REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE LAUNCH OF ‘TELLING IMAGES OF CHINA’
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE LAUNCH OF ‘TELLING IMAGES OF CHINA’ IN THE CHESTER BEATTY LIBRARY
Dia dhíbh go léir anocht a chairde, I’m delighted to join you this evening in one of Dublin’s most special and intriguing places, the beautiful Chester Beatty Library. I’d like to thank Dr Michael Ryan, Director of the Library, for his kind invitation to share this occasion with you. Last year, we celebrated the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Ireland and China. The large and enthusiastic attendance at the events marking that milestone reflected the strength of our contemporary bilateral ties yet as recent research in UCD has highlighted there is a need to improve our knowledge of Chinese society, language and culture. In response to that need the Chester Beatty Library has created this rare local opportunity to explore China’s rich culture and history through the "Telling Images of China” exhibition.
Six years in the making, it gives us direct access to 38 masterpieces from the Shanghai Museum. They span 15th and early 20th century China so they open a window for us on many different Chinas, past and more recent chronicled through the eyes, pens and brushes of immensely talented painters, illustrators, calligraphers and scholar-officials. These artists we discover, held a specially revered place in the Chinese court not unlike that of the poet and the story-teller in Irish society. And each of the exhibits tells a story and has its own take on the narrative of an era, a place and a people with which we generally have only a sketchy knowledge if any at all. We are introduced to mythology, to the deities of the ancient Chinese, the social upheavals, the emergence of women, the innovation of the Ming era, the diversity of the Qing Dynasty and much more. Today we have a substantial Chinese population in Ireland, more of our citizens than ever before have stood on the Great Wall as tourists, our entrepreneurs and academics do more and more business with their Chinese counterparts, River Dance continues to take Beijing by storm as the Chieftains first did several decades ago, Chinese food in Ireland returns the compliment. We are not the strangers to each other that we once were in the days when the mainstay of contact was through Irish missionaries. We have opened up to each other in many spheres and our mutual curiosity is fed, well fed by Exhibitions of this quality and calibre on our own doorsteps.
It is a singular honour for Ireland to play host to these treasures and we are very grateful to our Chinese colleagues for their generosity and the Chester Beatty team for their commitment to promoting healthy cultural awareness and appreciation in a world where ignorance and fear cause such dangerous dysfunction.I am sure I speak for everyone when I say we are grateful to Ambassador Lu Biwei to the Chinese authorities and to the Shanghai Museum for sharing these wonderful treasures of Chinese culture with us here in Dublin and to the Director of the Library, Michael Ryan, and to Dr. Shane McCausland for giving us this really enjoyable bridge to another culture and an important part of our shared global patrimony.
I will be returning to one of my favourite cities in the world Shanghai this summer for Expo and I wish the Chinese hosts every success as they prepare for that great showcase of the world’s diversity. There will of course be a very exciting bit of Ireland at the Irish Pavilion where the best of Irish culture, design and creativity will be on view to the many visitors. So at the start of Chinese New Year which falls at the end of this week Ireland and China are manifestly growing in opportunities for much better understanding of each other’s character, culture and history and so it is with the greatest pleasure that I declare this exhibition open.
Thank You.