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THE
ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY - HONG KONG
presents
“The
Han and the Romans”
by
Stephen
Bradley
Her
Majesty’s Consul General, Hong Kong
on
Tuesday,
18 March 2008
The
Jardine Penthouse, 48/F Jardine House, One Connaught Place
Complimentary
Drinks Reception 6.30 pm; Lecture 7.30 pm
We
are delighted and honoured to welcome to the Royal Geographical
Society Stephen Bradley, the British Consul
General in Hong Kong, to lecture on the Han Chinese and the
Romans, a subject which Mr Bradley has studied for
several years. In this fascinating lecture, Mr Bradley gives a
superb account of these two contemporaneous civilisations and empires
at opposite ends of the known world.
Rome
and the Han were the founding empires, respectively, of the European
and Chinese cultures. Each brought different glories, though of
different extent and endurance. Each
thought they comprised more or less the whole civilised world, with
barbarians beyond. They co-existed at either end of the Eurasian
landmass for centuries, yet Mr Bradley questions
what did they know of one another. While the Silk Route ran between
them, Mr Bradley asks did anyone Chinese
ever go to Rome, or vice versa.
In
this talk, Mr Bradley speaks of the glories
of each civilisation, examining the evidence, material and textual,
for direct contact between the two, in order to see whether they did
know and influence each other or whether they were, in fact,
"Parallel Empires" that developed independently. The talk
is part of an opus in progress that will, eventually, aim to
compare the two historical civilisations across the board.
Mr
Bradley is also happy to comment, if asked, on his time as
British Consul General, coming to a close at the end of March.
Mr
Bradley was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, followed by Fudan
University, Shanghai. He entered the Foreign
& Commonwealth Office on the Afghan, Pakistan Desk, with a first
overseas posting as 2nd Secretary, Economic, then 1st Secretary,
Chancery, at the British Embassy, Tokyo.
From there, Mr Bradley moved to Hong Kong for the first time as
Deputy Political Adviser to the Hong Kong
Governor. This was followed by the French
Desk, Western European Department, the Deputy
Head of the Near East & North Africa
Department and the Head of the West
Indian Atlantic Department, in London, then the
Director of Trade & Investment Promotion, at the British
Embassy, Paris. Mr Bradley returned to Asia as the
Minister, Deputy Head of Mission & Consul General, at the
British Embassy, Beijing before becoming Consul
General, Hong Kong. Mr Bradley has also spent
periods on secondment as Marketing Director, Guinness Peat Aviation,
Associate Director, Lloyd George Investment Management plus at the
New Millennium Experience Company.
This
lecture is being held in the fine surroundings of the Jardine
Penthouse. Members and their guests are most welcome to attend at
HK$100 for Members, HK$150 for Members' guests and $200 for others.
This includes a complimentary drinks reception prior to the lecture.
Royal Geographical Society (IBG) - Hong Kong
GPO Box 6681, Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 2583 9700
Fax: (852) 2140 6000
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