Home Nelson Branch Newsletters Nelson Branch...

Nelson Branch Newsletter No. 6 – July 2016

135

monkey1_mod~ July 2016 Meeting ~monkey3

~ PP&L 2016 Delegates,
Jifang and Rachel Reporting ~

 

Friday 29 July, 5:30 p.m.

 

Once again, as in previous years, Nelson delegates made up a good proportion of the Prominent Persons and Leaders Tour (PP&L) when Jifang Black and Rachel Boyack went to China. This tour, somewhat shorter than those in the past, was arranged by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (Youxie). It incorporated the Seventh Friendship Forum, held in Chuzhou, Anhui Province, from July 5 to 6. The theme of the forum was ‘Different Culture, One Heart’.

The letter of invitation from Li Xiaolin, President of CPAFFC, included this:

I’d like to express high respect and sincere appreciation to the New Zealand China Friendship Society who has, over the years made unremitting efforts and great contribution to the promotion of friendship between the peoples of China and New Zealand.

Chuzhou is about 380 km by road west of Shanghai where Jifang and Rachel spent a couple of days before going to Hefei, the provincial capital, and meeting the others on the tour. After some visits in Hefei, the group travelled to Chuzhou for the forum. While in the Chuzhou area, they visited a housing development, historic sites and a temple on Langya Mountain.

Rachel and Jifang will tell us about the forum and other highlights of their brief travel in Anhui Province. Jifang has been visiting her mother and will return from China the day before our meeting.

During the business meeting from 5.30 to 6 pm we will be welcoming Nelson’s two new Mandarin Language Assistants who are here for a year, joining Haley in working in the Confucius Institute Mandarin in Schools programme. We will also be welcoming the 2016 Appo Hocton Scholar who has come from Hubei Polytechnic University in Huangshi to study at NMIT.

 

The meeting will be at Hearing House, 354 Trafalgar Square (next to Synagogue Lane). It will be preceded by a short business meeting and a shared meal costing $12 from the Nelson Oriental Restaurant. Visitors are welcome.

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

 

Nelson Branch celebrates 25 years – Our meeting on June 24th commemorated 25 years since the branch was formed. President Ferry showed a pictorial summary of events and membership roles, many extracted from newspaper clippings. The gathering at which it was decided to form a branch was initiated by Bill Willmott and held at Chez Eelco. Early meetings were held in members’ homes, before attendances required larger premises. A number of foundation members were present at our 25th party, demonstrating the strength Nelson has gained from its early establishment with enthusiastic friends of China.

IMG_3725-1024x1024A big surprise for Treasurer Royden Smith came when he was called up to the front and told he was being made a Life Member of the Branch, for his devoted service in such roles as treasurer and newsletter editor.

There was a wonderful spread of pot luck dishes for members to enjoy along with their wine and fruit juices. After the meal, Past President Christine Ward showed her summary of the Nelson-Huangshi Schools’ Art Exchange Project which had been prepared for the Sister Cities Conference, tracing the history of NZCFS connections with Huangshi.

As MLA Emma was about to return to China after her eventful year teaching Mandarin in Nelson, she was presented with a farewell gift and good wishes for her next adventures.

 

 

MLAs_julyNew Mandarin Language Assistants – Nelson is to be getting two new Mandarin Language Assistants. They are presently on a course in Auckland and will arrive in Nelson this Saturday. One is to replace Emma, who has returned to China, and the other will be allocated to the new Chinese Language schools cluster based at Nayland College. President Ferry and executive member Lillian met them at the Confucius Institute at University of Canterbury last weekend.

 

He Ming Qing fund – Thanks to the generosity of our members, we have a healthy balance for this, and the national account is also looking good. The He Ming Qing committee report that the two current scholars are about to complete final exams, and have been very successful students. The committee are hoping to secure a new Nursing Scholar to start at the beginning of the academic year.

 

Alvin’s walnuts – Our fundraising for the He Ming Qing scholarship fund has been given a considerable boost from the shelled walnuts which Alvin Schroder donated at our last meeting. Sales of the walnuts amounted to $95, all of which goes to He Ming Qing funds. Many thanks, Alvin, for your generous donation.

 

New students at NMIT – A new intake of about 70 Chinese students have arrived in Nelson, and among them is the new Appo Hocton Scholar, Yuan Meng. Meng is the third recipient of the scholarship arranged between Nelson NZCFS and NMIT to subsidise a year’s study for a student from Hubei Polytechnic University (HBPU) in Huangshi. We look forward to meeting her on July 29th when we will be reminded of the legacy of Appo Hocton (Ah Poo Hoc Ting) who was Nelson’s first Chinese resident and New Zealand’s first naturalised Chinese.

 

Photographs of China at the Suter – From now until late August, the Suter Gallery has a touring exhibition developed by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa of some very special photographs of China and Japan by a renowned photographer.

Brian Brake: Lens on China and Japan offers two slices from Brian Brake’s long career: photographs of China in the late 1950s, and photographs of Japan between 1963 and 1964. Today these images rank firmly among his best work. Brake was one of only a small number of Western photographers to gain access to China in the 1950s. He travelled extensively, taking many photographs of everyday scenes. These were eagerly snapped up by international magazines. As well as 32 prints, the exhibition includes documentary footage and examples of magazines in which Brake’s work appeared. This is an exhibition not to be missed.

 

NZCFS Explore China: The Northwest/Silk Road Tour October 2017 – The itinerary for this tour is now available, and looks very interesting. It covers some of what is called the Southern Silk Road as well as crossing the Taklamakan Desert to go to Turpan and and then the more familiar northern Silk Road destinations. This itinerary is on the NZCFS Silk Road Tour 2017.

 

From Executive, July

  • Children’s Culture Camps: Ferry and Lillian will attend the Rewi Alley school in Christchurch on Monday 18 July to get information about the programme there, including costs, resources, possibilities for Nelson.
  • Sister-City: The opening of the Nelson Garden in Huangshi has been scheduled for 26 September and an invitation for a delegation of 6 sent to the Mayor’s office. Bill Findlater will lead the delegation in the Mayor’s absence. Barbara is to write and request that the branch be represented.
  • NMIT students: 70 students are expected to arrive in Nelson mid-July, many from Huangshi and including the Appo Hocton scholar, Yuan Meng.
  • Jane Lister has been co-opted to the Nelson executive committee.
  • Chinese Language Cluster: Based at Nayland College, this will be launched in August with lessons aiming to meet the needs of the NZ curriculum. The Confucius Institute has offered free lessons to interested teachers.
  • Rewi Alley celebrations: Ferry is in contact with the Museum exploring the possibility of a photographic exhibition related to Rewi Alley.
  • Spring festival: Mark is working with Jaycob Brown and a group from the Student Union at NMIT to arrange the festival to be held in the courtyard at NMIT September 15, 4:30-8:30 with the welcome at 5 p.m. The branch was asked for help with videos, games, and suggestions for a bi-lingual MC. The focus will be Chinese but there will entertainment from different minority groups.
  • International students will also be invited to the branch celebration of the Moon Festival at the end of September.
  • Emma Zhang: A delightful message of thanks to the branch was received from Emma on her return to China. A MLA to replace Emma is expected in the next few weeks.
  • A reminder: a new Treasurer will be required from the 2017 AGM.

 

From other branches:

Waimakariri District Council has signed a sister city agreement with the Prefecture of Enshi in Western Hubei province. While the population of the Prefecture is much bigger than Waimakariri’s, the mix of rural and urban areas seemed to be a good fit, as is the fact that Christchurch’s sister city of Wuhan is also in Hubei. (Note: Nelson’s sister city, Huangshi, is in Hubei, about 600km east of Enshi.)

The West Coast towns of Kumara and Ross are both developing Chinese Miners Memorial Reserves to honour the many Chinese, mainly from Guangdong, who came to work the goldfields.

 

China_beachChina’s Gold Coast? – A friend of Rosalina has sent this photograph of a beach in China. We don’t know just where this is, but it looks like the place to go if you like company at the beach!

 

Rewi Alley Memories – Rewi refers to swimming and beaches in his autobiographies and poems. He learned to swim in the Oreti River in Southland where he spent his summer holidays on the family farm. He records missing beaches in his long years in China and made a point of enjoying the sea on his visits to New Zealand. In January, 1972, he visited Nelson and wrote two poems while here, remarking on the ‘broad strand at Rabbit Island and the bunch of children there’.

 

Life membership citation – A copy of the citation for Royden’s life membership is here: Royden’s citation

A full pdf version of this newsletter is available at NZCFSNelsonJuly2016.pdf