Greetings to you all from the Christchurch Branch.
The Christchurch branch is in good heart with the numbers staying static (100 – 110 ) with new members taking the place of members retiring due to age & other factors.
It has been another very busy year for the society with our monthly meetings of inspiring speakers on topics –
- Art
- Religion
- Life experiences – Dave Adamson on his years working with the CCC
- Tours – both prominent persons , projects visits
- Education – Zhihong Lu spoke on her vision for the Rewi Alley Cultural Centre
– Confucius Institute at the University of Canterbury
In August we showed the film “The Children of the Silk Road” & had a discussion what was fact & what was fiction.
The annual National Day banquet was a real success with our patron the Hon. Philip Burton attending and giving the address. This was our fundraising for the He Mingqing Scholarship – we were able to send approximately $1,200 to national which was a marvellous effort
We had 2 members have books published this year both books were really interesting & enjoyable
Bill Willmott – “KIWI DRAGON: The Chinese in Aotearoa New Zealand”
Jane Carswell (Hole) – “UNDER THE HUANG JIAO TREE” This book won the Whitcoulls Travel Book of the YearAward. Congratulations Jane – I have a copy of the book & order forms for anyone who is interested in buying it
The Prize giving ceremony on the 4th December was a great success, with Joe Bennett being our guest speaker. Thanks to Di Madgin & her sub committee who worked with the CPIT to hold this annual event a lot of work goes into this event to ensure its success – We hope in years to come with the work of the Confucius Institute we will have even more schools to give prizes to.
Visitors – The Youxie has organised several tours to come to Christchurch, during the year. In May the Shanghai Women’s Federation came & we introduced the delegation to the Country Women’s Insitute & took them out to Jenny Ward’s at Brookside –watch this space for more development between the organisations Due to the competition in China of who were the most revered foreigners, who had worked hard to help China, & Rewi Alley being rated number 7, we had tour groups coming through Christchurch to visit Rewi Alley sites. This kept the branch very active in November & December.
March was very busy as we had stalls at both the Lantern Festival & Culture Galore which were very successful
Judy Livingstone, President NZCFS, Christchurch
