Mt. Lebanon Public Library will hold two "Global Beat" events focused on China this month. Global Beat: China is scheduled for October 7, from 4:45 to 7:00 pm to coincide with the Mid-Autumn Festival, and will feature performances from Purple Bamboo Chinese Music Ensemble and Yanlai Dance Academy.
Join your friends and neighbors for an after-hours cultural get-together at the Mt. Lebanon Library. Explore a different country or region of the world each month through live music, food, dance and conversation with the artists. For friends and families of all ages!On October 19, Global Beat: China and Alibaba:
Purple Bamboo & Yanlai Dance Academy
Founded in 2015, Purple Bamboo Chinese Music Ensemble of Pittsburgh performs and educates the public on traditional Chinese Music. The group is comprised of Ai-Lin Chen on the guzheng (a plucked string instrument), Kai Liu on the dizi (a transverse flute), and Mimi Jong of Mt. Lebanonon on the erhu (a two-stringed spide fiddle). The troupe has recently been joined by world-class pipa (a four-stringed lute) virtuoso Jin Yang, a graduate from the prestigious Central Conservatory in Beijing and fromer professor at the Wuhuan Music Conservatory.
Dancers from the Yanlai Dance Academy will also be joining us to perform Chinese dances in traditional costume. Yanlai Dance Academy was founded by Yanlai Wu, a world-acclaimed professional dancer who studied ballet under masters of the renowned Bolshoi Ballet, and has performed and choreographed around the globe. Yanlai Dance Academy is the only school in Pittsburgh to teach traditional dance from both the Eastern and Western part of China.
If you ask a China watcher to name a Chinese company that mirrors its country’s meteoric economic growth, Alibaba would undoubtedly be on the very short list of the top contenders. In America Alibaba is known as China’s Amazon. In China it is a synonym for e-commerce platform, allowing millions of e-shops to operate in the largest internet marketplace on earth. Understanding Alibaba’s unlikely birth and bumpy journey to greatness will help us gain insight into a country in rapid transition.The events are free and open to the public. The library is located at 16 Castle Shannon Blvd. (map).
Join us on Thursday, October 19th at 7:00 p.m. in Room A for “A Glimpse of Alibaba.” We will start the evening with a viewing of the documentary Crocodile in the Yangtze. This film was directed by Canadian Porter Erisman, a former VP of marketing for Alibaba. It is an intimate and candid story of Alibaba and its charismatic leader Jack Ma. Immediately, following the viewing of this film we will have an interview and Q & A session with Shen Yonggang and Yu Yifei, a husband-and-wife duo who own a successful business on Alibaba’s platform. We hope that the program will provide a unique opportunity for a close look at Alibaba and, through it, China.