Another successful Confucius Institute event was held on Sunday, the 27th of September. We were based down at Tūranga, the Christchurch Central Library.
It was a great afternoon full of fun and excitement. The afternoon began with many speeches and performances, followed by activities.
We had some incredible performances by amazingly talented student groups from within Christchurch. The ceremony was both opened and closed by Qiao Yi Hong De Lion Dance Team Christchurch.
The opening ceremony also had performances by Jeffery Zhao playing the erhu and a violin performance by Camerata. There were also several speeches, such as Leanne Dalziel, the Christchurch Mayor, and Madam He Ying, Chinese Consul for the Christchurch City Council, to name a few.
(Left to right: Cissy Chen, Candy Zhang, Jimmy Chen, He Ying, Carolyn Robertson)
This year we had many different stations that participants were able to come and visit. Upon completing the activity at the station, each participant received a stamp on a passport. Once completing their passport, they could exchange it for a gift from the Confucius Institute. Seeing the excitement as everyone went through the different activities was great. From traditional knot making, Chinese games, chopstick challenges, calligraphy writing and more, each activity was purposed to give the attendee a taste of Chinese culture.
It was wonderful to see so many children, teenagers, and parents join us and experience Chinese culture. It was great to see the parents get alongside their children as they wandered through these activities, either getting involved or helping out. We all thoroughly enjoyed the day and hope that everyone who joined us were able to gain something from it too. We hope to see even more people come along next year.
