In the winter of 2012-13 BICC collaborated with Dr Weipin Tsai (Royal Holloway University of London), and Professor Hans van de Ven (Cambridge) on a project to restore the decrepit gravestone of Sir Robert Hart and Hester, Lady Hart. The Harts are buried in Bisham, near Marlow, yards from the bank of the River Thames. The initiative culminated in a rededication ceremony held in the churchyard on a cold February day in 2013.

A new 31 minute film, ‘For China and the World’, documents this process, and explores the story and legacy of Robert Hart, who for six decades led China’s Imperial Maritime Customs service. With narration by Tim Pigott-Smith, the documentary assess the private and public worlds of this enigmatic figure. The film gets its world premiere on Saturday 29 March during the Asian Film Expo at the 2014 annual meeting of the US Association for Asian Studies in Philadelphia. You can catch the trailer here, and copies of the DVD can be purchased here.

Director Jeremy Routledge, from Calling the Shots, and co-producer Robert Bickers, will be on hand for a Q & A after the film screening: 2:10pm room 309/310, Marriott Downtown Philadelphia. The film will be shown at Queen’s University Belfast this coming May, and in London, on 12 June.