Welcome to new NZCSF National President:
Wednesday 26 June 2013, 7.30pm at Parent’s Place, 87 Boundary Road (Lounge in front house).
A chance for all our members and any interested people to meet and talk to Dave Bromwich and his vision of the way forward for NZCFS. All welcome, and you are especially invited to bring a friend who may be interested. There will be a meal before the main meeting so that people can talk to the new President. There will be food supplied and plates and cutlery for a casual meal and cup of tea. Cost is $10 per person to pay on the night and we will attend from 5.30 with the meal at 6.00pm Please leave a message with the treasurer Diane ph 07-843 8009 or email [email protected] , secretary Ian ph 07-8559431 email [email protected] by Tuesday evening if you wish to join in the meal…. ..Friends are welcome!
Annual Mid-Winter Luncheon:
Sunday 21 July 11.30am to 2pm at Parent’s Place, 87 Boundary Road (back room).
This year we are having a dumpling making demonstration, then we cook them, then we eat them. Guest demonstrators will cover several different styles of Chinese dumplings. Hands on training and experience, and a lot of good taste, and fun
Invitation to join NZCFS Delegation to Torch Festival, Yunnan Province:
The Chuxiong Prefecture Government has issued a request, through our Honorary Patron Simon Deng Li, for NZCFS members to attend their Annual Torch Festival. Members will have to pay their own airfares from NZ to Kunming and return, and will be hosted by Chuxiong Prefecture who will cover all costs (accommodation, transportation etc) during the visiting period. The hosts will pick up our delegation from Kunming airport at 1400 hrs on 29 July, and drive the delegation back to Kunming Changshui Airport at 1300hrs on 2nd August. ( for detailed Itinerary see website) So far two NZCFS members have confirmed they will be on this delegation, and further members are welcomed. There are of course options for anyone for further personal travel in China before or after the delegation visit. If you are interested in joining this delegation please contact Dave Bromwich [email protected] as soon as possible
MORE …. http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/Yunnan/chuxiong/
Diverse China – NZCFS Projects, Nature, Culture, History China Tour October 2013 
A feast of scenery, culture and history with an NZCFS project rural cooperative visit included, with those who know China best. NZCFS offers an opportunity to travel in October 2013 to exotic destinations in China with the New Zealand China Friendship Society, who will show how 60 years of friendship and experience in China produce an unforgettable journey.
A further tour in the highly acclaimed “Projects” series, it includes a visit to an NZCFS project cooperative, where we meet our project partners and rural communities, and experience real life first hand. The comprehensive itinerary takes you beyond, to sites in a diverse cultural and geographical environment. Travel from Yan’an, Shaanxi, in the north to Guilin, Guangxi, in the south through exceptional sites not often included in tours. This tour will take you to dramatic iconic scenery and diverse ethnic communities, from modern history and ancient towns, to tastes of culture old and new. It will reward both old China hands and those new to China with rich experiences, memories and photographic opportunity. With over twenty years experience in China, and leader of earlier tours, your NZ tour leader will be NZCFS president Dave Bromwich. Joining the group in China is the very popular Wang Fang, who has accompanied four previous NZCFS tours as in-China guide. She receives the highest accolades from those in previous groups who have enjoyed her warmth, sense of humour, and dedication to making your time the most enjoyable. For more information, look at www.nzchinasociety.org.nz Or contact Dave Bromwich direct to enquire and register your interest. [email protected] or call 06 8779930
He Ming Qing (Kathleen Hall) Memorial Fundraising Dinner:
held at Canton Hong Kong Restaurant on Sunday 5 May 2013
raised $580-00. Our sincere thanks to all those who supported this event.
Hamilton Golden Age Society Function held 12 June
At Age Concern Centre 10am to 1.30pm.
This was a “double happiness” event celebrating the 5th anniversary of the formation of the Society,
as well as celebrating Dragon Boat Festival (Duan W
u Jie). Deputy Consul General
Mrs TANG Wenjuan and Culture Consul LONG Yanping from the Consulate General of PRC in Auckland were among the honoured guests.
Our branch was represented by Ian Howat. The Centre was well packed with members, friends and guests and enjoyed celebrations with a video show of highlights of the first five years of Golden Age Society activities, an explanation on the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival, speeches by various dignatories, and a number of cultural items including a magic act, singing and dancing. All present were then treated to a lunch including traditional Dragon Boat dumplings (zhongzi). Our congratulations to Golden Age Society on their success and progress forward over the past five years, and in particular, their outstanding contribution to Chinese cultural life in Hamilton.
NZCFS Conference Report:
Jenevere, Meryl, Diane, Harry, Yao, and Ian from Hamilton Branch attended the Annual Conference in Christchurch 24 – 26 May at the University of Canterbury Campus.
The theme of this conference was Chinese Culture. We had a delegation of 10, including 4 painters, from the Beijing People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries attending the first part of the conference. We were treated to an exhibition of Chinese traditional painting and art, with an opportunity to see most of the artists painting, hands on participation with paper cuts, calligraphy, taiji,, and chopsticks games. Ian has a copy of the brochure with pictures of the paintings exhibited if anyone wishes to borrow it. We had cultural items – singing, dancing, and poetry readings between most of the sessions on the Saturday.
Yao played the Guzheng at tea breaks, lunch, and at the Conference Dinner. First item of the Conference was a talk given by Peter Chin, former mayor of Dunedin, on “The Importance of Sister Cities in China for New Zealand: Dunedin – Shanghai Sister – Cityhood as an Example”.
Peter was introduced by Dr 
Adam Lam, Director of the Confucius Institute of Canterbury. The Confucius Institute of Canterbury was established in 2009, and already has three regional resource centres (Nelson, Invercargill, and Christchurch and four Confucius classrooms in Christchurch. Peter explained how sister cities play an important role in modernization of China in promoting development. China is now New Zealand’s second largest tourist source, and our largest source of Asian students. Peter noted that often ratepayers were suspicious of “meaningful” relationships with people living overseas, and he discussed this and the benefits (what is in it for us) of sister city relationships. The Dunedin Chamber of Commerce is now closely linked with Shanghai Chamber of Commerce, which assists in opening up trade links. One of the hardest men in China to obtain direct contact with is the Mayor of Shanghai, who holds a post equivalent to Prime Minister level. Because of this Dunedin-Shanghai link, the mayor of Dunedin has direct access to the Mayor of Shanghai. This was an excellent talk and very clearly demonstrated the value of a Chinese sister city link to a New Zealand city – we hope that Peter’s address notes can be published in full on our website.
We also met the Consul-General of PRC in Christchurch Mme TAN Xiutian, and her husband Mr Jayson Zhang who launched his new bilingual book “The Beauty of New Zealand” at the conference. We are sure that many of the speech papers given by various speakers will be available through our website.
On the Saturday night we attended the Conference Banquet. Held at Daphne’s Restaurant, the food and service was excellent and we all had a wonderful evening – one of the highlights of the evening was the attendance by former National President Bill Wilmott and Dianne Madgin – Bill has not been too well recently, and they are in the middle of moving in to their new house – a great pleasure to catch up with such close friends again.
…
Harry and Ian flew down to Christchurch on the Friday morning and returned to Hamilton on Monday afternoon, so had some time to see at first hand the devastation from the earthquakes. We first visited the city centre – we had seen a lot of pictures on TV at the time of the earthquakes,
but it was a shock to find much of the centre still closed to traffic and pedestrians – many empty sections where buildings had been demolished, some empty buildings that still appear to be untouched since the earthquakes, and buildings with only street front wall left standing propped up – we presumed that at some time a new building will be added to the original façade. 
We visited the city centre on Friday afternoon – it was incredibly quiet and deserted. On Sunday afternoon Lou Klinkhamer, after we made a brief visit to the Asian section of the Canterbury Museum,
kindly took us out to visit the Bexley subdivision near the coast north of Christchurch – most houses completely deserted – many, from driving past them, did not appear to be damaged – yet surprised to see few broken windows – almost a whole suburb now a ghost town. One could only wonder just what happened to all the families who had lived here.
If Anyone requires a lift to a meeting Please Call A Committee Member
Co-Presidents: Jenevere Foreman 07-850 1312
Miao FAN 07-854 8051
Vice Presidents: Peter Vautier 07-855 3922
Harry van den Berg 028-710 2411
Secretary: Ian Howat 07-855 9431
Treasurer: Diane Lanting 07-843 8009
Committee: Miles Barker 07-856 3778
Helen WANG 07-829 8449
Shihou PAN 021-035 6782
Warm Welcome to our new Members : Dong SU
Lu HE
Jia LUO
Erin Tipping-Clatworthy
Mandarin Corner Waikato University:
Our Branch executive committee has made a grant of $350-00 to Waikato Chinese Culture Club to cover budgeted deficit for their first year of operating Mandarin Corner.
Nominations are sought for delegates on the NZCFS Prominent Persons and Leaders Tour:
PROMINENT PERSONS AND SOCIETY LEADERS DELEGATION
Our Society has been invited by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (Youxie) to send a delegation of Prominent People from our Country and Society Leaders to China during September this year. The purpose of the delegation’s visit is to build relationships and friendships between our two peoples, to visit some unique parts of China, and give a positive perspective of modern China. The delegation this year will be led by Mr. Bernie Richmond from Wellington Branch. Bernie is the Immediate Past President of the Wellington Branch and current National Executive Member.
The Delegation of 10 people will commence their visit by flying on 21 September from Auckland arriving on 22 September. The delegation this year will visit Guangzhou, Capital City of Guangdong Province, Kumming, the Capital City of Yunnan Province, Xi’an, the Capital City of Shaanxi Province, and then onto the beautiful City of Wuhan, the Capital City of Hubei Province and finally departing from Shanghai City.
We are pleased to advise that Delegates travel, accommodation, meals and sightseeing costs for the 10 days in China from Sunday 22 September to Monday 30 September will be met by Youxie, your hosts. Delegates will be responsible for their own airfares from New Zealand to Guangzhou and return from Shanghai to New Zealand, together with insurance, personal visa cost plus a contribution towards the cost of gifts, tips and leader’s expenses. Based on previous costs and dependent on changing international airfares, New Zealand flight costs, an estimate would be $3,000 per delegate including insurance and visa. All personal and additional expenses will be borne by the delegates themselves.
Prominent Persons:
These are leaders in the community who will benefit from visiting China. They are people who are in positions in the community that could lead to support for some NZCFS goals, and who are prepared to speak about their experience. They can come from a broad range of sectors, and have included teachers and principals, editors, local body councillors, community workers, business and professional people.
NZCFS leaders:
These people are deserving Branch committee members (or sometimes general Branch members) who are showing promise of becoming more active in the branch in the future. They may, or may not, have visited China before, but would benefit from this opportunity. The selection panel is looking to encourage new blood to become active in NZCFS work, and selection is not generally made as a reward for work done.
Nomination Forms and detailed Itinerary are available at the Branch Secretary Ian Howat
Please note the deadline for applications is 12 July 2013.
Dragon Boat Festival 2013
Wednesday, June 12, 2013 The Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu Festival, Duãnwû Jié, Double Fifth, Tuen Ng Jit) is a traditional holiday that commemorates the life and death of the famous Chinese scholar Qu Yuan (Chu Yuan). The festival occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month on the Chinese lunar calendar.
What do people do?
The Dragon Boat Festival is a celebration where many eat rice dumplings (zongzi), drink realgar wine (xionghuangjiu), and race dragon boats. Other activities include hanging icons of Zhong Kui (a mythic guardian figure), hanging mugwort and calamus, taking long walks, writing spells and wearing perfumed medicine bags. All of these activities and games such as making an egg stand at noon were regarded by the ancients as an effective way of preventing disease, evil, while promoting good health and well-being. People sometimes wear talismans to fend off evil spirits or they may hang the picture of Zhong Kui, a guardian against evil spirits, on the door of their homes.In the Republic of China, the festival was also celebrated as “Poets’ Day” in honor of Qu Yuan, who is known as China’s first poet. Chinese citizens traditionally throw bamboo leaves filled with cooked rice into the water and it is also customary to eat tzungtzu and rice dumplings.
Public LifeThe festival was long marked as a cultural holiday in China. However, it wasn’t until 2008 that the Dragon Boat Festival was recognized as a traditional and statutory public holiday in the People’s Republic of China.Many believe that the Dragon Boat Festival originated in ancient China based on the suicide of the poet and statesman of the Chu kingdom, Qu Yuan in 278 BCE
. The festival commemorates the life and death of the famous Chinese scholar Qu Yuan, who was a loyal minister of the King of Chu in the third century BCE. Qu Yuan’s wisdom and intellectual ways antagonized other court officials, thus they accused him of false charges of conspiracy and was exiled by the king. During his exile, Qu Yuan composed many poems to express his anger and sorrow towards his sovereign and people.
Qu Yuan drowned himself by attaching a heavy stone to his chest and jumping into the Miluo River in 278 BCE at the age of 61. The people of Chu tried to save him believing that Qu Yuan was an honorable man; they searched desperately in their boats looking for Qu Yuan but were unable to save him. Every year the Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated to commemorate this attempt at rescuing Qu Yuan.
The local people began the tradition of throwing sacrificial cooked rice into the river for Qu Yuan, while others believed that the rice would prevent the fishes in the river from eating Qu Yuan’s body. At first, the locals decided to make zongzi in hopes that it would sink into the river and reach Qu Yuan’s body. However, the tradition of wrapping the rice in bamboo leaves to make zongzi began the following year.
A dragon boat is a human-powered boat or paddle boat that is traditionally made of teak wood to various designs and sizes. They usually have brightly decorated designs that range anywhere from 40 to 100 feet in length, with the front end shaped like open-mouthed dragons, and the back end with a scaly tail. The boat can have up to 80 rowers to power the boat, depending on the length. A sacred ceremony is performed before any competition in order to “bring the boat to life” by painting the eyes. The first team to grab a flag at the end of the course wins the race.
The zong zi is a glutinous rice ball with a filling and wrapped in corn leaves. The fillings can be egg, beans, dates, fruits, sweet potato, walnuts, mushrooms, meat, or a combination of them. They are generally steamed. It is said that if you can balance a raw egg on its end at exactly noon on Double Fifth Day, the rest of the year will be lucky.
The hanging of calamus and moxa on the front door, the pasting up pictures of Chung Kuei, drinking hsiung huang wine and holding fragrant sachets are said to possess qualities for preventing evil and bringing peace. Another custom practiced in Taiwan is “fetching noon water,” in which people draw well water on the afternoon of the festival in the belief that it will cure all illnesses.
WCA Woman’s Group Meeting
Saturday 13 July 2013: Starting at 1.30pm at Waikato Chinese Community Centre, 45 Lewis Street, Glenview.
Talk on “The History of the Chinese in Auckland” by David Wong Hop covering:
Colonial Auckland 1850-1920
The earliest that Chinese came to Auckland; visit by CHANG Ah-Gow, 8’9” tall
Arrival in Auckland of 200 coolies en route to Dunedin
Wide spread use of opium
Auckland City’s first market area – traders and importers
Tax on Chinese. ie. Poll Tax, rice, opium etc
Chinese foundation – families and their businesses in Auckland etc
Newspaper articles about Chinese persons, events in Auckland
Role of the foundation families
Ah Chee’s interest in horse racing, motor racing
Census details. ie. How many Chinese men and women
Shipping bones back to China – raising funds for this
China town businesses and police raids
Reverend Donn’s visit to Auckland
Chinese: Market gardening, fruit shops, laundries etc in Auckland etc
Marriages, inter-marriages, divorces, murders etc
The talk itself will take 60 – 8o minutes, followed by question time and afternoon tea
Everyone welcome – non WCA members gold coin donation please. To assist with catering please RSVP to Helen ph 07 843 4691, or email Isabel [email protected] or Janet [email protected] The meeting should be finished by 4pm
Subs Are Due now!! ( over Due ) If You haven’t paid… still can be done…
