Chinese Community interviews!

Yesterday we went to the Chinese Association of Newcastle to interview ten residents from China and Hong Kong. We wanted to hear their memories of illness and medicine to help us with our exhibition. We arrived at the Association at 11.15 and were met by Stephen, one of the centre volunteers. We were immeidately made very welcome and were led up to a room that was set aside for the interview. Despite all being a bit nervious, as soon as the residents arrived we were put at ease. It was fantastic hearing everything they had to say.... although we had planned to ask 16 questions, we only managed to do three!!!! We didn't mind, as the residents had so much to say and we wanted to hear it all! Fortunately we recorded all of the interviews, so we had time to listen rather than scribbling everything down!

The residents had lots to say about their experiences from across the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s,  the relationship between modern and traditional medicines and even recognised some of our objects! We hope to arrange for the residents to visit us in the museum in the near future. It was fantastic! A massive thank you to all of the residents and the Association for helping us!

After this we went for a Chinese meal (keeping in the spirit of the day) and then some of us went on a 'historical tour of Newcastle' (forunately the rain had stopped). All in all a great day. Jen even managed to do some shopping!

See below for some clips from the interviews and photos from the day.

[interview 'montage']

[The residents with the SoTW Durham team]

[One resident shows us his lucky coin which gives protection from ill health and misfortune]

[Jono, Alex and Amy enjoying the warmth of Bessie Surtee's House on the historical tour]

We're going to Newcastle!

Today we're going to Newcastle to interview some of the Chinese community about their memories of illness and medicine when in China, and whether these have changed. It looks to be a great day. We have prepared 16 questions, 8 of which are general questions and 8 which relate to specific objects we have chosen. The only thing is..... it's tipping it down with rain and we have to walk to the station!

Preparing for interviews

Hi everyone! Things are moving forward with the exhibition plan. We have now chosen a range of objects covering the topics of 'illness, medicine and death' from the Oriental Museum's collections. As many of these are from China we are preparing to interview Chinese residents in Newcastle next Tuesday. Around 80 residents of Newcastle's Chinese community meet every week for lunch at the Chinese Community Association. They have very kindly agreed to be interviewed by the project team, so today we are going to build a questionnaire to take with us. The main aim is to gauge the cultural background of the objects which we have selected for the exhibition. It will be really fascinating hearing the memories of the residents, but also nerve-racking. We obviously want to make sure our questions are along the right lines! The residents are also letting us take pictures and video so watch this space!

THE LAUNCH!

Today was our much-anticipated launch of the 'Globetrotting with Callum' trail.  What can we say, other than it was GREAT!  Seriously, we had a brilliant turnout, so thanks to everyone who came today and made the day extra fun for us all.  After our pre-speech nerves had worn off, and our 'oscar-winning' film was shown and the kids had fun running around.

In the afternoon, we had 'Callum Crafting' sessions where some very artistic camels were created.  After today, we hope that in the future, the project will be just as successful.

[The Stories of the World trail team with our 'Colour Hero' Les]

THE LAUNCH!

Wow - so much has been going on that we haven't had time to fill out this blog! Sorry! In the last week we have taken delivery of 3,000 fab children's trail booklets, 600 camel floor stickers and created our own 'virtual children's' tour. Preparations are now being made for the big launch of the children's trail this coming Saturday. It looks to be a big event, with plenty of children, the project team and people from Stories of the World all coming! It will also be the first time we will show our virtual tour to museum visitors. Before that though, we will give all you lovely people a sneak preview!

Enjoy!


[The 'Globetrotting with Callum' video and Children's trail have been designed and chorographed exclusively by our 'Stories of the World' project team. These are student volunteers from Gilesgate Sixth Form centre aged 16-18. They have been pivotal in re-interpreting the Durham University Oriental Museum's world collections and bringing them to a whole new audience. Our students have been working as a part of wider project with Tyne and Wear Museums and Middlesbrough Museums]

Wednesday 6th October

Plenty-a-going on. The trail came in and we started planning for the launch of 'Globetrotting with Callum' which will happen on the 16th October (MASSIVE HINT.... 16th October). We have designed a short presentation and some children's entertainment in the form of design your own Callum the Camel. We're a bit nervious, but loads of people have shown an interest. We also hope to show our 'virtual video trail' that we filmed a few weeks ago. Exciting stuff. We also dipped into the stores to look at some Vietnamese statues to use for our exhibition. All of this after a full day at college.... now that is dedication!

Saturday 2nd October

Today was another action packed day! The exhibition team were looking at objects related to death and burial including a Canopic jar from Ancient Egypt (including ancient sludge inside!). Once again, we were thinking about how these objects could be displayed and how they related to each other. While we were doing this, the trail team were busy filming a virtual trail, so there were lots of children running around with cameras and tripods! Watch this space for the video!