China Branch, held its first Annual Soiree in the Wu Lien Teh Hail yesterday afternoon when many hundred members and friends gathered to enjoy refreshments and an excellently prepared programme.
The affair opened with the welcoming of guests by the Chairman and the Committee, whereafter tea was served. Amongst those noticed in the large crowd of guests were Sir Herbert Phillips, H.M. Consul-General, Mr. C. S. Franklin, Chalrman of the Shanghai Municipal Council; Mr. H. G. B. Perry, M. Eh. Grosbois, Colonel J. W. Hornby, Commandant, Shanghai Volunteer Corps; and many others.
Mr. A. de C. Sowerby, the Chairman of the Society, then made a short address in which in a few well chosen words he gave an account of the history of the Society ever since its foundation in 1857.
"During the eighty years the society, although passing through many vicissitudes, has not failed to keep alight the torch of culture and learning in a land that for the greater part of that period knew nothing of the culture of the West but it has done even more to make the culture of China known to the West," Mr. Sowerby said.
In concluding, the' speaker said that the Royal Asiatic Society which is continuing to cater to our cultural life and needs, at a time when so many institutions of this nature have been swept away by the terrible tide of events which have overwhelmed us, doubtless deserves the full support of the community.
Keen interest by those attending the affair was also displayed in the various exhibits which included dry points and etchings of the Shanghai and adjacent areas by Mr. H. E. Gibson, a series of local game birds and wild fowl mounted in natural surroundings by Mr. A. de C. Sowerby, rubbings from stone monuments and steles in the famous Pei Ling, or "Monument Grove" in Si-an-fu, and a few examples of Chinese paintings from Mr. Sowerby's collection.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.