Refugees International Japan gives as its goal helping to "restore the physical and mental well-being and dignity of refugees and internally displaced persons by supporting emergency, health and education projects around the world." Annually since 1990, the Art of Dining Charity Exhibition has been a major fundraising event in RIJ's calendar. It is an inspired exhibition, in which table setters give full rein to imagination, sense of beauty and occasion. Each participant develops an individual theme, chooses own materials and is bound by only the dimensions of a tabletop.
In this year's 13th annual Art of Dining Charity Exhibition, Cheryl Hsiu Ying Lee has selected for her theme a contemporary Chinese wedding reception. She says her table setting will have red and gold as the theme colors. Amongst decorative pieces on the Chinese tablecloth she will place two antique red lacquer wedding baskets with gold-painted pictures of children at play. She will put out an antique Chinese tea set and a pair of antique porcelain candleholders. Somewhere she will display her own red traditional Chinese wedding dress.
So why does she describe her setting as contemporary? Perhaps because Chinese tradition is honored and alive, and so is always contemporary. Perhaps too because Cheryl says she hasn't completely finalized her design, and wants to leave herself freedom to include other elements that please her. "I think I have decided. But then I see other things, and I want to use them too, even Western things. I like the idea of East meets West," she said.