Abbey After Dark – Chinese Almanacs with Dr Wing-Fai Wong

** CANCELLED DUE TO UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES **

The Abbey Museum invites you to an unforgettable evening exploring the history of the Chinese Almanac – discover it’s influence over astrology and the art of Feng Shui and cash-coin divination.

Your evening begins with entertainment and a delicious charcuterie selection, setting the perfect atmosphere for a night of storytelling and exploration. After your grazing experience, take a twilight wander through the Museum’s galleries, where centuries of history come alive in the glow of the evening.

In this presentation, Dr Wing-Fai Wong focuses on the history of Chinese almanacs, including the parallel use of the lunisolar calendar and the Gregorian calendar in Australia. Discover how Chinese communities celebrated the New Year in Australia – including associated taboos – before China became a republic.

The twelve astrological animals are not originally Chinese; they were adopted around the second century BCE. They were later combined with the Five Elements to align with the Sexagenary Cycle. The coming years, 2026 and 2027, are known as the Years of the Scarlet Horse and the Red Goat. Traditionally, these years are considered particularly inauspicious and associated with the belief in potential cultural or social calamities.

BIO
Dr. Wing-Fai Wong is a multidisciplinary scholar with a PhD in History with a strong interest in Chinese metaphysics practised in Australia. He has previously researched Chinese geomancy (fengshui 風水) and chronomancy (zeri 擇日) in the everyday lives of Chinese Australasians, focusing on the ritual revolution of Chinese metaphysical culture due to the influence of cross-cultural interaction. At present, he is an Honorary Fellow in the School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, currently researching the cross-cultural influences on the metaphysical contents of the Dunhuang manuscripts.

Ticketing Inclusions

• 40 min talk
• Evening through the museum with exclusive viewing of Reserve Collection artefacts in a temporary display
• Gift bag
• Cheese and Wine evening
• Includes a Chinese Tea Ceremony & Tasting with Seventeas

Pricing: $45pp + Booking Fee. (recommended for ages 16yrs+)

Terms and Conditions apply.

Image Supplied by Dr Wing-Fai Wong, Courtesy of the National Library of Australia Photographer Lindi Heap, with the assistance of Kate Burge