Founder/Curator
Ian McLachlan
Ian McLachlan is a poet, novelist, actor, and playwright who is also a literary scholar with far-reaching publications on 20th century writers such as Bertolt Brecht and Ezra Pound.
After studies at Oxford, he founded the European Literature Department at the University of Hong Kong, where he developed a concern for Asia as revealed in his Shanghai 1949, his translations of Chinese and Vietnamese poetry, and his In the Margins of the Empire: Reading Cambodia, as well as a forthcoming novel.
McLachlan's earlier novels are The Seventh Hexagram, which Mordecai Richler qualified as "the brilliant debut of an enormously talented novelist," and Helen in Exile, published in London, New York and Toronto.
More recently, he was chair for fourteen years of the Department of Cultural Studies at Trent University in Canada. He has curated a variety of visual arts exhibits such as Arts against Repression and Rights/ Rites, which express the concern that is expressed in all his work and teaching for the political power which may be mobilized through artistic creation.
McLachlan's collecting career began in Hong Kong, where his first purchase was a Ming bronze of Guandi on horseback, which is still one of his prized possessions. He is especially interested in the complex interrelationships between early Asian cultures and in the exchange of artefacts and technological expertise between them; as a result his tastes are very wide-ranging. McLachlan has been a consultant and adviser to a number of museums, galleries and private collections throughout North America and Asia.
Collection Manager/Research
Bingbin Cheng
Born in Chongqing, China, Bingbin speaks fluent Mandarin and English, and also has some basic knowledge of Korean and Japanese.
After graduating from Trent University with B. A. degree in Cultural Studies (minor in Ancient Greek & Roman Studies), Bingbin started her career by working at a Canadian contemporary art gallery as a managing curator. She successfully curated a number of exhibitions featuring both established and emerging French-Canadian artists.
When not researching for the Maklaiheung Gallery, Bingbin spends most of her time on the art and culture community. For years she has been a volunteer in several not-for-profit organizations such as the 4th Line Theatre, the Art Gallery of Peterborough, and the New Canadians Centre.
Currently, Bingbin lives and works in Toronto. She recently obtained her master degree (M.A. in Arts Leadership) from Queen's University, Bingbin is also taking courses with the Ontario Museum Association.
Among hundreds of pieces of the Malklaiheung Collection, Bingbin's favourite is an early Song Dynasty Mi Se Ci (秘色瓷, a refined form of Yue ware which has a thin and smooth layer of glaze) featuring two phoenixes dancing. She also appreciates her first collector piece, a Liangzhu jade bead from Ian.