Southern Methodist University Screening Recap

Our final screening of 2010 tour was at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. SMU was chartered and founded in 1911, the same year that Women’s History Month was started and the fall of the Qing Dynasty in China. Today, the school is home to 11,000 students, and will be the future site of the former President George W. Bush’s Presidential Library. In fact, the groundbreaking ceremony was held on November 16, 2010, just a few days before our November 22 screening.

We met the Colombo family at our Austin College screening the previous Friday. They had read about our article in a Dallas newspaper and were keen on coming because they are adoptive parents of several children from China. Following the screening, they told their friends in their children’s Chinese Girl Scout troop about the SMU showing. Thanks to the Colombo’s and Kimberly Powell for bringing a great community turnout at SMU!

Along with them, we had a large number of students from various Chinese Language and History classes turn out. Next time, we’ll have to get a bigger room, as it was standing room only in the back! We got a great question from one of the students about the dilemma between Qiu Jin’s fascination with Western ideas and her opposition to Western incursion into China. In order to repel the Western invaders and internally strengthen her country, Qiu Jin felt that China needed to learn from its enemies. Knowing this perhaps gives us perspective on China’s relationship with the West today. After all, it’s only been 100 years since the birth of Modern China, a relatively short-time by historical measure.

2011 is shaping up to be a pretty good year for Autumn Gem. We’re going to be increasing our marketing efforts to get the film out to schools, universities, and organizations around the globe. Our next public screening will be on January 19 in Morgan Hill, California, for the American Association of University Women. We’ll be speaking at the Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference in Hawaii in March. We’ll undoubtedly have many more screenings planned in 2011 as well, so keep checking our Facebook page or our screenings page for more details.

Thanks to the professors at SMU, including Ling Shiao and Yan Xia, for organizing our final screening of 2010. Here are photos from the event.

WP-SmugMug Plugin: http://tow.com/projects/wordpress/*[[](/batch.download.php?aid=8900688)Rae talks with the parents of the Chinese Girl Scout Troop before the screening.](http://photos.tow.com/1105126479EqAfs-L.jpg) *Thanks to the Colombo family, a large contingent of community members came to our screening. *Many of these community members were part of the national organization Families with Children from China (FCC). *Introducing Qiu Jin, Autumn Gem, and Adam and Rae to the screening. *It was a packed screening at SMU. *Standing room only in the back. *Children up front waiting patiently for the film to start. *Kimberly brought her family to the screening. *Happy to see the screening. *Rae speaks with SMU professors after the screening. *A number of Chinese language students were also present at the screening. *Josephine (sitting) celebrated her birthday today! *With SMU professors. Thanks for organizing!