Manchester Events

Manchester Chinese Arts Centre:

I thought I’d share a hidden gem with you all today.

I’m currently living in Manchester – which is far from my favourite place in the world… However, the one redeeming feature it does have, is that a massive Chinese population has created the UK’s largest Chinatown outside of London. As such, this is where I tend to while away many of my hours, stuffing my face with dimsum, drinking lots of tea, and perusing the wonderful arts and craft shops, whilst pretending it’s not raining outside, and I am definitely not in the industrial heartland of the north.

Upon moving to Manchester, I started to hear whispers about a place known as the Chinese Arts Centre. With a mission in mind, I set out into Chinatown to try and work out why this place had eluded me on my almost daily visits. A few hours (and a very wet pair of feet) later, and I was still none the wiser as to what, or indeed, WHERE this place was! Even enquiries at the shops of Chinatown just produced blank stares, and the occassional suggestion that I perhaps meant the Manchester Art Gallery – which is right next to Chinatown. Eventually, I gave up, and thought perhaps the Chinese Arts Centre never existed, returning home with my even wetter fet, to a lovely cup of tea.

It was a couple of weeks later, whilst exploring the ‘Norther Quarter’ of the city (an area of boutique shops, trendy cafes and pop-up restaurants) that I stumbled upon some Chinese paper cuttings in a window. Upon closer inspection, I started to notice things like busts of Chairman Mao wearing Mickey Mouse ears, Chinese scroll paintings, and photography of developing urban spaces in Chinese cities. Not wanting to get ahead of myself, I rather meekly looked up at the sign hanging above the window preparing myself for disappointment – when I saw this:

My heart skipped a beat: I had finally found it!

At last! I had finally found it (and with considerably drier feet than on my previous attempt). I went inside, unsure of what to expect, and was greeted by incredibly friendly staff who informed me that today was a special performance in the gallery. Local poet Carol Batton had been invited to come to the gallery, and show us her world. Until that day, Carol was unkown to me, but ever since, I have become one of her biggest fans. She is gut-wrenchingly open about her battles with mental illness, and talked frankly about various issues. Perhaps what is most striking about Carol, is the fact that she willingly distributes her poetry free of charge, to people around the Norther Quarter area, which is a hub of creativity and art in the Manchester area. Carol estimates she has distributed around 100,000 sheets of her poems, which is an incredible figure. Carol’s performance on the day was quite simply one of the most moving things I’ve ever had to honour to be part of. It was incredibly interactive, but yet had a massively voyeuristic feel to it, as she talked to the audience about her experiences of electric-shock therapy, and lithium.

As part of the performance, we were led from room to room of the gallery, finally ending up int eh foyer of the gallery. Carol then invited members of her audience to join her in the performance. I was one of the lucky few who was selected – and what a wonderful experience it was! Carol asked a few questions about me, my interests and background – and then produced a simply wonderful poem for me, off the top of her head, which she wrote down, and I treasure immensely.

A youtube video of one of Carol’s poems. I also made some videos of Carol’s performance, which I will try to upload this weekend

(Credit: f3ralk1d and Carol Batton)

One of the standout things about the gallery – aside from Carol’s performance, is the wonderful tea they offer, at competitive prices. As a thank-you for attending the performance, all members of the audience were allowed to sample some of the wonderful teas the gallery offer. I looked over at the mammoth shelf of teas (which resembled a bookshelf in a library, it was so big!), and was a little intimidated at first. So much choice, and so many delightful teas to choose from. In the end, I went for their Longjing tea, which was a beautifully vibrant green colour, and smelled absolutely wonderful. The tea certainly didn’t disappoint, and was quite simply one of the best Longjing teas I’ve tasted in the UK.

Whilst we were fortunate enough to have tried the teas for free, I would certainly not begrudge paying the couple of pounds it would have cost for a pot of it. The prices the gallery offer are highly competitive, beating coffeehouse prices by a mile. That’s not to mention the gallery and cafe environment itself – with an array of art and craft related books to ponder over whilst you enjoy your tea, and incredibly friendly service, I would highly recommend a visit!

Despite my initial difficulties, it’s actually not that hard to find the gallery, but here is a map anyway – as this place definitely deserves a visit.

Carol Batton at the Manchester Chinese Arts Centre

As promised, here is the wonderful Carol Batton performance. Apologies about the quality, as it was made with a fairly old phone camera – had I known this genius would be at the gallery, I would’ve taken better recording equipment!

And also, there is a photo of the poem she wrote for me. It’s amazing that she just wrote this for me. She incorporated my surname, and the fact I was studying Chinese at university into it, and was such a treat!