Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Panel Talk: Road to Gold Mountain and Chinese Canada

Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library,
Department of East Asian Studies &
Chinese Language & Global Asia Studies at UTSC
Jointly present the panel:

Road to Gold Mountain and Chinese Canada

A panel talk with Ms. Ling Zhang and Professor Tony Chan

Monday, April 26, 2010 starting from 2:30pm

Current Periodical Area, Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library

Panelists: Ms. Ling Zhang (張翎) and Professor Anthony B. Chan

Discussant: Dr. Helen Xiaoyan Wu

Date & time: Monday, April 26, 2010 starting from 2:30pm, with a brief ceremony honoring the donations from Professor Tony Chan and Ms. Ling Zhang to the East Asian Library. Light refreshments will be provided.

Location: Current Periodical Area, Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library (On the 8th floor of the Robarts Library at 130 St. George Street, Toronto)

Registration: Seats are limited and registration is required. To register, contact Lucy Gan by email (lucy.gan@utoronto.ca) or by phone 416-978-1025

Flyer: downloadable

Language: All talks are in English


Biographies & Topics of the Panelists

1. Road to Gold Mountain, by Ms. Ling Zhang

Author Ling Zhang has an MA in English from the University of Calgary and lives in Toronto. She came to Canada in 1986 and started writing in the mid-1990s. Her works have won her numerous literary prizes, including the Chinese Literature Media Award as Novelist of the Year (2009) and China’s first Zhongshan (Dr. Sun Yat-sen) Cup Overseas Chinese Literary Award (2009) for her most recent book Gold Mountain Blues. Gold Mountain Blues (Jin Shan 金山), is the story of the great Chinese migration to Canada that traces the history of five generations of the Fang family from the 1860s to the present. The novel relates the struggles and sacrifices of the Chinese laborers who built the Canadian Pacific Railway, and the evolution of the modern Chinese-Canadian identity. It incorporates stories of people who came to Canada to pursue dreams of wealth and prosperity that quickly eluded them. The English version of the novel is expected to be published in Canada in 2011.

2. Chinese Canada: An Imagined Nation, by Prof. Anthony B. Chan

Complementing the notion of an English Canada and a French Canada, what has transpired during the first decade of the 21st century is the evolution of a dynamic cultural, financial, political, and social entity called Chinese Canada. With a critical mass of more than 1.3 million people, this is an ethnic community and “imagined” nation with links to the Chinese Diaspora globally and especially, to the economic growth of the People’s Republic of China. Chinese Canada as an “imagined” nation within the larger Canadian nation has all the characteristics that an English Canada or a French Canada possesses: dynamic cultural organizations, financial impact, political acumen, expanded populace, a global reach, and social stability. This talk explores how this came about.

Professor Anthony B. Chan, PhD in Chinese history from York University is noted for the following books: Arming the Chinese (1982), Gold Mountain (1982), and the biographies of Hong Kong Billionaire, Li Ka-shing (1996) and Chinese American movie icon, Perpetually Cool: The Many Lives of Anna May Wong (2007). He has directed, produced, and/or anchored more than 100 films in Canada (CBC), Hong Kong (TVB) and the United States (Sun Riders Production); many are now available on the YouTube channel Comm2230U. Tony also worked for CBC television news as a street reporter. He is now a Professor of Communication at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Korean History: Fresh Perspectives DVD set

The East Asian Library has received a generous gift from the Korea Foundation, of the 20-volume DVD set, “KBS Korean History: Fresh Perspectives (Yŏksa sŭp‛esyŏl)”.

Through the joint-reproduction by the Korea Foundation and KBS Media, Korean History: Fresh Perspectives, originally produced and broadcast by KBS from 1998 to 2003 provides English and Korean subtitles. This DVD set will help in the teaching and learning of Korean studies-related topics, in particular Korea history.

According to the Korea Foundation, a project committee was created comprised of three Korean history professors (Professor Michael Shin of Cambridge University, Professor Eugene Park of the University of California at Irvine, and Professor Andre Schmid of the University of Toronto), to select 20 episodes from among the original episodes, for which English subtitles would be provided.

The East Asian Library also holds copies of the DVD set “KBS Yŏksa sŭp‛esyŏl (History Special)” (100 volumes).

These DVDs may be requested at the East Asian Library circulation desk and viewed in the Library.

Call number: PN1997.2 .Y658667 2009 v.1-20 (+ 1 folded episode guide)
Location: Protected Shelves at the East Asian Library

For more information, please contact the Korea Studies librarian, Hana Kim by telephone at 416-978-1570, or via email at hn.kim@utoronto.ca.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Two New Brochures on the North Korean Photograph Collection

The Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library is pleased to announce that two new information brochures on the North Korean Photograph Collection are now available for our users.


This rare photograph collection on North Korea was made available by Mrs. Young Kahang, who in August 2002 donated 153 oversized print photographs in memory of her late husband Mr. Won-jin Kahang. The collection itself originates from the late Mr. Kahang, who had accumulated extensive materials relating to Kim Il-sŏng, Kim Chŏng-il and North Korea in general.


There are three different ways to get the information on the Photograph Collection:


1. Physical photographs are located in the Oversize Room of the East Asian Library. In order to access to the materials, please request them at the Circulation desk. (Call numbers may be found in the online finding aid.)


2. FADIS (Fine Art Digital Imaging System)

FADIS is a content management system initially developed by the Department of Fine Art at the University of Toronto. The entire North Korean Photograph Collection has been digitized and uploaded on FADIS.


This resource may be added by University of Toronto instructors as an in-class teaching resource.


3. University of Toronto Libraries’ Online Catalogue

Detailed bibliographic information for each image can be viewed through the University of Toronto Libraries catalogue search function (search by title or call number).



To assist you in accessing the materials, the Library has prepared the following two brochures:


Access to the brochures


From the Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library homepage:

Path: East Asian Library Website -> Resources menu -> Korea Studies Resources -> Guides & Finding Aids


  • Brochure 1 title: How To Use the North Korean Photograph Collection
  • Brochure 2 title: The North Korean Photograph Collection: Online Finding Aid

Hard copies of these brochures are also available in the East Asian Library at the brochure table beside the Reference Desk.


For further information, comments or inquiries, please contact Hana Kim, Korea Studies Librarian at hn.kim@utoronto.ca or at 416-978-1570.

Free Trial for Additional Features of the Kikuzo II Visual for Libraries

The current coverage of the Kikuzo II (Asahi Shinbun database) includes articles from 1945 to present. We have been offered a free trial (April 1 to May 31, 2010) for a couple of additional features that will expand the coverage to Meiji, Taisho and early Showa periods.

Meiji and Taisho Eras: 123,000 pages of the Asahi Shinbun between 1879 (when it was first published) and end of the Taisho era in 1926. Users can view the original newspaper as PDF, and all the articles and advertisements can be searched by dates, section numbers, time-line, keywords, and subject classification.

Pre-War Showa period (early Showa): 80,000 pages of Asahi Shinbun as images. It covers the period of early Showa through the Great Depression to the post-war Occupation period. In addition, it includes 470,000 advertisements.

Your feedback is extremely important! Please tell us what you think of the coverage, content, and how these additional features would be beneficial to your research. If you have any questions, or require any assistance with using this database, contact Fabiano Rocha, Japan Studies Librarian, at fabiano.rocha@utoronto.ca.

Enjoy the free trial!