Alles onder de hemel

This evening you will be taken on a journey back in time to the 17th century, when Ferdinand Verbiest, a Flemish scientist and Jesuit, gained access to the inner circle of the Chinese emperor thanks to his exceptional knowledge. But his path was fraught with

obstacles: court intrigues and tensions with Rome constantly put his mission under pressure.

Alles onder de Hemel revives the compelling, yet largely forgotten, story of the first true encounter between China and the West. What were the consequences of this historic confrontation? What role did women play in this "man's world"? And how relevant are Verbiest's experiences at a time when China is once again a powerful global player? Let yourself be carried away by this extraordinary story and discover how past and present intersect.

In this performance, Sarah Yu Zeebroek interweaves her musical and graphic talent with Veerle de Vos's historical narrative. Using music, history and culture as a guiding principle, this captivating performance shows how we can better understand China, then and now.

Minard

Wednesday 4 March

20:00

This event is in Dutch

Tickets on sale: 13 January

Performers

Melissa-Giardina-c-Michiel-Devijver-aspe

SARAH YU ZEEBROEK is a visual artist, illustrator, and musician. Trained as an illustrator, she creates both personal projects and commissioned work for newspapers, magazines, theatre companies, cultural centres, museums, and music groups. Her work reveals the rich imaginative inner world shaped by day and night dreams, often infused with surreal scenes and a playful sense of humor that is never purely ironic. Based in Ghent, Sarah is also active as a musician, as a member of the band Hong Kong Dong (with Boris Zeebroek and Geoffrey Burton), and performs as a guest musician in projects such as Bolis Pupul and L. Jacobs.

VEERLE DE VOS is a journalist at VRT NWS. China has fascinated her since the 1990s, when she lived there for 2 years and worked as an English teacher at a university in Wuhan. About that period she wrote the book In elke rivier schijnt een maan together with a Chinese friend. In 2023 she published Alles onder de hemel. Ferdinand Verbiest en de ontdekking van China, about the first meeting between China and the West.