In this presentation complementing Asia Society Texas Center’s current exhibition, Round Trip: Bicycling Asia Minor, 1891 , Dr. Chiu-Mi Lai will discuss the cultural outsider in 19th and 20th century East Asia, as it relates to the experiences of William Sachtleben and Thomas Allen, Jr.

In this presentation complementing Asia Society Texas Center’s current exhibition, Round Trip: Bicycling Asia Minor, 1891 , Dr. Chiu-Mi Lai will discuss the cultural outsider in 19th and 20th century East Asia, as it relates to the experiences of William Sachtleben and Thomas Allen, Jr.

About the Exhibition

In the summer of 1890, young Americans William Sachtleben and Thomas Allen, Jr. set off to circle the globe on newly-invented “safety” bicycles. After pedaling 18,000 miles across three continents, their harrowing tales of adventure made them international celebrities. Along the way, Sachtleben and Allen chronicled their trip with two novel Kodak cameras, signaling a new “democratic” era for photography, as well as cycling.

Round Trip: Bicycling Asia Minor, 1891 features a selection of these striking images, taken from a year on the road visiting Greece, Turkey, Persia (Iran), and part of the Russian Empire (Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan). The photographs vividly convey what the two adventurers experienced as they pedaled across barren dirt roads, river crossings, mountain passes, and volcanic terrains, encountering new peoples and cultures.

About Dr. Chiu-Mi Lai

Dr. Chiu-Mi Lai graduated from Pomona College in Claremont, California with a BA in Chinese literature and language. She completed her PhD at the University of Washington in Seattle, focusing on early Chinese literature. Her numerous articles include “Reinvention of the ‘Late Season’ Motif in the Wen Xuan” in Early Medieval China (2004), “The Chinese Writing System and the Power of Inscribed Writing” in Journal of the International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society (2003), and “The Craft of Original Imitation: Lu Ji’s Imitations of Han Old Poems” inStudies in Early Medieval Chinese Literature and Cultural History in Honor of Richard B. Mather and Donald Holzman (2003). Dr. Lai has lectured and taught at schools including Lewis and Clark College, Rice University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She currently lives in Austin, Texas and is Senior Lecturer in Chinese Literature in the Asian Studies department at the University of Texas.

Round Trip: Bicycling Asia Minor, 1891 is organized and circulated by the Fowler Museum at UCLA and co-sponsored by the UCLA Library Special Collections. Support for the exhibition was provided by Lee Bronson, Shirley and Ralph Shapiro, and Sukey and Gil Garcetti. The accompanying publication was generously funded by the UCLA Library Special Collections.

Major support for the exhibition at Asia Society Texas Center is provided by Chinhui Juhn and Eddie Allen, Mary Lawrence Porter, the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance, Nancy C. Allen, Nancy and Robert J. Carney, The Clayton Fund, Reinnette and Stan Marek, and anonymous friends of Asia Society. Lead funding also provided by Leslie and Brad Bucher, Holland and Jereann Chaney, The Favrot Fund, and Dorothy Carsey Sumner. Funding is also provided through contributions from the Friends of Exhibitions, a premier group of individuals and organizations committed to bringing exceptional visual art to Asia Society Texas Center.