2nd DocuAsia Forum (May 19 & 21)

Embracing the Spirits as China Transforms

Film Screening China’s Leap of Faith and Public Discussion

Free and open to the public

Time & Venues

May 19 at 7-9pm The Bamboo Cross

Richmond Cultural Centre 180-7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond

Registration Information: info@cinevolutionmedia.com, 778-869-3278

May 21 at 7-9pm The Gods Come Home

Simon Fraser University Harbour Centre Campus

515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver

Terasen Cinema, Room 1800

Co-presenter

In conjunction with the David Lam Centre at SFU, we are pleased to hold the second DocuAsia Forum. This year’s forum will screen an important Canadian documentary China’s Leap of Faith produced by Christopher Sumpton and Robin Benger of Cogent / Benger Productions Inc.

After each film, there will be discussion including academics and Chinese religious practitioners who will also consider the relevance of this spiritual revival for British Columbia’s religious landscape given the dramatic rise in recent years of immigration from the People’s Republic of China.

About China’s Leap of Faith

Whether it’s the repression of Tibetan Buddhists, the persecution of Christian evangelists, or the suppression of local folk beliefs, religion tops the list of tough-to-discuss topics in China. Even though the Chinese government is still accused of suppressing many faiths, officials are cautiously relaxing their grip. Across the country, massive networks of household churches, village temples and regional folk beliefs are powering what has become the most astonishing religious revival in modern history.

China’s Leap of Faith is a two-episode documentary. In the episode titled The Bamboo Cross the film examines the rise of Christianity in Post Mao China, which is considered as millions of Chinese embrace the Christian message of salvation through faith in Christ.

The episode The Gods Come Home sheds light on the vigorous renewal of Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism and the rich diversity of local popular religion. In a country where a Marxist, atheistic, perspective shapes official policy on religion it is becoming obvious that, even amid greater material comforts in the big cities, religion is rapidly regaining an important place in the lives of many Chinese.

The Bamboo Crosses was directed by Christopher Sumpton.

The Gods Come Home was co-directed by Paul Webster and Diana Xiaoping Dai.

China’s Leap of Faith was produced in association with VisionTV, with the participation of the Canadian Television Fund, Telefilm Canada and The Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit Program.

Film Trailer

About the Participating Speakers

Paul Crowe (Host)
Director, David Lam Centre
Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities & Asia-Canada Program
Ph.D., MA Asian Studies (UBC); MA Religious Studies, BA Philosophy and Religious Studies (Calgary)

Paul Crowe’s teaching and research focus is on Chinese religions and intellectual history and on cultivation of intercultural understanding. Current research projects include translation and analysis of a thirteenth-century Daoist meditation or inner alchemy (neidan) text. He is also compiling research for a history of Canadian Daoist organizations including work on their origins principally in southern China and Hong Kong. Outside the academy he has had a longstanding personal interest in Chinese culture as a practitioner of Taiji quan and Daoist meditation for nearly thirty years.

Christopher Sumphton (Producer & Director)

Christopher produces, directs and writes television documentaries. Born in Vancouver, he headed to Toronto in search of a career. He entered the wonderful world of television in 1977at the CBC, where he discovered editing and a love of documentaries. After a stint as a freelance editor and feature film trailer producer, Christopher teamed up with Robin Benger to produce In Security (Hot Docs 1998 nominee best political/social issue documentary) and Eastside Showdown (Gemini Awards 1999 nominee best social/political documentary). Together they formed Cogent/Benger Productions in 1999 to continue to produce socially relevant, issue-oriented films in the same vein. “ Making a documentary is like a journey down two streams – gut reflex and eternal planning. When they come together, magic happens.”

Dr. Li Yu (Langara College, guest speaker on May 19)

LI YU received his academic training in East Asian History at universities in China, Japan and Canada. He obtained his Ph.D in Chinese History from the Department of History at the University of British Columbia in 1999 and is an instructor of Asian Studies at Langara College, Vancouver. He has taught at Yunnan University in China, Simon Fraser University, University of the Fraser Valley, and the University of British Columbia. He has published articles on Chinese social history and intellectual history in several leading Asian studies journals.

Emeritus Professor Daniel L. Overmyer (UBC, guest speaker on May 21)

Daniel L. Overmyer, one of the world’s greatest authorities on Chinese religions, is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Asian Studies and the Centre for Chinese Research at the University of British Columbia, and Honorary Professor in the Faculty of Arts at Shanghai Normal University. He earned his M.A. in the History of Religions in 1966 and his Ph.D. in Chinese Religion in 1971 from the University of Chicago Divinity School.

Professor Overmyer has published numerous books and dozens of articles on Chinese religions. Most recently he edited and contributed to Local Religion in North China in the Twentieth Century: The Structure and Organization of Community Rituals and Beliefs (Brill, 2009). This work is a comprehensive survey of the structure, organization and institutionalization of local community religious traditions in north China villages in the twentieth century. Another of his important recent works is Religion in China Today, (Cambridge University Press, 2003) which examines the variety of religious traditions revived in China in the last fifteen to twenty years, with important implications for society and politics.

Other confirmed speakers:

Heng Cang Shr, Buddhist Nun, Gold Buddha Monastery (May 21, SFU screening)

The screening of China’s Leap of Faith is generously supported by Cogent / Benger Productions Inc.