedule         
​Sojourns in Clear Ripples


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Distilling the Essence of  Chinese Poetic Gardens 
Maihwa Frances Li, Docent, 
​Portland Lan Su Chinese Garden

September 13, 2014


The classical Chinese garden, often represented by the literati (poetic) gardens in Suzhou, is considered an artful expression of Chinese thought, culture and refinement.   What are the elements which embody the concepts of yin and yang through the harmonious arrangement of contrasting elements in such traditional poetic gardens?  Learn how design and material selection can be used to convey ideas about humans and the natural world.  Maihwa Frances Li will share insights from her several visits to China, including Suzhou, Portland’s sister city. ​


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Folklore, Asian American Identity, and Cultural Heritage
Dr. Juwen Zhang
October 4, 2014


Cultural heritage not only encompasses monuments and objects, but also non-physical aspects of a particular culture (Intangible Culture Heritage, ICH) often maintained by social values and practices, traditions, customs, expressions, and beliefs which are passed on between generations. While often fragile, intangible cultural heritage is important in maintaining cultural diversity in the face of growing globalization. An understanding of the ICH of different communities helps with intercultural dialogue, and encourages mutual respect for other ways of life. The safeguarding of cultural intangibles includes the study of folklore, which is the focus of this presentation. What is folklore? Who are the folk? How can folklore be essential to Asian American Identity? Why is cultural heritage widely talked about nowadays? What ICH is being transformed cross-culturally in the USA and why is cultural sustainability becoming a hot topic? Through this program, Dr. Juwen Zhang will attempt to answer these questions by linking those ideas to our own everyday practices.


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​Paintings, Poetry and Politics in Beijing’s Southern City, 1770-2014
Dr. Michele Matteini
November 1, 2014


A look at the cultural life in a Beijing neighborhood from 1770 to 2014, a very special place of art and politics during the Qing Dynasty, the Revolutionary Era, and modern times.  By the turn of the 19th century, Beijing’s Southern City (Xuannan District) had become synonymous with the thriving urban culture, enterprising scholarly elite, and cosmopolitan character of the Qing capital.  Today, Xuannan evokes the nostalgic accounts of Republican-period “Old Beijing,” but the significance of the neighborhood cannot be fully understood without taking into account its early history.  This presentation by Dr. Michele Matteini examines the making of Xuannan as a site of cultural production in the context of High Qing China (ca. 1770s-1820s).  With a focus on the pictorial and literary representation of Xuannan, we will explore how an image of Xuannan was first constructed and disseminated across the city of Beijing and the empire.


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Confucian Sacred Landscapes
Dr. Linda Walton
December 6, 2014

The concept of ‘sacred landscape’ is not commonly associated with Confucianism. Dr. Linda Walton will explore this notion along with the concept of numinosity (ling) by focusing on the academy (shuyuan), the Confucian counterpart to Buddhist and Daoist institutions. Beginning with the establishment of shrines to Neo-Confucian scholars at academies founded during the Song (960-1279), we will examine the construction of sacred space at sites associated with these scholars: where they were born, held office, or taught students. Shrines were often the centerpieces of academies, and as scholars traveled among these academies, a kind of pilgrimage route of Neo-Confucian sites evolved. This tradition continued throughout the later imperial period, well into the late Qing (1644-1911), but we will jump from the Song into the early 21st century to conclude with a look at the restoration of Neo-Confucian academies in contemporary China. How are ideas about Confucian tradition being revived today through the reconstruction of academies as sites of cultural heritage tourism? Can we still use the concept of sacred landscape to describe how these sites are understood?

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 Journey With the Uyghur Culture in Xinjiang, China
Dr. Tugrul Keskin,
​Professor of International and Middle Eastern Studies, PSU   

January 10,  2015   


Learn about Xinjiang, a region in northwest China, its Uyghur people, and its long history of trade, commerce, and a coming together of disparate cultures, leading to cultural exchanges in ideas and precious goods between East and West along the Silk Road.  Beaten into the land by traders' caravans and conquering legions about 2,000 years ago, it was the interstate highway of the ancient world, a crossroad between different civilizations.  Xinjiang is also the homeland for the Uyghur culture, a large minority Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia.  Dr. Tugrul Keskin and Yierfan Aierken, a student from Xinjiang attending PSU, will introduce us to some of the history and flavors of this region and share with us the culture of the Uyghur people in helping us understand their developmental journey towards modernization in the “New Frontier.”


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​Chinese New Year Brunch
:  Welcoming the Year of the Ram 
羊 , 4713
First Saturday PDX Planning Committee

February 7, 2015

A special celebration of reunion.
Venue:  Szechuan Chef Restaurant, 5331 SW Macadam Ave, #115, Portland, OR 97239.       


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Music of the Guqin:
​Introduction and Musical Rendition

Jim Binkley
March 7, 2015 

The qin is an ancient, plucked seven-string musical instrument of China, traditionally favored by scholars as an instrument of great subtlety and refinement.  It is the “instrument of the sages” associated with Confucius.  Professor Binkley will provide a short overview of the history and nature of the music composed for the qin as well as playing some tunes which are on the order of Southern Sung or “older” and Ming.  Unlike western music, the pieces tend to have some set of one or more memes associated with them.  


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The American Chinese Experience
Dr. Jacqueline Peterson-Loomis
Professor Emerita, History, Washington State University
April 4, 2015

A report on two exhibits to be held in January, 2016 at the Oregon Historical Society about the history of the American Chinese experiences in the U.S. One a national traveling exhibition, “American Chinese: Exclusion/Inclusion” organized by the NY Historical Society in collaboration with the Museum of Chinese in America; and another, which is locally curated with OHS support “History of Portland’s Chinatowns” (second largest in the nation during the 19th century) the developed in conjunction with the Chinese Elders Book Project. 


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Negotiating Cultures:  Chinese Christian Converts in the Ming-Qing Era
Dr. Desmond Cheung 
​PSU Assistant Professor of History

May 2, 2015

The Ming-Qing transition in the 17th century saw the birth of the first substantial communities of Chinese Christians, which were drawn from nearly all levels of society.  Although European missionaries were crucial in introducing the ‘foreign’ religion, numerous converts also played important roles in translating and adapting it to fit in their own culture as well as in the debates over the compatibility of Christianity in China.  Dr. Desmond Cheung will present some of the key questions in this important history of intercultural dialogue and its continued relevance thereafter. 


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Guardians of the Dharma, or of the Empire?:  
​Pacific University's Luohan handscroll by Zhou Xun (1649-1729)

Dr. Ann Wetherell, PSU Adjunct Professor of Art History 
June 13, 2015
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This talk explores an unpublished handscroll of Buddhist luohans ('stream crossers') in the collection of Pacific University. Signed by the professional artist Zhou Xun, who worked in Nanjing in the early part of the Qing dynasty, this energetic painting has much in common with the gently humorous images of luohans that gained popularity in the late Ming and Qing periods. However, aspects of this painting, in light of the biography of the artist, suggest a darker message of protest against the Manchu state.

Our educational program series has been developed in collaboration with PSU’s Institute for Asian Studies, and is free and open to the public.​  First Saturday PDX  full season schedule and descriptions available HERE

View our regular monthly location by clicking on the address below for directions:  
Portland State University, Academic & Student Recreation Ctr (ASRC),  Room 230
1800 SW 6th Ave, Portland OR 97201

Excellent MAX and bus transportation is right by the venue; plan your Trimet trip HERE.   There is also a nearby parking structure at SW 6th and Harrison with an entrance on 6th Avenue is also available.
View PSU Parking info:  

https://www.pdx.edu/transportation/hourly-visitor-parking​​​​
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​© 2014 - 2023  First Saturday PDX
  • Spring Fundraiser Banquet Lunch/ Auction 18 FEB, 2023
  • Upcoming Presentation 4 March, 2023
  • Welcome to First Saturday PDX
  • CURRENT SEASON 2022 - 2023
    • Quick Preview of Season 2022 - 2023
    • Season Schedule (2022 - 2023)
    • A Visit to the Soreng Gallery of Chinese Art ​at the ​Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art​, 10 September, 2022
    • ​China’s Last Imperial Frontier: Late Qing Expansion in Sichuan’s Tibetan Borderlands 15 October, 2022
    • Girls with Big Ideas: Gidget and Song of Youth 5 November, 2022
    • * DIM SUM/ YUM CHA BRUNCH!! 19 November, 2022 *
    • Following the Thread: China Along the Road of Silk 3 December, 2022
    • The Chinese Massacre in Hells Canyon 7 January 2023
    • Spring Fundraiser Banquet Lunch/ Auction 18 FEB, 2023
    • Inscribing Chinese Gardens: The Origins of Shutiaoshi 书条石 4 March, 2023
  • THE FIRST 20 YEARS
  • PAST SEASONS & PROGRAMS
    • Past Seasons & Program Highlights >
      • Season 2021 - 2022 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2021 - 2022
        • Season Schedule 2021 - 2022
        • The Oregon Chinese Diaspora Project, 2 October 2021
        • Connecting to our Natural World: The Portland Botanical Gardens, 6 November 2021
        • Lan Su Chinese Garden: ​The Vision of a Classical Chinese Garden, 4 December 2021
        • ​Re-visioning ​Chinese History, ​900-1350: ​The New Look of Song and Yuan, 8 January, 2022
        • Chinese New Year 2022/ Year of the Tiger 4720, 5 February, 2022
        • Auspicious Seals and Chops, 5 February 2022
        • The Erhu and Erhu Music, 5 March, 2022
        • Pictorial Naturalism and "Truth": Contextualizing the Eleventh-century Luohan Sculptures of Lingyan Temple in China, 2 April, 2022
        • Celebrated Stories in Sichuan Shadow Theater,7 May, 2022
        • The Daode Jing's Forgotten Forebear: The Ancestral Cult 4 June, 2022
      • 2020 - 2021 Season >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2020 - 2021
        • Season Schedule 2020 - 2021
        • Collecting Under Socialism: Philately in 1950s China, 12 September, 2020
        • Myriad Treasures: Celebrating the Reinstallation of the Soreng Gallery of Chinese Art Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, 3 October, 2020
        • The Real Mulan? Tales of a Female Rebel in 18th century China 7 November, 2020
        • Spice it Up! ​How the Chile Pepper Flavored Chinese Culture 5 December, 2020
        • A Century of Collecting Chinese Painting at Oberlin College 9 January, 2021 ​
        • Chinese New Year 2021/ Year of the Ox 4719
        • Artistic Exchange Between China and Europe in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries 6 March, 2021
        • The Scholar’s Retreat: Loss and Resilience in the Chinese Landscape and Garden 3 April 2021
        • Simmering, Whisking, Steeping: Methods for Preparing and Consuming Tea in Premodern China
        • Silk and Sericulture: Beauty Inspired by a Social Contract
      • 2019 - 2020 Season >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2019 - 2020
        • Season Schedule 2019 - 2020
        • Mawangdui: The Tomb of China’s Sleeping Beauty, 7 December 2019
        • Field Notes from Sichuan: Learning To Be a Foreigner, 5 October 2019
        • In Search of Korean Liberation in China, 2 November 2019
        • From an Architect's Perspective: 3, 5, 7, 9 Column Halls: Status and Hierarchy in a Confucius Society, 7 December 2019
        • China Under the Covers - ​A Bookbinder’s Journey to the Roots of Books 11 January, 2020
        • Lunar New Year Lunch, 1 February, 2020
        • Early Phonetic Rendering Schemes for Chinese Characters, 7 March 2020
        • The Garden of Elk Rock at Bishop's Close, 4 April 2020
      • 2018 - 2019 Season >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2018 - 2019
        • Season Schedule 2018 - 2019
        • Notable Women of Portland, 8 September 2018
        • Mooncakes: A Hallmark of Tradition of the Mid-Autumn Festival, 6 October 2018
        • Music: A Universal Language for Healing and Touching the Soul, 3 November 2018
        • China: In the Pursuit of Happiness, 1 December 2019
        • Babur's Gardens: An Illustrated Introduction, 5 January 2019
        • Chinese New Year Lunch 2 February, 2019
        • Living with Penjing: Three Dimensional Poetry, 2 March 2019
        • Discovering the Intellectual and Sensory Essences of Chinese Literati Gardens, 6 April 2019
        • Sino-Japanese Cultural Connections in the Yuan Dynasty, 4 May 2019 ​​
      • 2017 - 2018 Season >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2017 - 2018
        • Season Schedule 2017 - 2018
        • Developing Patronage: Chinese and Asian Pacific Heritage, 9 September 2017
        • Every Plant Has a Story to Tell: Bamboo, 7 October 2017
        • Wonders to Enjoy: Chinese Snuff Bottles, 4 November 2017
        • Sichuan Shadow Theater: Messages from Hell Courts, 2 December 2017
        • Legacy of the Qing Manchu Culture: The Sibe of Northwest China, 6 January 2018
        • Chinese New Year Brunch, 3 February 2018
        • Classical Tradition: Ancient Musical Instruments of China, 3 March 2018
        • Welcome to First Saturday PDX
        • Ancient Traders of the Silk Road: The Uyghur People of Xinjiang, 7 April 2018
        • "Poetic Exposition on Heaven and Earth": A Third-Century Chinese Verse on How the Cosmos Began, 28 April 2018
        • Word Play: The Art of Xu Bing, 2 June 2018
      • 2016 - 2017 Season >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2016 - 2017
        • Season Schedule 2016 - 2017
        • Contemporary Chinese Society: A View from the Films of Zhang Yimou, 6 May 2017
        • Chinese New Year Brunch, 4 February 2017
        • The Uyghurs: History of a People at the Center of Asia, Part 1, 4 March 2017
        • Creating a Tea Aesthetic ​in Tang Verse, 3 June 2017
      • 2015 - 2016 Season >
        • Season Schedule 2015 - 2016
        • Guzheng and Erhu: A Dialog Between the Strings, 2 April 2016
      • 2014 - 2015 Season >
        • Season Schedule 2014 - 2015
      • 2013 - 2014 Season
      • 2012 - 2013 Season
      • 2011 - 2012 Season
      • 2010 - 2011 Season
      • 2009 - 2010 Season
      • 2008 - 2009 Season
      • 2007 - 2008 Season
      • 2006 - 2007 Season
      • 2005 - 2006 Season
  • Videos
  • Partners
  • Join our Email List/ Contact Us
  • Zoom!
  • Stop Asian Hate Resources