FROM AN EMAIL TODAY...
Greetings and welcome to the December 2004 edition of the 1421 mailout!
These past few months have seen a lot of progress in the 1421 camp. The team has been on several foreign adventures to the Far East, as well as the USA. Gavin travelled to Virginia to chase up recorded claims of the finding of a Chinese junk in the Great Dismal Swamp. The junk has been mentioned in several historical accounts dating back to colonial times, and up to some 60 years ago in military records. There is currently a team based in the area who is kindly helping us out with research there, as well as support from the Newport News Mariners' Museum, where Gavin will be giving a speech in early December. Please visit www.mariner.org for more information.
After his trip to the USA Gavin then proceeded on to the Far East, where he visited Bali, Cambodia and Singapore. In Singapore, he met up with members of the 1421 team, the Singapore Tourism Board and Pico Art International, who have been working together in the conceptual stages of a huge exhibition based on 1421 that is to be held in June 2005. The exhibition will coincide with a host of other Zheng He celebrations, not least musical performances and theatrical work, a replica junk and much more. We are very pleased to be associated with this exhibition which we feel will add greatly to piquing interest in Zheng He’s great works all around the world.
In relation to the exhibition, we are issuing a plea to anybody who can help – we are currently trying to help the exhibition team assemble a collection of artefacts for the exhibition, and would be grateful for any help and advice that people can give in securing items for display. Please direct all correspondence to ianhudson@1421.tv
Web-wise, we are pleased to announce this month our affiliation with the Internet-Chinese® project. Dr. H. C. Tien of Chinese Computer Communications Inc. has pioneered the internet Chinese programme which has revolutionised the way people learn to read, type and speak Mandarin Chinese, and can help us all do so in a manner similar to learning French or Spanish. For more information please visit www.internetchinese.com and look out on our website for translations into internet Chinese in the future.
Furthermore this month we are also delighted to announce the signing of motion picture rights of 1421 to Samantha Olsson. We have high hopes for a beautiful epic that will hit the big screen in two years! For more information please read the official press release at the following link: http://www.1421.tv/pages/content/index.asp?PageID=68
Lastly, this month we must sadly admit that due to a high influx of emails and correspondence, the Singapore exhibition, as well as inevitable staff absence over the holiday period, excusing the maritime pun, we really do not have enough hands on deck to cope with the mass of emails that we receive daily. As a result we have to regress to the situation adopted some months ago by which we will read and consider all correspondence received in our offices but regret that we just do not have the resources to answer each and every email personally at length. We are sorry about this and are trying to raise sponsorship for the 1421 team that will enable us to employ more staff, and get back to optimum performance. Any ideas are welcome!
All that remains is for us to wish you all seasons greetings wherever you are in the world, and here’s to another fascinating year in 2005!
Best wishes,
The 1421 team
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