Edwin H. Lowe Publishing is pleased to announce the publication of:
When Dragons Whisper: Haunted By The Shadow Of Tiananmen
by Valerie Horniman, Forewords by Catherine A. Runcie and Jocelyn Chey (Edwin H. Lowe Publishing 2014).
When Dragons Whisper is now available in both colour and black-and-white print editions, as well as colour Kindle.
Buy
When Dragons Whisper at the
Edwin H. Lowe Publishing Bookstore.
Description:
In 1979 Australian teacher and education administrator, Valerie
Horniman, began mentoring Chinese postgraduate scholars at the
University of Sydney. They were the 'Gang of Nine' and were among the
first scholars from mainland China to be awarded degrees at a Western
university, since the establishment of the Communist government in 1949.
The
'Gang of Nine' arrived in Australia in 1979, at the very moment that
China began its head long rush into 'Reform and Opening Up'. The 'Gang
of Nine' had endured academic repression and personal hardships during
the intellectual calamity of the Cultural Revolution. Now, they found
the intellectual freedom and the intellectual rigour of a Western
university, as well as life in Western society, liberating, confusing
and confronting. Valerie Horniman extended her friendship, support and
understanding to the 'Gang of Nine', who would become important scholars
upon their return to China.
That mentorship was turned full
circle in 1990, when Valerie began a new career as a teacher of English
literature and Western culture to postgraduate students in Chinese
universities. Valerie plunged head on into Chinese universities in the
immediate aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square student protests and
the June 4th massacre.
Valerie arrived to find Chinese students
seething with barely concealed discontent. Repression of intellectual
freedom had returned to Chinese universities, as the hard line
conservative leaders sought to regain control of university campuses.
Yet the 'Cultural Fever' for Western thought and ideas which had gripped
China since its 'opening up', was a genie that could not be returned to
its bottle.
After the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre, China forged on
with reform, continuing to wind back stifling totalitarian controls,
while at the same time, carefully building new forms of authoritarianism
over a rapidly changing society and economy. It was amidst this
ambiguity and uncertainty that Valerie was given a free hand in
curriculum design and content. Valerie tapped into this curiosity and
thirst for Western knowledge amongst Chinese students, whilst walking on
a knife edge, teaching in universities haunted by the shadow of
Tiananmen.
Valerie faced vast cultural gaps between Chinese and
Western culture. She bridged those gaps by drawing upon her love of
Chinese literature and arts. Expertly guided by Professor Hou Weirui of
the 'Gang of Nine', Valerie used the universal ideas she found in
Chinese literature as a key to unlock her students' understanding of
English literature and Western thought. Valerie's students studied a
broad range of English literature, free from the constraints of
ideologically mandated scholarship. Her students studied George
Orwell's 'Animal Farm' - watching the animated film and singing 60's
protest songs - on an anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre as police
patrolled the campus. Challenging and innovative, Valerie's teaching
satisfied both her students' thirst for knowledge, as well as their
desire to covertly express critical and taboo topics in the wake of
Tiananmen.
'When Dragons Whisper - Haunted by the Shadow of
Tiananmen' is Valerie Horniman's memoir, documented with colour
photographs. It is the story of her seven year odyssey in China - her
journeys and her teaching in a China still opening up in the wake of the
Tiananmen Massacre.
Keywords: Teaching in China, English Literature, Intercultural Teaching, Intercultural Communication, China After Tiananmen
Reviews:
"As
I read of her classroom experiences, I am very much aware of how her pedagogic
mandate to teach English Literature, Western Thought and Culture, and thesis
preparation was constantly motivated by her unique combination of a deep love
of several English literatures, Australian among them, of music and of world
history plus a plucky and very Australian love of natural justice. All this with her affection for her students
who always inspired her and her love of China. After over forty years of
university teaching, I still find inspiration in Val’s tales of teaching. Her candid and caring book is a friend to
China as much as to students and teachers everywhere."
Dr Catherine Runcie.
Senior
Lecturer in English Literature and Literary Theory, University of Sydney
1969-2001
"Anyone interested in how China has evolved from a doctrinaire socialist
state into the present free-wheeling materialist nation that it is will find
Val’s memoirs fascinating and inspiring.
Above all, she reveals the deep spiritual hunger that has resulted from
the confused and confounding shifts in modern Chinese history, from communism
to materialism and from isolationism to globalism."
Dr Jocely Chey AM.
Visiting Professor, University of Sydney
