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Nelson Branch Newsletter No. 3 – April, 2016

106

monkey1_mod~ MLA INSIGHT & INSTRUCTION ~monkey3

 

~ April meeting ~

 

Friday 29 April, 5:30 p.m.

Over the last couple of years our membership has become acquainted with a number of Mandarin Language Assistants who, through the Confucius Institute, offer Mandarin language instruction to primary, intermediate and adult learners in our community. 

Our April membership meeting will feature Emma and Haley, our current Nelson MLAs. They will begin the evening by sharing their term one work experiences – from teaching Mandarin to working on cultural projects with their students.

Emma and Haley at Race Unity Day
Emma and Haley at Race Unity Day

Their presentation will also include Mandarin instruction for the beginning adult learner. Using song and basic language tools, Haley and Emma will offer our membership an opportunity to learn a valuable and useful travel phrase or two. Undoubtedly, the evening will be entertaining and educational for our membership.

The meeting will be at Hearing House, Trafalgar Square, and the presentation will be preceded by a short business meeting and a shared meal ($12). Friends and visitors are most welcome, but please notify Barbara so that we can have accurate numbers.

To arrange catering, please ring:
Barbara Markland ph. 544 4712 by Tuesday 26 April
text: 021 447 180      e-mail: [email protected]

Race Unity Day: 

Once again NZCFS had a stall at Race Unity Day offering, for a donation to the He Ming Qing fund, a tasting of a number of Chinese teas. We also had a sales table selling Chinese treasures donated by members. These activities raised nearly $120. Many thanks to those who donated goods and helped on the day.
A few photographs to show some of the activities and the flavour of the event. The weather was fine and a good time was had by all. There were many performances from a varied number of groups. One of the more difficult parts of the day was trying to decide which of the many ethnic foods to have for lunch.

From Executive, April:

As a result of the work in schools by Mandarin Language Assistants, this branch now has 4 new member schools. (Update – we now have 5 school members.)
Bill Findlater will visit Huangshi and other cities in China in May with a group of Nelson & Marlborough school principals to attract international students. It is expected that a contract with Huangshi Number 3 High School will be signed on behalf of Nelson College for Girls.
Executive have decided not to set up a Facebook page for our branch, as it was felt that there is little need for it at present.
There will be four delegates from China at the Sister Cities Conference this month. See below.
John Armstrong, Principal of Henley School, is in Huangshi at present with a group of NZ principals being hosted by the Confucius Institute.

Sister Cities Conference: 

Nelson, April 27 – 30. In addition to the branch members who will be attending (Ferry van Mansum, Barbara Markland, Christine Ward), there are delegates from the equivalent Chinese organisation (CPAFFC or ‘Youxie’). Some of these are people members have met or travelled with in China. The list is:
1. Mr. Xie Yuan, Vice President of Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries;
2. Mr. Hao Zhongwei (Felix), Deputy Director General of the Department of American and Oceanian Affairs, CPAFFC;
3. Ms. Wang Lidan (Linda), Deputy Director of the Division of Canadian and Oceanian Affairs, Department of American and Oceanian Affairs, CPAFFC;
4. Mr. Liu Wei (David), Staff of the Division of Canadian and Oceanian Affairs, Department of American and Oceanian Affairs, CPAFFC.
Linda is particularly well-known to a number of us. It appears that they will not be able to be present for the whole conference.
There will also be a representative from the Chinese Embassy attending the conference: Lin Zheng, Attache of Cultural Section, Chinese Embassy in New Zealand.

Memories of Michael Beatson: 

NZCFS Nelson lost a good friend on March 17, after his valiant struggle with declining health. For many years Michael Beatson has been there for NZCFS, working with his quiet practical competence, often in the background.
Although not on our committee, Michael always worked alongside Kathy, a long-time committee member and Vice President. He has helped with hosting, transporting, greeting, setting up for events and cleaning up afterwards. Even last August, when he was not well, Michael was at The Refinery ArtSpace with his trusty tool-kit and ladder constructing hanging points for the artworks.
Kathy and Michael hosted many NZCFS events at their home, and these have been enjoyed by visitors from China, Consulates, Confucius Institute, and National Executive members, as well as local members. Michael is sadly missed and our heartfelt sympathies go to Kathy and the family.
Kathy has expressed grateful thanks for the love and support she received from Branch members at the time of Michael’s illness and death.

Appo Hocton video: 

A Christchurch member has memories of seeing a short video about Appo Hocton, and has enquired if we have a copy. The branch does not appear to have anything like this. If you have any knowledge of such a video, even if you can confirm its existence, please contact President Ferry.

NZCFS Annual Conference & AGM: 

Tauranga May 27 – 29.
Have you registered yet for our annual conference? This year it will be held at Tauranga’s Historic Village. The theme of the conference is Hǎo shì duō mó – 好事多磨 – “Good things take time”.
Register by 24 April and the registration is only $110; after that date it will be $140, so be sure to get your registration in quick for this great conference!
You can find all the details, including the programme and registration form, at https://nzchinasociety.org.nz/23968/register-now-for-the-societys-national-conference-agm/.

NZCFS Educational Tour: 

South-West China, October, 23 days.
Do you fancy visiting Shangrila (it does exist!)? Would you like to see both the Yangtse and the Mekong? Have you thought it would be nice to visit Kunming or Chengdu? This tour can help, but it will require a reasonable level of fitness, as some of the travel will be above 4000m altitude. If you or someone you know could be interested, look at the web-site https://nzchinasociety.org.nz/22403/nzcfs-explore-china-the-south-west-tour-21-days-october-2016/.

From other branches: 

Christchurch branch newsletter reports that Invercargill is working towards a Chinese Garden in Queen’s Park to recognise the sister city relationship with Suqian, Jiangsu province.
Suqian is a ‘prefecture level city’ meaning that, as well as the urban area, the city governs a number of rural counties. As an example, Huangshi is also a prefecture level city and on entering Huangshi City you may still be 100km from the Huangshi urban area.
Invercargill is planning to build a Friendship Garden in Suqian and is the first city to be invited to build one there.
Wellington branch newsletter reports on the experiences of Joanna Chan in volunteering with an organisation helping underprivileged children in Baoji, near Xi’an. It also reports on mangrove conservation in China and the 2016 Environmental Delegation to China.

New member: 

We welcome Sue Willan to the branch.
Subscriptions are due: 

Single member – $15, couple $25
These can be paid at a branch meeting or by direct transfer to the Westpac account 03-0703-0369680-00.
If you are paying directly please contact Royden (e-mail [email protected], phone 547 6608) to inform him of your payment. 

A full pdf version of this newsletter is available at NZCFSNelsonApril2016.pdf