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NZCFS Wellington Branch November 2013 Newsletter

NEXT BRANCH MEETING

Wednesday, 20 November 2013, at 5.45 pm

Pat StuartPat Stuart, Chief Executive, Wellington Museums Trust

Heartland China

Pat Stuart, Wellington nominee for the annual Prominent Persons and Leaders Delegation, along with nine other New Zealanders spent ten days in China in late September 2013, hosted by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (Youxie). Unlike other members of the group this was Pat’s first visit to China and she will share with you her first impressions with a particular focus on the museums, heritage sites and visitor attractions visited in Yunnan, Shaanxi and Hubei.

Pat Stuart has led or been part of the senior management team of cultural institutions for over 20 years. She is currently Chief Executive of the Wellington Museums Trust which operates six of Wellington’s cultural institutions including the Museum of Wellington City & Sea, City Gallery and Carter Observatory. She was a founding staff member of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and apart from three years as the Chief Operating Officer at Whitireia New Zealand she has devoted her career to arts and culture, including currently as Chair of Arts Wellington. She is a dedicated Wellingtonian living in the inner city or spending time on the beach at Waikanae. Pat’s trip report can be downloaded from: nzchinasociety.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/2013-Prominent-Persons-Leaders-Tour-Report.pdf

map of Connolly Hall
Connolly Hall

Connolly Hall

Guildford Terrace, off Hill Street, Thorndon, Wellington (see map)

(Car park up Guildford Tce beside Hall)

An optional Chinese buffet meal, supplied by the Fujiyama Café, will follow the meeting at 7 pm. Orders for the $11.00 meal (please pay at the door) will be taken up till 6 pm. If you think you may be arriving late, please let the Secretary know in advance. We will have something special to help celebrate the end of another successful year.

ALSO COMING UP THIS MONTH (see below for details)

14-17 November Chinese Film Festival, Penthouse Cinema

16, 23 November Mandarin Corner, 20 Kelburn Parade

28 November NZCLA Chinese Film, 101 Wakefield St

30 November Mandarin Corner, 20 Kelburn Parade

IDIOM OF THE MONTH (from Ray Brownrigg)

小洞不补,大洞吃苦 xiǎo dòng bù bǔ, dà dòng chī kǔ

A stitch in time saves nineChris Roberts

MEETING REPORT (from Annette Meates)

The October monthly meeting presentation was given by Chris Roberts, General Manager Corporate Affairs, Tourism New Zealand. Chris’s highly informative talk focused on the changing patterns of Chinese Tourism to New Zealand, and the significance of this growing market to the economy.

Chris started out with some interesting statistics about the size and recent growth of the Chinese market, which last year grew by 28.6%, and moved from the 4th largest tourism audience, to the 2nd largest, after Australia. Chris indicated that the predicted growth would see the Chinese market increase from 229,184 arrivals this year, to 500,000 arrivals from China sometime in 2018.

The other interesting point was that this growth would take place in the context of a recent significant change to how the Chinese travelers experience NZ, i.e. structured group shopping packages will no longer be sold by Chinese tour operators.

Instead the focus will be led by the Premier Kiwi Partnership (PKP) Programme, whereby 11 inbound tour operators, and 18 China-based travel sellers participate in a programme aimed at developing longer stays and higher quality itineraries.

The shift from selling shopping packages, to an experience focus, has come about as a result of the Chinese Government establishing higher standards of practice which Chinese Tour operators now must work within, and which amongst others things forbids structured shopping excursions as a focus for a tour package.

Chris noted that PKP programme will be where Tourism New Zealand will continue its investment in this growing market, with TNZ investing $NZ 11 million last year in marketing strategies for the Chinese market alone. He added that the goal is to increase the number of higher value groups that stay for 8-9 days, which also come directly to NZ, which would shift the pattern of groups that previously had 3-4 days added onto the end of a trip to Australia. Overall these developments are seen as positive opportunities, which will drive some significant growth in the Tourism Industry.

WELCOME TO THE NEW CHINESE AMBASSADOR

The society extends a warm welcome to His Excellency Mr Wang Lutong and his wife Mme Yang Pengbo. We are hoping the Ambassador will be able to address us at a monthly meeting in the first quarter of next year.

NEW MEMBERS – a warm welcome to Ron Xavier and Yu-Chin Mao.

2014 CHINESE NEW YEAR BANQUET

Chinese New Year in 2014 is 31 January, heralding in the Year of the Horse. We have started organising the NZCFS Chinese New Year Banquet, which will take place at Dragons Restaurant on Sunday February 16. The cost will be the same as this year, $33 for NZCFS Members and $38 for non-members.

MANDARIN CORNER汉语角

MandarinCornerMandarin Corner is held 3.15pm – 4.30pm on Saturdays during school terms at the Seminar Room, 20 Kelburn Parade, Victoria University of Wellington. The Confucius Institute has available a team of Mandarin Language Assistants and other resources which will greatly benefit Mandarin Corner. NZCFS Wellington and NZ Chinese Language Association Wellington are partners.

Members who attended Mandarin Corner in the past will continue to receive notices from CIVUW. For more information please contact Jingyuan Kong [email protected], phone 04 463 9549.

CHINESE FILM 中国电影Postmen

Date: Thursday 28 November Time: 7.15pm

Venue: Committee Room One, Wellington City Council, 101 Wakefield Street. Gold coin donation.

7.15pm: 那山那人那狗 Postmen in the Mountains (1999, 93 minutes)

Director: 霍建起 Huo Jianqi

Cast: 滕汝俊Teng Rujun; 刘烨Liu Ye;陈好Chen Hao

Postmen in the Mountains tells the story of an old man who for years served as the postman for rural mountain communities. Retiring, he hands over his job to his son but accompanies him on the first tour. Together, they deliver mail on a 100km long walking route, into the rural heart of China and in the process the son learns from the mails’ recipients more about the father he hardly knew.

With Support from Confucius Institute, Victoria University of Wellington. www.victoria.ac.nz/ci/

WELLINGTON BRANCH MEMBERS TO FOLLOW IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF REWI ALLEY

We wish all the best to Suzie Shaw and Russell Metge from the Wellington Branch who will represent NZCFS on the 10-day Footsteps of Rewi Alley Tour taking place later this month

NEXT NEWSLETTER

Our newsletter team takes a break over Xmas, and the next newsletter will be the January/February issue which will be published mid-January, providing more details of our Chinese New Year Banquet.

CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE NEWS (from the CIVUW team)

November is the month of annual meetings, reports, planning and applications at the Confucius Institute. On 13 November, the VUW CI will hold its second Board Meeting of 2013 to take stock of the work and achievements of the year and to plan new projects and programmes for next year. In early December, the CI Director, Chairman of the Board and Deputy Vice Chancellor of VUW will also participate in the annual meeting with our Chinese partner, Xiamen University and the annual conference with Hanban in Beijing.

The CI is currently inviting applications from local schools for hosting Mandarin Language Assistants to assist with Chinese language teaching in 2014. So far, over a dozen schools in the lower North Island have sent their applications. Schools interested in hosting an MLA can still get in touch with us by the end of November. To celebrate the outstanding achievements of our 12 MLAs this year (think 3590 students learning Chinese in 175 classes in 18 NZ schools and tertiary institutions), the CI and MP Dr Jian Yang will jointly host a farewell reception in Parliament Buildings on 21 November. NZ Minister of Education and the newly arrived Chinese Ambassador are among the VIPs attending this function.

On 26 November, the CI will participate in the School Principals Forum run by Asia New Zealand Foundation to promote a Principals Delegation to China that the CI is planning for 2014. Interested school principals are welcome to get in touch with the CI Director Luo Hui ([email protected]) or Chairman Tony Browne ([email protected]).

It is not all work no play at the CI even at this busy time of the year. The CI is co-sponsoring the 2013 Chinese Film Festival in New Zealand, with 10 screenings of top Chinese movies at Wellington’s Penthouse Cinema on 14-17 November. We still have a limited number of free tickets to give away. Those interested can either get it at our weekly Mandarin Corner (Saturdays 3:15pm, 20 Kelburn Parade) or by contacting our Administrator Lai Ching ([email protected]).

For more information, please visit www.victoria.ac.nz/ci.

BUILDING BRIDGES WITH CHINA – NZ CHINA TRADE ASSOCIATION FREE SEMINAR

NZCTA is holding a free seminar in Wellington on 9th December from 12:30 – 3:30 pm. The topic of this seminar is Branding Management on China Social Media, presented by James Sun and Sean Xie. The brochure reads: “Come, have a light lunch and listen to James and Sean explain the intricate aspects of Social Media in China plus prepare to pose some serious questions to the panel which will include Dr. Hongzhi Gao, Dr. Mary Tate, Simon Young, Vallen Han and Xiaoyi Guan, plus network with other like-minded business people interested in and trading with China. This is a free seminar, so be in quick to register because places are limited and it will be on a first in first served basis and with this topic seats will fill fast.” Registration is via their website, at events.nzcta.co.nz/products/18/chinasocial-media-wellington.

MARY GRAY, GERALD STRICKLAND TURNING 90

Congratulations to both Mary and Gerald, long-time supporters of NZCFS Wellington Branch, each of whom will be celebrating their 90th birthday in the near future.

CHINA AND PALLIATIVE CARE (from Joy Bickley Asher)palliative

Is a traditional taboo against talking about death preventing China from providing better care for people near the end of their lives? A 2010 report from the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked 40 countries, including China, on the quality of their end of life care. China scored badly overall, being ranked 37th. This might perhaps be accounted for by traditional Chinese beliefs except that Taiwan was ranked relatively highly at 14. China received the worst ranking for the availability of end of life care and levels of public awareness. However, it scored a ‘Very good’ for the availability of painkillers, an essential aspect of palliative care.

With an over-60 population of 149 million and 14 million of those requiring care China faces great challenges in the care of older and dying people. A number of municipal governments are attempting to respond to the needs of patients and their families by opening hospice wards in major hospitals, in spite of financial concerns. Like palliative care providers in New Zealand, China authorities are investigating the potential for providing more care in the home. Doctor Li Song Tang, who founded the first hospice in China amidst great controversy, believes that Chinese people’s attitudes towards death are changing. The public is openly supporting the proliferation of hospices in Chinese provinces. It is his dream that every province in China has a hospice by 2015.  www.globalpost.com/dispatch/china/101108/hospice-care-health-aging-culture

IMAGES FROM MA BAORU

Ma Baoru, an Honorary Member of NZCFS (see nzchinasociety.org.nz/13931/ma-baoru-honorary-member), is a keen reader of our monthly newsletter. Recently she sent a selection of her photographs, some of which are reproduced here.

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