I enjoy reading every section of Dimsum, especially the letters. My friends in Exeter share my interest in East Asian culture. Some are taking Chinese conversation lessons, some like looking at Chinese style paintings and calligraphy and some are practising martial arts. This year the Shao Lin Monks visited Exeter and gave an amazing performance. However, if we want to attend lectures, go to concerts or see exhibitions that are related to the culture of East Asia, we usually have to go to London. We must either make a tiring three-hour journey and return on the same day or stay overnight at a hotel.

Once, when I was visiting the Oriental City in Colindale, I thought how nice it would be if we had a similar place in Exeter. But I don’t think there are enough people in Devon who would visit it regularly, so it would not be economically viable. One evening, after some martial arts training, the instructor invited us to his flat to have a cup of coffee and to watch some martial arts videos. He mentioned that the rent for our training room would soon be increased considerably. We really needed to have place of our own.

We started to talk about our ideal training place. It would be larger, of course, and would have two changing rooms, with showers and lockers. There would be a café in the building where we could have a meal and relax after the training. Apart from Chinese food, we would like to have some Korean and Japanese dishes, too. Perhaps we could manage to open the café during the day, as well. It would become a meeting place for anyone who practised judo, kung fu, taekwondo, kendo, iaido or karate. There would oriental paintings and calligraphy displayed on the walls.

We would like to have a room where we could have conversation classes in Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese and Korean. We could invite professional speakers to come to our meeting place and give talks about East Asia. These would not be restricted to the martial arts but would cover all aspects of the history, the music, the arts and crafts, dance, costume, philosophy and religions of that area.

Most of my friends who have visited, or lived in, countries in East Asia are impressed by the politeness and courtesy that is an intrinsic part of everyday life there. When they return to the UK they cannot help thinking that British people would greatly benefit by applying the ethics and religious training methods of Confucious and the Buddha into their lives. We should run introductory courses on Confucian ethics and Buddhism!

We decided to meet again the following week, on a non-training night, to continue our discussion. The result was that we decided to form a non-profit company called the Asia Cultural Centre. Our aim is to buy a house in Exeter and turn it into a place for the benefit of anyone who has an interest in the languages and culture of China, Japan and Korea. People from all ethnic backgrounds could meet there and become friends. Our eventual aim is to change the company into a registered educational Charity.

In July we formed the Asia Cultural Centre. Until we manage to buy a place, we meet at each other’s houses. I have visited the Devon & Cornwall Chinese Association, in Plymouth, to introduce myself and to talk with them about our plans. We have organised two 10-week courses of Japanese conversation in Exeter and we hold informal meetings at the Southgate Hotel, Exeter, at 7.30 pm, on the tenth day of each month. Everyone is invited to come along.

I look forward to attending the Pearl Awards next week and I hope to meet some people who live in the Southwest of England and would like to work with us.

I look forward to meeting anyone who shares our goals. Perhaps I can meet you at the Pearl Awards next week? Alternatively, could we meet in Exeter? Please post some comments to Dimsum or e-mail me at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it We need all the good advice and support we can get.

Thank you!