Beethoven in Beijing - A half century after the Philadelphia Orchestra’s historic trip to China

RUNDOWN

17:45 Registration
18:00 Opening Remarks
18:05 Movie screening
19:35 Post-screening talk
20:00 Program ends

ASHK member price: HKD40
Non-member price: HKD60

Filmmaker Jennifer Lin will screen and discuss the feature-length documentary Beethoven in Beijing, which spotlights the Philadelphia Orchestra’s legacy in China, beginning with the historic 1973 tour at the invitation of President Nixon and continuing to the present. Jennifer spent five years researching and creating the film and a companion book and will engage in conversation around the impact of the 1973 tour and ongoing cultural exchange on U.S.-China relations.

Jennifer Lin is an award-winning journalist, author and documentary filmmaker. Based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she produced and co-directed the feature-length documentary, Beethoven in Beijing, which premiered in 2021 on PBS’s Great Performances. The film was a 2020 finalist for the Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns prize for film and received support from the National Endowment for Humanities. In 2022, Temple University Press published her companion oral history, Beethoven in Beijing: Stories from the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Historic Journey to China.

For 31 years, Jennifer worked at The Philadelphia Inquirer as a reporter, including posts as a foreign correspondent in China, a financial correspondent on Wall Street, and a national correspondent in Washington, DC. In 2017, Jennifer published a family memoir, Shanghai Faithful: Betrayal and Forgiveness in a Chinese Christian Family (Rowman & Littlefield). The book, which chronicles five generations of the Lin family, was heralded by broadcaster Connie Chung as “thoroughly gripping.”

As a filmmaker, Jennifer currently is directing a short documentary, Ten Times Better, about an 88-year-old blackjack dealer in Las Vegas who was born in Hong Kong and became a pioneer in dance. The film elevates the life of George Lee, who was a teenage refugee from Shanghai when he originated the Chinese role in George Balanchine’s 1954 premiere of The Nutcracker. Later, he was cast by Gene Kelly in the original production of Flower Drum Song.

Focusing on the Asian experience in dance, Jennifer is working on another documentary project, Beyond Yellowface, about two New York City dancers trying to rid ballet of offensive Asian stereotypes.

Scarlett (moderator) embodies a rare combination of award-winning art background with entrepreneurial mindset, management leadership, and social enthusiasm that brings together over 20 years of dedicated commitment to public service and creative philanthropy. A top graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Scarlett was the youngest Asian female to win eleven prestigious international prizes through a piano performing career that included concerts at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Kennedy Centre in Washington D.C., and the Louvre in Paris. Ms Chan was also an educator with a singular vision, being the founding Dean of the Music Department at the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology (USST) - the first music department in a top-tier scientific and technological research university in China. She currently bases in Hong Kong.

This program is sponsored by U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong & Macau:

This program is made possible with the support of HKU's Faith and Global Engagement and MUSE:

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