April Events
April 1, at 5 - 9 PM
MATCHA: Shanghai Jazz
In this Asian Art Museum presentation, Chinese jazz vocalist Coco Zhao performs original compositions and Shanghai jazz favorites, joined by San Francisco musicians.
At the Asian Art Museum, 200 Larkin St., San Francisco. Tickets $10. Visit www.asianart.org or call 415-581-3500.
April 1, at 6:30 PM
The Birth of Jazz in Asia: SAA First Thursday Lecture Series
Cory Combs of SFJAZZ discusses the origins of jazz in Asia, with a special focus on Shanghai. Presented by the Society for Asian Art.
At the Asian Art Museum, 200 Larkin St., San Francisco Tickets: $5 after museum admission. RSVPs required; email saa@asianart.org or call 415-581-3701.
April 4, at 11 AM & 2 PM
Shanghai Film Series: Shanghai Cinematic Legend Ruan Lingyu
Shanghai emerged in the 1920s as China’s first film capital and today hosts one of Asia’s largest annual film festivals. Showing today at the Asian Art Museum, at 11 AM: A Spray of Plum Blossoms (1931), a loose adaptation of Shakespeare's Two Gentlemen of Verona, starring cinematic legend Ruan Lingyu; 110 minutes, silent movie with Chinese and English intertitles. At 2 PM: Center Stage (aka The Actress) (1992) the true story of Ruan Lingyu (played by Hong Kong actress Maggie Cheung) and her tragic suicide at age 25; 154 minutes, in Chinese with English subtitles. A program of Target First Free Sunday.
At the Asian Art Museum, 200 Larkin St., San Francisco. Visit www.asianart.org or call 415-581-3500.
April 6, at 6:30 PM
Open Books: Anchee Min
Author Anchee Min discusses her new novel Pearl of China. Presented by the San Francisco Public Library and Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation.
At San Francisco Public Library, 100 Larkin St., San Francisco. Free. Visit www.sfpl.org or call 415-557-4277.
April 10, at 2:30 – 4 PM
Pearl of China: A Book Talk by Anchee Min
Author Anchee Min discusses her newly released novel, about a lifelong friendship between famed writer Pearl S. Buck and the fictional Willow, from a poor Chinese family. Pearl and her family flee China before the 1949 Communist revolution, while Willow’s husband becomes Mao’s top aide; political and personal turmoil threatens their friendship. Min, who as a child in Shanghai had to denounce Buck, wrote the bestselling memoir Red Azalea. After her talk, Min will sign books.
At the Chinatown Branch Library, 1135 Powell St., San Francisco. Free. Visit At the Chinatown Branch Library, 1135 Powell St., San Francisco. Free. Visit www.sfpl.org or call 415-557-4277.
April 15, at 6:30 PM
Jews of Shanghai: One Woman’s Miraculous Life
As a fourth-generation Shanghai Jew, Leah Jacob Garrick talks about the migration of Iraqi, Russian and European Jews to Shanghai from the 1840s to the 1930s. Presented by the Asian Art Museum and the Society for Asian Art in collaboration with the American Jewish Committee San Francisco Office.
At the Asian Art Museum, 200 Larkin St., San Francisco. Free with museum admission. Email saa@asianart.org or call 415-581-3701
April 16, at 2 - 4 PM
Where is Shanghai? A View and an Understanding of Contemporary Shanghai Painting
Dr. Lisa Claypool of Oregon’s Reed College discusses the art of Shanghai painting, in this presentation by the Society for Asian Art.
At the Asian Art Museum, 200 Larkin St., San Francisco Tickets: $15 SAA members and $25 non-SAA members, after museum admission. RSVPs required; email saa@asianart.org or call 415-581-3701.
April 22 - July 25
Xian Rui 2010 – O Perspective by Shuang Stella Zhang
The U.S. debut of O Perspective, an inner material landscape created with everyday objects, presented by the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco. The artist drew inspiration from her multi-continent living experience.
At the Hilton Hotel, 750 Kearny St., 3rd Floor, San Francisco. Free. Visit www.c-c-c.org or call 415-986-1822.
April 29, at 7 - 9 PM
Jews in Modern China: Personal Stories and Reminiscences
Bay Area residents, representative of the Sephardic, Russian, and Holocaust-refugee Jewish communities that settled in China, speak about formerly living there. Presented by Lehrhaus Judaica and co-sponsored by the American Jewish Committee San Francisco Office.
At the Officers’ Club, 50 Moraga Ave., The Presidio, San Francisco. Visit www.lehrhaus.org or call 510-845-6420.
April 30 - October 17
Shanghai: High-Rise Architecture and the Remaking of China’s Gateway to the World
Ten architectural projects, at the center of the dramatic transformation of Shanghai’s skyline during the past two decades, are illustrted with models, drawings, photographs, and video components. Presented by the San Francisco Airport Museums.
At San Francisco International Airport, International Terminal Main Lobby. Free. Visit www.sfoarts.org or call 650-821-6787.
