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NZCFS Wellington Branch February 2016 Newsletter

 HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Xin Nian Kuai Le !

CHINESE NEW YEAR BANQUET 

Come and join us to welcome in

The Year of the Monkey

year of the monkey Saturday, 20 February 2016 at 6.30 pm 

Dragons Restaurant, 25 Tory St

Patron Hon Philip Burdon, Ambassador Wang Lutong, Mayor Celia Wade-Brown and National President Dave Bromwich will be attending.
The Programme will include our traditional Quiz Contest and Raffles.
The cost, including wine and juice, is:
$38 per person for non-members and $30 for financial members

To book, please send the attached form (PDF or Word version) to the Treasurer by Friday, 12th February.

Subscriptions for 2016 membership are due. The attached registration form also includes a membership renewal form if you are not able to attend the banquet but still wish to renew your society membership.

Electronic Banking is available for payment.  Details are provided on the registration form.  When making an electronic payment, please ensure your name is specified as part of the payment details.

No last minute arrivals please.

(A full PDF of this newsletter is available at NZCFS Wellington Newsletter February 2016)

NEW MEMBER The NZCFS Wellington Branch warmly welcomes Harry Kwok.

BRANCH COMMITTEE – We are pleased to announce that Diwen Cao and Deborah Robertson have been co-opted to the committee.

WELLINGTON BRANCH MEETING (Report from Kirk McDowall)
In October, the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries invited the New Zealand China Friendship Society to select delegates from across New Zealand for the Medical Prominent Persons Tour to China. The delegation included a visit to Anguo, where the hospital continues to commemorate Kathleen Hall, and where the current He Ming Qing scholarship is being implemented as a community health project. It also included an introduction to Traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncture, general health delivery in China, some hospital visits, and lectures on Chinese approaches to health care.

NZCFS Wellington November branch meeting
l-r Branch President Michael Powles, Ben Gray, Ann Chapman and Debbie Chin

On Wednesday 18 November 2015, the Wellington branch welcomed its three successful nominees from the delegation to speak of their experiences: Ann Chapman, who has over 20 years’ experience in governance roles in the health sector in the greater Wellington region; Debbie Chin, Chief Executive of the Capital and Coast Region Health Board; and Dr Ben Gray, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Primary Health Care and General Practice, Otago University, Wellington.

The three began their presentation with an overview of health statistics between New Zealand and China. For example, China spends 5.6 percent of its GDP on health, while New Zealand spends 10 percent. Life expectancy for the former is 75 years while the latter is 81 years. However, life expectancy varies within each country, depending on aspects such as gender and cultural group. They also spoke on the vast differences between the two countries, such as the scale of the infrastructure and the environmental challenges.

The delegation first travelled to Beijing to begin the tour. They visited a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) hospital in Beijing, which was established by top traditional medicine practitioners in the 1950s. In this hospital, and similar hospitals across China, there is a strong focus on the interaction between TCM and Western medicine. Contemporary doctors working in these hospitals train in both areas to broaden their understanding of medicine and health. During their time in Beijing, the delegates also visited Rewi Alley’s house, the Peace Park and the Great Wall.

Following their time in Beijing, the tour visited Shijiazhuang, the capital of the Hebei province. The city has approximately 13 million people, and a key focus of their health initiatives involved providing healthcare for rural villages, including immunizations. Within Shijiazhuang, there is health insurance for most people, with five different levels of the cover. The local government in the city aim to continue to improve access to healthcare within the province, as well as those with access to insurance. In addition to visiting hospitals in Shijiazhuang, the delegation also spent time in a number of museums, including the Hebei Regional Museum. Members of the tour also noted a number of similarities with New Zealand and Māori culture in the city, such as similar koru patterns and the prominence of greenstone compared to jade.

The delegation then visited Anguo, a city of nearly half a million people also in the Hebei province. The tour visited both the old and new main hospital, with the new hospital employing approximately 700 staff (compared to 5,000 in the Wellington hospital), and it included both traditional and western medicines. Following this, they visited the largest wholesale market of TCM in China, which included a huge range of traditional medicines from across the country, including herbs, roots and dried sea life.

During the presentation, the audience were shown a number of photos from each of the places the delegation visited, and there were a number of questions on the tour, TCM and healthcare in China. We would like to thank Ann Chapman, Debbie Chin and Dr Ben Gray for their contribution to the Medical Prominent Persons Tour to China, and sharing their experiences with the Wellington branch.

NEW ZEALAND CHINA EXCHANGE
AIESECThe NZCFS Wellington Branch and AIESEC, the world’s largest student run organisation that sends university students on internships and exchanges around the world, has completed the call for applicants who wished to go on a 6+ week AIESEC exchange to China. The NZCFS can supply funding to support the exchange through the Simon Deng Li Fund. Over the Christmas period, approximately ten students were selected to go on an exchange from around New Zealand. This has included Shannon, Nasuha, Zamir and Faris who are currently doing an exchange program in Taiwan and will be there for up to seven weeks. Sophie also is in Taiwan and will be going on an exchange to Mainland China as well in order to learn more about the culture and language there. Radhika is currently in China and will return to New Zealand in January. The students selected are from Victoria University of Wellington.

SAD NEWS – PROF BAO ZHENGYING, Wellington branch long-term member sadly passed away on 5 January at the age of 86.  Zhengying and his wife Zhou Daibao (deceased) were strong supporters of the branch and helped run its Mandarin Corner for many years.

CHINESE SCHOLARS’ STUDIO PROJECT PROPOSED BY VICTORIA UNIVERSITY
NZCFS is one of the partners supporting Victoria University to create a Chinese Scholar’s Studio in Wellington.  Wellington branch has been granted funding from the NZCFS Simon Deng Li Fund for the project, and will add a contribution from its own reserves.

Chinese Scholar's Studio
An example of a traditional Chinese scholar’s studio

The studio would provide an exciting opportunity to showcase unique Chinese New Zealand initiatives with the wider community. The publicly-accessible studio space would reflect the special New Zealand context of our Chinese heritage, featuring traditional Chinese furniture, musical instruments and scholarly material, including New Zealand’s only original restored Chinese printing type collection. The studio would provide a focus in Wellington for Chinese related programmes and for scholars interested in Chinese research and study as well as a space for community and school outreach work. The work of the NZCFS could be promoted through the studio and members would be encouraged to use the space.

The studio will provide a home for the restoration and conservation of New Zealand’s only surviving original Chinese printing type collection, which would be used again for new Chinese language printed publications. The collection was used by the NZ Chinese Commercial Growers Press to print its monthly newsletters and was recently rediscovered in a farmer’s field in Pukekohe. The collection holds significant cultural history for the Chinese community and Victoria University is seeking to conserve it and repatriate it to Wellington.  The studio would also have an important link to other Chinese cultural heritage in Wellington such as the Chinese Garden that is being proposed and the Chinese historic district on Haining and Frederick Streets.

The location for the studio will be at Victoria’s Kelburn campus, in a central publicly accessible space in the main Library building.

For more details on the project please see Chinese Printing and Scholars Studio

VICTORIA UNIVERSITY’S CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE RECOGNISED AS ONE OF THE BEST IN THE WORLD – 6 December 2015
from http://www.victoria.ac.nz/ci/news-and-events/news#a317302

Confucius Institute VUW AwardChinese Vice Premier Madame Liu Yandong has awarded the Confucius Institute at Victoria University of Wellington (CI VUW) the accolade of ‘Outstanding Confucius Institute’ of 2015.  The award is in recognition of the impact made by the Confucius Institute on Chinese language teaching and cultural programmes in New Zealand.

Confucius Institute AwardThe award ceremony took place at the annual global conference of Confucius Institutes in Shanghai on 6 – 7 December, hosted by the Education Commission of the Shanghai Municipal Government, one of the largest education administrations in China. The global conference was attended by some 2400 representatives of Confucius Institutes around the world and their international university partners. CI VUW was represented by the Chair of the Advisory Board Tony Browne, Director Wen Powles and Deputy Director Yang Xiaoqing.

CI VUW joined 19 other Confucius Institutes recognised this year as the outstanding performers out of the 500 Confucius Institutes located in 134 countries.  These 500 Confucius Institutes together delivered Chinese classes to some 2 million students.  Our Confucius Institute has provided support to the Chinese classes of 90 schools in New Zealand, including te kura kaupapa in the Bay of Plenty, reaching over 12,300 primary, intermediate, high school and tertiary students in total.

This year the Confucius Institute at Victoria University of Wellington will be receiving 48 Mandarin Language Assistants from China.  They have been selected by the CI from 16 universities, including those in Xiamen, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Nanjing, Chongqing and Wuhan.  The MLAs will be posted to 112 schools located in the lower North Island, from the Wellington region to the Bay of Plenty.  CI VUW Director Wen Powles said that CI VUW, as well as the CIs in the universities of Auckland and Canterbury, have been the major influence in expanding the teaching of Chinese to primary and secondary school students in New Zealand. The support of the New Zealand China Friendship Society for the MLA programme is much appreciated and Ms Powles hoped that the various branches of the NZCFS would continue to offer friendship and hospitality to the MLAs after their arrival at schools and homestays in late February. The MLAs will stay in New Zealand until the end of the year.

For more information on the work of the Confucius Institute at Victoria University, please see their Annual Report: http://www.victoria.ac.nz/ci/news-and-events/news#a317585

CHINA CULTURAL CENTRE OPENED IN WELLINGTON – DECEMBER 11, 2015
The China Cultural Centre in Wakefield St, Wellington, was inaugurated by Chinese Vice-Minister of Culture Ding Wei and Chief Executive of New Zealand’s Ministry for Culture and Heritage Paul James on December 11.

China Culture Centre Opened in Wellington NZ
Charge d’affaire Qu Guangzhou, Ding Wei, Paul James and Mayor Celia Wade-Brown at the opening ceremony.

In the opening ceremony, Ding said the China Cultural Centre in New Zealand is a major milestone for China-New Zealand cultural and art exchanges, and it will serve a bridge for strengthening bilateral people-to-people understanding and enhancing cooperation between the two peoples.

In November 2014 during his state visit to New Zealand, President Xi Jinping announced that China would establish a China Cultural Centre in New Zealand. That month, a memorandum of understanding with the Wellington City Council was signed to establish a China Cultural Centre in Wellington.
(from http://www.chinaculture.org/2015-12/14/content_634506.htm)  

Michael Powles and Christine Strickland from the Wellington branch attended the opening.

WELLINGTON CHINESE NEW YEAR FESTIVAL – 13-14 FEBRUARY
East Meets West Celebration Show WellingtonSaturday 13 February: The Year of the Monkey celebrations begin with the East Meets West Celebration Show  – 30 of Xiamen’s dance/song/music performers presenting an extravaganza alongside some of Wellington’s best performers in a fusion of eastern and western performing arts. This show is brought to the Festival by Asian Events Trust, with support from the Wellington City Council, The Embassy of the People’s Republic of China and the Ministry of Culture, China. $25/ticket from ticketek.co.nz.

Chinese New Year Festival Day WellingtonSunday 14 February – Festival Day:  The TSB Bank Arena, Shed 6 and Frank Kitts Park are the venues offering new and staple crafts and activities, delicious foods and cultural entertainment of local and international calibre.  Entry is free.
Street Parade 2-3pm:  Starts from Courtenay Place and finishes at the Frank Kitts Park.
See http://chinesenewyear.co.nz/ for more details.  

 

NZCFS EXPLORE CHINA, THE SOUTH-WEST TOUR, 23 DAYS OCTOBER 10-NOVEMBER 2 2016
The Society offers a further educational tour in the “Explore China” series. The tour will visit the two SW provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan for an in-depth experience of this area. Starting and ending in the two provincial capitals Chengdu and Kunming, the traveller will experience aspects of the social and physical geography this area has to offer.

Explore China the SW. landscapeThis is a diverse tour that will take us through a range of experiences, with some real back-block travel and small communities. A reasonable level of fitness is needed to accommodate the travel, going over 4000 masl on occasions.  Fully escorted, 3 to 4– star, twin–share accommodation.  All inclusive price $7950 (estimated, subject to currency exchange), includes domestic flights in NZ, all meals, etc, (excludes Chinese visa and insurances).

As bookings for international and internal China flights have to be confirmed and paid for very shortly, intending tour members need to indicate their inclusion in this tour as soon as possible.  For more information please contact Ann White: ph 03 6148944, [email protected]  

For full itinerary and map see https://nzchinasociety.org.nz/22403/nzcfs-explore-china-the-south-west-tour

CHINA HIGHLIGHTS TOUR, March 20 to April 8 2016
A tour designed for the once in a lifetime visit to China. This is not an official NZCFS tour, but a private one being run by national president Dave Bromwich. A portion of profit will go to relevant branches which source tour members.  Led by Dave Bromwich and accompanied by Chinese guide with 5 years’ experience of escorting NZ groups.  For further information contact Dave Bromwich [email protected]  phone 06 8779930.