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Press Release

British poems on your way

‘Poems on the Underground’ launch
12 April 2006

Ever thought about being greeted by British poems on your metro journey to work everyday? This will actually come true from 12 April 2006. With the joint efforts of Shanghai Metro, London Underground and the British Council (operating in Shanghai as the Cultural and Education Section of the British Consulate-General) and as the result of the very first cultural exchange project between Shanghai Metro and an overseas transportation organisation, four British poems will be displayed in the Shanghai Metro for more than two months.

We are honoured to have Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London attend the launch event.

‘Poems on the Underground’ launch
Time: 2.20 p.m 12 April 2006
Venue: Hengshan Lu Metro Station

Poetry is a living tradition in the UK. ‘Poems on the Underground’ was initiated in Britain in 1986 to create an art-friendly environment for the public. Poems were later displayed on the underground trains of several European cities and received high recognition.

This year witnesses the 20th anniversary of the ‘Poems on the Underground’ project, including ‘Chinese Poems on the London Underground’ as a key project of the China in London season launched in February 2006.

Hundreds of thousands of passengers now have the opportunity to enjoy Chinese poems while travelling on the London underground. Now it’s time for us to take time to appreciate British poems on our metro trains.

‘Poems on the Underground’ is a significant breakthrough project between Shanghai and London. Shanghai Metro has pioneered the ‘Arts on the Platform’ idea to generate more public interest in the arts.

It is also the first time that Shanghai Metro has worked with another country to provide content for its ‘Arts on the Platform’ project. This decision has linked two great cities through cultural exchange.

Jeff Streeter, the Director of the British Council, said, ’I applaud this collaboration between the London Underground and the Shanghai Metro, and we are pleased to support a project which takes poetry out of the library and into public spaces. This is a great way to help enrich the lives of the people of Shanghai.’

Before launching the poem project, the British Council organised an English poem writing competition in March, from which we found, to our delight, that there are plenty of enthusiastic poem lovers in China. We received around 200 poems within one month, the majority of which were of an amazingly high quality.

Please visit www.britishcouncil.org.cn for further information.

The four British poems displayed on the Shanghai Metro

William Blake (1757-1827) was a British poet and painter.

Auguries of Innocence

To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) was a British romantic poet.

Daffodils (1804)

I WANDER'D lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretch'd in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed -- and gazed -- but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Michael Bullock is a British surrealist poet and the creator of Expression, the famous British poetry book. Apart from creating poems, he has also translated the poetry of Wang Wei, the Tang Dynasty poet, and other Chinese poems.

Butterfly

The first butterfly of spring
orange and purple
flits across my path

A flying flower
that changes
the colour of my day

Kathleen Jamie was born in Renfrewshire, Scotland in 1962. In 2004, she won the Forward Prize, which is the UK’s biggest poetry prize.

The Blue Boat

How late the daylight edges
toward the northern night
as though journeying
in a blue boat, gilded in mussel shell

with, slung from its mast, a lantern
like our old idea of the soul

Project Background

‘Poems on the Underground’ originated in 1986 in Britain. There are usually three sets of poems per year, consisting of six poems each, and reaching millions of London Underground passengers. The posters are also on display in the Poetry Libraries, other libraries and schools throughout the country, as well as British Council offices overseas.

With the support of the British Council, the London Metro and Shanghai Shengtong Metro Co., Ltd have worked together to select the poems. Thousands of underground passengers in London will have the opportunity to appreciate Chinese poems while travelling to and from work. Meanwhile, underground passengers in Shanghai will enjoy poems from the UK during their journey on the metro lines.

The culture of poetry is long standing and well established both in the UK and China. ‘Poems on the Underground’ makes poetry a living tradition in contemporary times. The underground, the main public transportation in the two major cities of Shanghai and London, creates a whole new channel for the dissemination and communication of public culture, and makes culture and the arts accessible to the general public. Moreover, it sets a precedent for further co-operation between the two mega-cities.

The British Council

The British Council, which operates as the Cultural and Education Section of the British Embassy in Beijing and the Cultural and Education Section of the British Consulate-General in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chongqing, links young people in the UK and China.

To find out more about the British Council’s activities in China, please visit: www.britishcouncil.org.cn or join British Council Online to receive regular e-newsletters and e-magazines.

The British Council is the UK’s international organization for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We operate in 220 towns and cities in 110 countries worldwide. We build relationships and understanding between people in the UK and other countries and increase appreciation of the UK’s ideas and achievements overseas.

The areas we focus on are creativity, education and civil society. We are a non-political organization which operates at arm’s length from the government. Our income in 2004/05 was £475.5 million, of which our grant-in-aid from the British government was £172 million.

Press release

Shanghai, China – Mayor of London Ken Livingstone today announced the appointment of a new representative in Shanghai, who will promote mainly trade, education, culture and tourism between the two cities.

Ms Bingbing Zhao will hold the post of Mayoral Representative, and work for the Mayor of London’s head office in London.

Mr Livingstone said: “Shanghai is very important to London, and we want to work with the Chinese city to promote business and tourism, as well as cultural links. Bingbing Zhao will help us develop relationships that benefit London and Shanghai.”

Zhao will promote relationships between London and Shanghai in areas including:

- Tourism

- Financial services and business

- The creative and cultural industries

- National and city governments

Zhao is Chinese, and is a graduate of the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology. She previously worked for the office of the British Council in Shanghai, managing arts, cultural and creative industry projects such as Morcheeba’s Shanghai Concert (2002), Asian Field Exhibition in Shanghai by Antony Gormley (2003), Ladytron's music concert in the Park (2004), Victorian and Albert Museum’s Vivienne Westwood Fashion Exhibition in Shanghai (2005), Poems on the underground (2006). She is 28 years old.

Zhao will be placed in the office of the British Council Shanghai (operating as the Cultural and Education Section of the British Consulate-General in Shanghai). The British Council works to enhance the cultural and education links between China and the UK.

Zhao said: “This is an exciting new challenge, which will enable me to help strengthen the relationship between two cities that I love: Shanghai, my home city, and London, my most familiar European city.

Both London and Shanghai are unique, international and dynamic cities and I look forward to playing my part in making them more accessible to business people, tourists and students through greater economic and cultural understanding.”

Zhao is particularly keen to promote cultural ties between the two cities. For example, Film London, the agency that promotes film-making in London, will coordinate a significant London presence at the Shanghai International Film Festival in June. This marks the development of a long-term ‘friendship agreement’ between the London and Shanghai film industries.

Earlier today Colin Brown, Chairman of leading London post-production company Cinesite, gave a technical master class to members of the Shanghai industry and students from the Shanghai film schools. Cinesite’s work includes major films such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the Harry Potter series.

Zhao also hopes to work with the Shanghai Creative Industry Centre to make the most of opportunities for the creative industries in China and the UK to work together.

Livingstone announced the appointment of Zhao as part of his week-long tour of China, to promote London as a great destination for business, tourism and studying.

He is keen to strengthen relationships with China, enabling Shanghai and London to benefit from their respective strengths.

As a part of the 2006 China program, Shanghai on Screen has been a huge success in London. In this event, five films representing modern and old-time Shanghai had been on screen under the efforts of SIFF, Film London, Mayor Office and the British Council.

Due to the great impact aroused by Shanghai on Screen in general public, both Film London and SIFF decided to hold a correspondent event in Shanghai - London on Screen, in Shanghai International Film Festival.

As you've no doubt noticed, there's been a flurry of press releases on the London Mayor's visit to China.

I'm bringing you the details live (so to speak) as I get them for your information.

History in the making.

London calling Beijing!

Press release

Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London who is visiting China, opened London’s Economic Development and Inward Investment Office in Beijing today, to promote business, trade and tourism between the two cities.

Mr Livingstone said: “London and Beijing have much to learn from each other, in particular given our joint Olympic interest.

This new office is a symbol of the cooperation between our two great cities and will provide practical resources to help encourage greater economic and cultural activity”.

The UK capital has become a gateway to Europe for Chinese companies, and many businesses have chosen the UK capital city for their European and UK offices.

Chinese companies have invested more in London than in any other European city, according to the Ernst & Young’s European Investment Monitor survey.

There are approximately 400 Chinese companies that have invested in business in the UK, including 160 from Hong Kong.

Recognising London’s pre-eminent position as a global financial centre, a number of Chinese companies are choosing to list shares and securities on the London Stock Exchange.

There are currently 29 companies with shares listed on the London market. London’s Economic Development and Inward Investment Office aims to increase this number.

The office will also seek to encourage the number of tourists visiting London, and also increase the number of Chinese students studying in the city. There are already 7,700 Chinese students studying in London, which is more than from any other country.

The office has been planned and created in partnership with the London Development Agency, which promotes business in London for the mayor, Think London, which promotes foreign direct investment into London, and Visit London, which promotes tourism in the UK capital city.

The new office is on East Chang An Avenue, Beijing.

Olympic ties being forged!

Press Release

The Chairmen of the Committees organising the 2008 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in Beijing and the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in London met today and announced their intention to support each other as the Games approach.

Sebastian Coe, Chairman of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) – along with his CEO, Paul Deighton - today met Liu Qi, Chairman of the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG).

All welcomed this opportunity to meet, as their aim is to work together to foster the spirit of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games and learn from each other, as they plan their respective Games in the UK and China.

Coe said: “Hosting consecutive Games will build upon the increasingly close and collaborative relationship between our two cities and countries. As the Games come to an end in 2008, Beijing will hand the Olympic flag to London and we will begin our Olympic journey.

"Beijing is four years ahead in hosting the Games and we have much in common in our aspirations to inspire change, as well as creating a sporting legacy for our respective cities. I very much look forward to learning and sharing experiences.”

Coe continued, “Interestingly, both we and Beijing have seventeen distinct Themes in our Candidate Files and we can undoubtedly learn something from each other in relation to each of these Themes.

Conversations have already started on how we can work together to inspire the youth of the world to choose sport”

The meeting between the two organising Committee chairmen took place as part of a visit to China by Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London.

He is spending a week in the country with a high-level delegation, to strengthen relationships between London and China in business, tourism, and academia.

Livingstone said: "The Olympic Games and Paralympic Games provide a great opportunity to work together and also to celebrate the strength and importance of the relationship between London and China.

“London is a city in which 300 languages are spoken every day. Every team competing in the London 2012 Games will be supported in London.

Thanks to London's multi-cultural mix of 200 nations, every team will have a 'home away from home' crowd".

China is increasingly important to London. There are now more foreign students from China in London than from any other country and for the last six years, the UK has had the fastest growth rate of Chinese visitors to any European country, as trade, business and tourism between the two countries has grown.

Companies in London are also keen to visit China and work with Chinese companies to explore and develop joint any opportunities.

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