The SCA Chinese New Dinner in 2015 will take place on Tuesday 10th February (1830 for 1900hrs). This is a social event, so please feel free to bring partners, spouses, friends and colleagues.

This year the dinner will be held at Saigon Saigon Restaurant, 14 South Andrew Square, Edinburgh. The price is £20 per person to include service and Chinese tea, which is payable in advance. All other drinks should be settled direct on the night. Please note the restaurant does not accept personal cheques.

Please confirm your attendance by completing and returning the reply slip on this form, along with your cheque (made payable to the Scotland-China Association) to Lisa Kitson, Edinburgh Branch Secretary, at the address given on the form.

Since the restaurant will be busy at this time of year we would greatly appreciate your early confirmation. Our deadline for final numbers will be 1st February after which date we cannot give any refunds.

If you have any queries about this event, please contact Lisa Kitson by email.

Share this post

Our attractive SCA Year of the Goat (or Sheep) greetings cards are now available. They are available with either a coloured goat/sheep design (as shown above) or a red goat/sheep on cream.

We also still have available our special panda cards, created in 2011 to mark the arrival of Tian Tian and Yang Guang at Edinburgh Zoo.

To order please download an order form here.

Share this post

A new edition of Shanghai Boy, Shanghai Girl - lives in parallel, by long-standing SCA member Betty Barr and her husband George Wang has recently been published and is available via the Association.

Originally published in 2002 by Old China Hand Press in Shanghai, the book tells the story of how both Betty and George grew up separately in Shanghai in the 1930s and 1940s. They lived through the turmoil of the Sino-Japanese war and the occupation of Shanghai from December 1941, before later meeting and marrying in 1984. They still live in Shanghai, where they have both worked for many years as English teachers.

Betty was the daughter of a Scottish missionary and an American lady, and went to the Shanghai American School. She spent several years in the Lunghwa internment camp, and the book includes her account of these difficult times as well as some fascinating drawings of the camp by an Irish artist who knew her parents.

George's story follows his family's struggle to rise above their initial poverty, but also records his keen and entertaining observation of the bustling and colourful life of Shanghai in the 1930s, before its disruption by war in 1937 and the hardships that followed.

The new, revised edition of the book includes a new chapter by Betty recording, through her mother's diary, the time between occupation in December 1941 and full internment in 1943. In addition, there are many new photographs and other illustrations. These include modern views of many of the places mentioned in the original text, as well as some charming line drawings of scenes from the 1930s. It is paperback, 314 pages.

If you have not already got a copy, it is highly recommended. The book is available via Janice Dickson, SCA Chairman, at a cost of £10. Please speak to her at one of our meetings or send her an email.

There was an article about Betty and George and their shared lives in Shanghai Daily on 30 July 2013 - see here.

Share this post