Pai Hsien-yung (白先勇), one of the most important modern Chinese fiction writers, will be visiting Vancouver next week and giving lecture on his book Father and the Republic (父親與民國) at this year’s Yip So Man Wat memorial Lecture hosted by the Department of Asian Studies.

Father and the Republic is a photobiography devoted to the life and career of the late General Pai Ch’ung-hsi (白崇禧 1893–1966), father of Pai Hsien-yung. General Pai’s career both paralleled and profoundly influenced the history of the Republic of China. This book includes nearly six hundred photographs that serve to illustrate the public career and family life of General Pai from the 1920s to his days in Taiwan. As a witness to the birth of the first republic in Asia, Pai Ch’ung-hsi felt an unwavering sense of loyalty to it and chose to stay on in the Republic’s last foothold in China.

In conjunction with the lecture, Asian Library has set up a book display on Pai Hsien-yung’s works, which is located at the Asian Centre entrance from September 26 until October 19.  For more information on the lecture and other associated events, please visit http://www.asia.ubc.ca/2013/08/26/2013-yip-so-man-wat-memorial-lecture-guest-speaker-pai-hsien-yung/.