Pam Frahm

in

South-East China

~ Next meeting: 22 November, 2013 ~

The full pdf of this newsletter is available at: NZCFSNelsonNovember13.pdf

Pam and Fred Frahm came to this year’s Chinese New Year banquet and the next moment they were booked for their first China experience – a NZ China Friendship Society tour to South-East China! Pam is an enthusiastic and very talented photographer so, as a record of their marvellous experience, this talk will be very special. She has also produced an amazing book which some of you will have already seen.

Along with fellow member, Sally Warren, they began their journey in Guangzhou and ended in Shanghai. On the way there were many highlights, including the extraordinary Hakka Roundhouses, that have not been accessible for very long and where many Chinese leaders have been born, and Jingdezhen, which is the home of Chinese porcelain and has a very long history. 

If you are unable to travel back to China, this will be the next best thing!

As usual, we will begin at 5.30 p.m. and then enjoy our buffet meal (cost $12), at 6 o’clock. Our speaker will begin about 7 o’clock. Friends and visitors are most welcome but please notify Barbara when you contact her so we have accurate numbers for the meal.

Friday 22 November .. Hearing House .. 5:30 pm

To arrange catering, please ring:

Barbara Markland ph. 544 4712 by Tuesday 19 November

text: 021 447 180 e-mail: [email protected]

LAST MEETING – TEA STORIES: Over 40 members and visitors sat around the tables with their cups of calming green tea, to watch our ‘Tea Culture in China’ DVD. Camellia leaves and teapots on the tables, and the close proximity of the tables, created a suitably Chinese atmosphere.  Mr Tea (aka Mark Soper) was introduced and presented the beginning of his story before the meal arrived. Mark had samples of different teas, some of which he had blended himself, to demonstrate the range of qualities for strengthening heart, liver, lungs, spleen, and kidneys, according to long-held Chinese beliefs. Thanks, Mark, for sharing your passion and increasing our knowledge and appreciation of the health-giving properties of Chinese teas.

MEMBER NEWS:

• We warmly welcome Gavin Carter and Lisa Kitching, Tom Besson, Ruth Copeland, and Dongrui Pang as new members and look forward to seeing them along at our meetings.

• Congratulations to Kathy and Michael Beatson who celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with family and friends over Labour Weekend.

NAME BADGES: It would greatly appreciated if everyone could check to see if they have any spare name badges at home and bring them along to the next meeting – thanks.

LESHAN DANCERS: Nelson people were enchanted by the presence of this talented group of dancers from Sichuan Province – the highlight of the Arts Festival for many. Some of us attended the mihi welcome, enjoyed the astounding performance of earthquake-themed “Faultlines” at the Theatre Royal, and shared, with the Nelson Chinese Society, a barbeque/picnic in the Huangshi Chinese Garden.

Their colourful costumes were a real stand-out during the Mask Parade and, with the Nelson Chinese Society, they were awarded Second Prize – a wonderful way to finish their time in NZ.

At their Chinese Folk Dance workshop, some just watched, but members Jifang Black and Dongrui Pang took part, displaying impressive energy and skill.

VISIT OF NEW DEPUTY CONSUL GENERAL: Li Xin arrived in New Zealand recently to serve as the Deputy Consul General at the People’s Republic of China Consulate in Christchurch.

Nelson was top-of-the-list for his first official tour and he was here last week with Liu Lian (Policy and Media Consul) and Wu Shengyu (General Office Consul), both also relatively recent arrivals.

Member and Chief Executive of the Nelson Regional Economic Development Agency, Bill Findlater, ensured they gained a great impression of Nelson and Tasman as they visited both Mayors, Rachel Reese and Richard Kempthorne, the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology and several local businesses.

Some Nelson Branch office bearers were invited to enjoy an evening at the Nelson Oriental Restaurant with these charming envoys from the PRC of China.

CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE RESOURCE CENTRE AT NMIT: An exciting milestone was achieved last week when the Confucius Institute, based at Canterbury University, established a Chinese Resource Centre at the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology. After several visits by Confucius Institute Director, Dr. Adam Lam, and Deputy Director, Prof. Hong Hu, and many discussions with NMIT CEO, Tony Gray, and Applied Business and China Programme Leader, Ian Lister, enthusiastically supported by Nisa Rose, two rooms in NMIT’s Applied Business facility have been dedicated for this purpose and books and other resources have been supplied by the Confucius Institute. Nisa will also have her office there.

The official opening was performed by Deputy Consul Li Xin. 

The resource centre is now a place where people interested in ‘all things Chinese’ can gather – somewhere for Chinese students to relax and socialise, as well as a facility that can be easily utilised by school, community and business groups.

Prof. Hong Hu comes from our Sister City, Huangshi, and has a special connection with Nelson, having been here to speak to our branch a couple of years ago and also to head the delegation that joined with us to have a Chinese stall (in the rain) at Race Unity Day in 2012.

DENG FUND AWARD: A full report and balance sheet was sent to the Deng Fund Committee last month. We have been congratulated on our ‘excellent project’ and offered the chance to apply again but we feel we need to finish off the 2013 Appo Hocton book project before possibly applying again in 2015.

We have spent the $7,500 award on printing and distributing free copies of the book to other NZCFS branches and to every NZ secondary school and we are now selling the remainder of the books to generate more funds. While sales have slowed at present, we have contributed $1,000 to our Huangshi scholars and retain close to $450 to use for venue hire and catering for a Chinese school holiday programme (see below).

Members may like to consider Christmas gifts book purchases – they would be particularly good presents for ex-pat Nelsonians who may not yet know the Appo story!

CHINESE CULTURE SUMMER HOLIDAY PROGRAMME: The Confucius Institute will help us with resources for this three-day event, from 21-23 January, 2014, that has been designed so that school-age students (and their parents) can enjoy learning about several aspects of Chinese culture and be encouraged to move on to further Chinese study.

Some of the earnings from the sale of Appo Hocton books, and some of our member-energies, will go towards supporting this programme. It will be run by Rebecca Wu and Dongrui Pang, who both teach Chinese privately in Nelson.

Watch out for details being published through your family’s schools and help any interested students plan for this exciting, end-of-summer-holiday, event.

FRIENDSHIP DELEGATION TO HUANGSHI – OCTOBER, 2013: The group included Barbara and Roy Markland, June and Bryce Wild, Lori Brudvik-Lindner, Cathy Ewing (Principal, Nelson College for Girls) and Ruth Copeland. Barbara Markland, our Sister City Liaison person reports:

After a considerable number of ‘hiccups’ and changes to bookings, I was very relieved when we were all together on the bus in Wuhan with Bella and Ming, Zugui’s colleagues at the Huangshi Foreign Affairs Office. I had been told Zugui would not be in Huangshi during our visit and so it was a wonderful surprise to see him on our arrival at the hotel. The hotel we had booked proved very satisfactory and we were met by a brass band – we like to think it was for us, which wouldn’t be surprising when you consider how we were welcomed by all we met, but it may have had more to do with the wedding party at the hotel. The banquet that evening took place in our hotel.

On Tuesday we were taken to Lake Xiandao where we went across the lake on a boat to “Savage Island”. Here we had a pretty, if rather challenging, walk/hike through lovely countryside with ‘savages’ jumping out periodically to frighten us. We were astounded to come across a ‘Wall of Death’ with a motor cyclist performing, and then a stage set up with a group of Thai dancers. After lunch in the village, we visited the ancient copper mine area. In the evening there was a formal meeting with the Vice Mayor and then dinner hosted by the Municipal Government.

A most impressive visit was to the University for the Old Aged of Huangshi where about 1,000 people from 50-80 years of age, attend classes in calligraphy, Beijing Opera, keyboard, yoga, dance, computer skills, and English, to name just a few. The university is sponsored by the government and the costs to those attending are minimal. Mr Zhang, our Chinese Garden calligrapher, and his wife met us there and were very enthusiastic about seeing us.

We were also impressed with the Social Welfare Institute where Lori led our group. There was a very good pupil/carer ratio and the children, some of them very physically as well as mentally challenged, seemed very happy and relaxed. We were treated to a concert put on by the children that included ‘The Prince of Kungfu’ (by a boy with Down’s Syndrome), and singing and dancing. It brought a tear to the eye! We also enjoyed a sumptuous lunch there.

Cathy led our group at the Number 3 High School. We were met there by a large welcoming committee and were all presented with a bouquet of flowers. Maggie Cheng, who had taught at NCG, was in attendance. We were given a tour of the school and watched an English lesson (one teacher and 73 students!) before a meeting where we were asked to critique the lesson for the teacher and several of her colleagues. We also visited an art class and Cathy was presented with six, large, framed pictures done by students.

At Hubei Polytechnic University we were very pleased to meet some of the parents of our Huangshi Scholars: Sandie’s mother and father and Sucy’s father. They were very generous with gifts for us all.

We were pleased to be taken to a market. Zugui said it had been suggested that this be removed from the programme but he knew we would enjoy it and insisted the visit stay. Afterwards we were treated to a more casual lunch in a hotpot restaurant with the food passing by in small boats. A little like a sushi train. In the afternoon we went to the Huangshi Mining Park.

Dinner that night was “very joyful”, to use Zugui’s words. Mr Zhao Chongying, Deputy Secretary-General of the Huangshi Municipal Government, was very pleased to be attending an informal dinner after several official functions during the week. We were all very relaxed and there was much ‘ganbei-ing’. We even toasted the German Government for not giving Zugui his visa in time for him to make his trip. Meals throughout the week were superb – banquet dinners and lunches of 15-20 dishes, rarely repeated.

I would like to thank members of the group for their support during the visit. It was good to be able to share some of the more formal aspects of the trip and I am sure our friendship will endure.

I would also like to thank the branch for enabling the trip to take place. On a personal level it was lovely for me to have the work I do for the sister-city relationship recognised, and to realise it is appreciated at a level greater than just exchanging emails with Zugui.

The purpose of the visit was to cement and further develop the friendly relations with Huangshi and we all feel sure we achieved this. A bonus will be further contact between NCG and No 3 High School.

CHINESE NEW YEAR BANQUET 2014: The Eastern Cuisine Restaurant in Richmond has again been booked for this very popular occasion on Sunday 9 February. While Chinese New Year – the beginning of the Year of the Horse – will officially be observed on 31 January, 2014, we are going to celebrate a little later so we avoid the long weekend in Nelson from 1 – 3 February. Please put Sunday 9 February in your diary now so you can come along and join in the fun.

NELSON BRANCH MEMBERSHIP 2013: The Nelson Branch continues to go from strength to strength. Last year our membership increased by nearly 25% to 79. This year we have added another 10% to make 84. This is made up of:

Life members  3          Singles  32          Couples  21          Schools  5          Corporates  2

and, at last count, made us the third biggest branch in New Zealand, behind Wellington and Christchurch. Well done, Nelson!

FAMOUS FOR FOOD AND BEAUTIFUL GIRLS

– from Ferry van Mansum and Aukje Both

The first lesson with a new group of students always starts with introductions. We tell something about ourselves and where we come from and then we ask the students to do the same. Most students describe their home town as being famous for some kind of food … and beautiful girls. I guess you know about Beijing’s signature dish, Peking duck, but smaller places have their own local cuisine too. Zhangye is well-known for its fresh hand-pulled noodles, Lanzhou is famous for its beef noodles and you can’t go to Xining without tasting its cooked mutton, or leave Chongqing without having sampled its famous hotpot. Just about every kind of food seems to have a place where it tastes best.

Any student will be dead serious when they tell you their home town is famous for its potatoes, onions, corn or tea. Whenever we tell Chinese friends that we have traveled somewhere, they always ask if we have tried the local dishes. Sometimes we have, but it is not our main mission as it is for many Chinese. We love the atmosphere of the food stalls and night markets, but are still careful about eating food from street stalls. We have only once felt the effects of a meal gone wrong in the almost two years that we have been in China, and that was from the breakfast bar of a hotel we stayed at before embarking on a nineteen hour trip on a sleeper bus to Chengdu. The narrow sleeping bunks and the unscheduled emergency stops made it a trip to remember and a reminder to be extra careful with what we eat.

Here in the Hexi Corridor, even with the desert all around us, there is an abundance of fruit and vegetables that look fantastic and are sold fresh from the farm. However, juicy red strawberries, artistically peeled pineapples and pre-cut pieces of melon are best to be avoided. If it is not washed with bottled or boiled water, peeled by yourself, boiled or fried you take a risk.

Still, we had mouthwatering lamb kebabs in Kashgar, barbequed over hot coals, munched happily on enormous round flat breads still hot from the oven and sampled some delicious filled pancakes that were made while we watched and took photos of the process, but a lot that is edible looks more photogenic than appetizing. Scorpion skewers, creatively spiraled intestines or sheep heads baring their teeth at prospective consumers do not find their way to our stomachs.

Another favourite Chinese snack is chicken feet. The pale, shrink-wrapped delicacy is especially popular on long train journeys. We have seen many fellow travelers dig out a few from their large bags of food for the journey and make us front row spectators as they savour this treat, sometimes offering us one, maybe feeling guilty they are eating and we are not. “No, thanks.”

In a lesson about food and eating culture differences between China and western countries we showed an on-line flyer of one of the New Zealand supermarkets. Our students were surprised that the chicken in the picture came without head and feet. They wanted to know what we do with those delicious bits. I’m not sure, maybe we send them to China, because there seem to be a whole lot more feet for sale than other bits of the bird. They are more expensive than breast too. They also wondered how we can be certain if the chicken we buy is fresh. In China it is easy, you buy them alive, get them weighed, killed and plucked while you wait. Then they are ready to go in the Dapanji, a tasty stew from this part of China with vegetables, potatoes, noodles and chopped up chicken – a bit awkward to eat with chopsticks though, as apart from avoiding fishing out the head and feet, just about every bit of chicken still has bones in it. A dinner table after a shared Dapanji meal resembles a battlefield, with bones scattered all around.

And the beautiful girls? We saw them in every city in China we visited. There is just less to tell about them compared to the food that keeps us nourished, surprised and entertained.