Bloomsday in Shanghai
On Sunday, 16 June 2024, the Consulate General of Ireland in Shanghai was involved in two key events for Bloomsday:
1. Academic Symposium on Irish Literature – Ulysses
On the morning of the Sunday the 16 June, Ireland House (the office location where the Consulate and other Irish government state agencies are based in Shanghai) hosted the first academic symposium on Irish literature organised by the Shanghai Public Relations Association.
The symposium aimed to deepen participants’ understanding and respect for Chinese and Irish cultures by exploring the cultural elements and emotional connotations in James Joyce’s novel Ulysses. It seeks to promote cultural exchange and integration between China and Ireland. Additionally, the symposium hopes to establish a platform for literary exchange between China and Ireland, foster dialogue and civil exchange between Shanghai and Irish cities, and build a bridge for cross-cultural communication.
The President of the Shanghai Public Relations Association, is the former Ambassador of China to Ireland, Dr. Sha Hailin.
The Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Kieran McCarthy, sent a video message which was played at the symposium. To note, Cork and Shanghai are twin cities and will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the twinning agreement in 2025.
The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Mr Daithí de Róiste also sent a video message which was played at the symposium.
Ambassador of Ireland to China, Dr Ann Derwin, and Consul General of Ireland in Shanghai, Ms Wendy Dorman-Smith, both gave opening remarks at the symposium.
Guests speakers included Sun Jian, Professor at Fudan University, Dai Congrong, Professor at Nanjing University and Zeng Guie, Professor at Shanghai University. The Irish Studies Centre at the Shanghai University for International Business and Economics (SUIBE) also helped organise the event.
Approximately 50 guests attended the event.
The radio host Lu Ping, a co-organiser of the symposium published 18 short videos (10 videos of readings of Ulysses in the lead up to Bloomsday and 8 videos from the Academic Symposium held at Ireland House) via the Shanghai Radio’s WeChat video channel and Ajmide.com (radio channel) which received a total of 576,915 views.
2. Bloomsday Celebration Shanghai
A very successful 2024 Bloomsday event was held in Shanghai on Sunday the 16 June at the Radisson Xing Guo Hotel.
Over 150 guests attended the Bloomsday event in person while 381,000 people joined online for the Weibo livestreaming of the event that provided a remarkable platform to promote Bloomsday and Irish literature.
The event brought together many Chinese citizens who are passionate about Irish literature as well as members of the Irish community in Shanghai.
A range of guests read passages from Ulysses including students from the Irish Studies Centre at the Shanghai University for International Business and Economics (SUIBE).
The event was the last official event of Consul General Wendy Dorman-Smith in Shanghai and Ambassador Ann Derwin’s last visit to Shanghai before they both finished their respective postings.
A video of the event is attached to this email – this video was shared publicly on our Twitter account.
Pictures of the event are available on our twitter account here: Consulate General of Ireland, Shanghai on X: “A wonderful celebration took place in Shanghai 🇨🇳on #Bloomsday with passionate readings📚, vintage outfits 👔👗and hat designing 👒. Over 400,000 viewers joined the event on our livestream 🎥🤩 Such amazing enthusiasm🩵for #Ulysses 📘 & James Joyce in 🇨🇳🌏 https://t.co/E9nDJMreWk” / X