Yaji Winter: A Speakeasy at the Cusp of Modernity

Everyone loves a good gossip, especially if it is about the imperial family.

And a Speakeasy is nothing without all the gossips of the who’s who, and the what’s what.

For the upcoming Yaji Winter which will take place on the last Sunday of Winter on 29 Jan 2023, we will reveal all the good, bad and uglies of the Qing Republic imperial family and its complicated relationship with the West.

What better way to spend your Chinese New Year hangover, than with us in the good old imperial-fantasy way.

You can access the entire afternoon’s tickets HERE on Eventbrite, or you can fill in a google form and we will be in touch for the payment confirmation via Paynow (you save some eventbrite fee!).

Like lovers in a toxic relationship, China and the West grew from starry-eyed lovers full of ideals for each other, to love-hate couple who grew weary and wary of each other. This classic, toxic relationship trend is also spelt out in Chinese-American writer Eileen Chang’s famous quote where one desires that which you cannot get, and constant contact is the catalyst for mutual destruction:

Marry a red rose and eventually she’ll be a mosquito-blood streak smeared on the wall, while the white one is “moonlight in front of my bed.” Marry a white rose, and before long she’ll be a grain of sticky rice that’s gotten stuck to your clothes; the red one, by then, is a scarlet beauty mark just over your heart.”

Red Rose, White Rose (Eileen Chang)

LECTURE: All the West in the East (Some gossips, some history, mostly pictures and stories)

Kicking off the afternoon with a lecture All the West in the East, that has a healthy mix of history and gossips. You will hear all about the famous good-for-nothing trust-fund emperor who was more interested in his new clocks than guns. And the Gossip girls of China (they appeared in Tatler and Chicago Tribune in early 1900s!), one of whom was a fake royalty, had married an American and proclaimed herself to be a fan of American department stores! The stories are endless, and fun-ny~! All these set against the serious backdrop of the Opium wars and the downfall of the last Chinese empire.

THE QING REPUBLIC SPEAKEASY EVENT

Because you can’t have an entire lecture being a gossip session, we will adjourn the Yaji Guests who want more into the following session which is a casual, interactive and interpretive freestyle session where you can choose who you talk to, to get the most out of the specific topic(s).

During this speakeasy event (yes, the ACTUAL Speakeasy event is from 2.30pm—3.30pm), you can roam around the room, and speak to a few of the characters from the “past”. Inverted comma because we are assuming the identities of characters from history, but we’re also adding in our own interpretations and making them relevant for modern world.

We are imagining a parallel universe in the 21st century, where the Chinese Manchurian monarchy still exists, and they successfully transited into a constitutional monarchy as they had originally intended, without all the drama, rebellion, and cultural revolutions. So the Chinese identity is further complicated by the Manchurian monarch, ruling over a Han majority group, who are pretty much very Westernised. So what does it mean to be Chinese? What are the cultural affiliations and preferences?

We are the human library of the past! Navigate these uncertain terrains with us!

MASTERCLASSES

And then, there’re always the most anticipated Masterclasses where you crystalise your learnings and fun into something much more specific.

I. GONGFUCHA (GFC)

We have Tea in the form traditional Gongfucha (and nope, it has nothing to do with Kungfu, unlike what trashy pop culture misrepresentations would like for you to think). Kenny, as usual with his immense amount of historical information and research would share with you the historical origin of this mis-represented, stereotypical Chinese form of tea drinking. You will see the Original way in which such tea is prepared, using period-accurate teaware and method without all the theatrical farces of the modern world.

II. PEKING OPERA AND CHINESE FEMININITY

Male-representation of women on stage were all the rage over 100 years ago. And men created the ideal femininity through their own bodies, believing that women, can never be as womanly as them because femininity apparently is defined by men.

When women took over the trade, and started representing themselves, they scaled back on some of the overtly theatrical representation of men because as women, we didn’t need to prove or over-prove that we are what we are.

Nevertheless, it is interesting to go through this workshop to understand how men viewed women, and how that translates into this ideal Chinese femininity that still persist today.

III. FEASTING WITH THE DOWAGER

In the last decade or so, the Manchurian-Han Imperial Banquet has been ubiquitous in Chinese palace dramas and hailed as the epitome of Chinese feasts. But what exactly is it?

This winter, we invite you to the Masterclass Feasting with the Dowager, and you will find out all about feasting etiquette, food pairing advices, and the difference between a Manchurian Imperial cuisine and that of a Manchurian one.

You will even get to have a taste of the type of food that the Dowager herself were fond of.

And guess what, for our Yaji guests who are coming for the Interpretive Speakeasy event, you will also have a taste of the traditional Peking snacks as your party canapés. OH and did I mention? If you get yourself the Special Pass with which includes 2 drinks and VIP lounge access, you will also get to try agarwood-infused tea, and Matcha beer, concocted by Kenny himself!

We’re having early bird sale until 15 Dec 2022, so if you’re doing your Christmas shopping, do think about post-Chinese New Year too!