In celebration of its 100th anniversary, UBC Library welcomes author and former British Library curator of Chinese collections, Dr. Frances Wood. As part of UBC Library’s Centennial Celebrations, a series of events will be held at the Vancouver campus during the last week of May, in conjunction with Vancouver Asian Heritage Month. Dr. Wood studied at Liverpool Art School and the University of Cambridge, spending a year in China at the Beijing Languages Institute and Peking University in 1975/76. Dr. Wood worked in the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) Library at the University of London before moving to the British Library as curator of the Chinese collections, retiring in 2013.
Dr. Wood is the author of several books on Chinese culture and history including her most recent work, Picnics Prohibited: Diplomacy in a Chaotic China during the First World War (2014). Her first public talk will discuss the importance of the Silk Roads in the movement of ideas and icons across Central Asia, from Buddhism to Nestorian Christianity, in addition to their role as trade routes.
Dr. Wood’s visit is made possible through the generous support of Willem and Rosalie Stronck. Events have been developed with numerous partners, making this a truly collaborative and interdisciplinary visit.
This story originally appeared in the Friends 2015 spring newsletter.