The Chinese New Year Celebration

It was two days ago when we had a blast in my college presenting the Chinese New Year celebration after weeks of preparation in hurry. The main aspects of this activity such as program, food and decorations were well done in the sense that we have got a very positive feedback from those VIPs as well as from our college mates. I was mainly in charge of decorative procedures and exhibition, that means I was no doubt one of the busiest men, so it is a kind of relief accompanied by satisfaction and joy to have this project done, not perfectly, but I'm certain that at least it has thrilled everyone in my college by which they could actually sense the Chinese New Year ambiance and explore more about our culture and tradition under such an exposure.

This backdrop is 100% handmade using "raw materials" such as mahjong papers, red papers black ink, glue etc. It is superb isn't it? =)

We invited a lion dance troupe to invite the VIPs and perform during the opening ceremony.

The spring couplet in the form of scroll rolling down after pulled by VIPs at the main entrance of the hall.
We normally read the couplet starting from the right one, from top to bottom. To translate, it simply brings the meaning of "Golden ox embarks on a new journey and there comes the tiger indicating the arrival of spring."

She is the head of our college, we call her "Datin". Her expression tells me that she might be wondering what those Chinese characters mean, perhaps?

Our very first show was traditional dance including eight of us dancing using Chinese fan and lanterns. I am the one holding the red lantern at a lower level.

This is another meaningful scene. They are taking part in "laosheng", using chopsticks to toss the raw fish salad high in the air. Fish is a homophone of "abundance" in Chinese, therefore it symbolises prosperity and auspiciousness.

The VIPs showing their calligraphy of a single word namely "tiger". This word is relatively complicated, so I guess they wouldn't have written such an readable masterpiece if I didn't use a pencil to provide a draft of the strokes on those pink papers :p

I did take part in the choir too. It was a wonderful experience to perform Chinese New Year song in full traditional attire with a group of friends!

The martial arts known as wushu in Chinese. Can you notice there is a Malay guy? :D

This lovely lady has a great voice! She sang folk song in the way opera singers sing, how wonderful!

'This guy is proficient in playing Chinese yo-yo.

Ribbon dance.

Mandarin oranges eating competition.

The middle guy is transformed into the God of Wealth and Fortune. The costume is handmade too!

The VIPs are trying to write 恭喜发财 (Gong Xi Fa Cai).

They are my favourite lecturers =)

VIPs visiting the displaying boards during exhibition.

You wouldn't have managed to come out with a correct estimation if you didn't know how much Chinese likes the number 8!

I particularly like these two photos.

I notice that although there are not many Chinese in my college, there are still a number of talented people interspersed in the nerd-looking scholarship holders. I have received some compliments regarding the decoration that worked under my mastermind, but I still need to declare that without the helping hands, I could not make it. I really enjoyed these hectic weeks which severely replaced my revision schedule, despite the fact that I am now slightly lagged behind in term of academic syllabus.

The hectic and memorable holidays

I have been relatively busy throughout these weeks as well as holidays. Make it short, my friends and I in Kolej Teknologi Timur are having a hard time preparing the first activity under the name of newly formed Chinese Cultural Education Society (CCES), which is the Chinese New Year celebration. Even when I'm now approximately 700km away from my college, I still have to compete with fast-running time to have my "homework" done and bring it back to Sepang.

I am the one leading the work related to decoration. I couldn't help scratching my forehead while trying to figure out a full plan concerning how the main hall which doesn't look like a hall at all, should be decorated. Certain artworks cannot fit to the framework of my initial planning due to limitations such as those pillars obstructing the vision towards the stage (actually there is no stage) and the extremely low ceiling. As I mentioned, my college is actually further modified and equipped from shops on an incline plane, so you can imagine the main hall consists of four lots of different height interconnected by staircases of three to four levels. I can even knock my head on the ceiling if I jump forcefully, no kidding.

We are going to get ourselves a formal exhibition displaying Chinese culture as well as Chinese New Year tradition. I searched and gathered the information needed using days and it took me another week to complete thirty slides of PowerPoint and those A3 size papers would be printed in full colour. At the same time I had to complete more than 20 pairs of spring couplets. It was overwhelming tired.

When there is motion, there is also friction. Thing doesn't come as smooth as we wish. 24th is the day of CNY celebration, however those inconsiderate allocate some candidates to take their internal examination until one day before 24th, that means we don't really own enough time to put on our decorative stuff in the main hall. It is even saddening and disastrous to receive the order calling us to take off our red tassels which had been set on ceiling before holidays. I am fairly annoyed and irritated, but what can I do?

Besides, I need to spare some time to manage my another private blog written in Chinese. Not to mention it is now the time I have to cope with the A2 syllabus. Much effort should be invested. Nevertheless, I still enjoy keeping myself busy with this activity. It somehow brings reminiscence of days I was busy with willingly committed activities during my secondary school life.

Honestly, I am starting a new relationship, my first relationship. I guess my family wouldn't even know that until they reach this line in my blog. Yes, we had a great time despite the fact I could hardly choose a time to hang out with her as I needed to respond to some gathering invitations. People were intrigued as I changed my relationship status on my Facebook profile. I would have revealed her identity if I wished to and I just hope everything can behave and go naturally =)

After this I would upload certain photos of this, or perhaps photos of my girlfriend and I =)

The Beneficial Course

In the last two days, I spent my time in Lu Jiang Cultural Centre located just a stone throw away from The Mines shopping Mall. It was a two days and a night course or camp held under the support of more than 20 college mates having an intention to explore more about Di Zi Gui (弟子规).

Di Zi Gui is an ancient Chinese teaching advocated by Confucius, where it has influenced a lot of learners to behave positively and wisely. It is not only a compilation of intelligence inherited from the Chinese ancestors, it also serves as a guidance to a happy life. Some people might have misconception such that Confucianism is religious and it could pose conflicts to their existing mindset about the way to live their life. In my opinion, unless you have not been exposed to those Chinese historical stories or anecdotes at all, you would at least have a sense of resonance with the Confucian teaching because Di Zi Gui is closely related to the analogy extracted from those allusions.

We reached the centre at about 8.30am on the last Saturday. A teacher welcomed us through a polite ninety degree bow. We were really surprised as a man with approximately three times our ages could show his respect to us in this way. He spoke softly, gracefully and gently. This is a trait we could seldom come across with especially in this modern era with everything should have done quickly and harshly. The place is clean and interspersed with traditional Chinese decorating. Lanterns, calligraphy couplets, wood carvings, the ambiance had really thrilled me as I have a great interest in these! The staff were dressing in samfu and cheongsam too!

The courses were fantastic and insightful! Because we had only two days and a night, the courses were tightly packed. I particularly salute Teacher Song, a kind woman whose great proficiency of linguistic skills were shown in her fluent speech conducted in many languages and even dialects!

We were introduced to Di Zi Gui, learned about practicing healthy vegetarian diet and sharing of allusions which I miss a lot since primary school. Di Zi Gui is based on eight-fold virtues: 孝(filial piety), 悌(brotherhood), 忠(loyalty), 信(trustworthiness), 礼(propriety), 义(righteousness), 廉(cleanliness), 耻(shame).


There was a session of movie sharing. I strongly recommend the Korean movie to you, namely "The Way Home" which tugged at my heartstrings to the extent that I phoned my grandma after that to express my love to her which I had never done before. However she didn't seem to have any response to my words. I expected, as I have written somewhere in my blog that my family is very conservative, we don't take much obvious action to express our love to each other. However, we do know how much we love each other.

Talk about love, I eventually realised that family love is the foundation of love, it is the fundamental relationship that everyone has the responsibility to carry. How could we expect ourselves to have a true friendship, or to have a long term and "high resistance" relationship with the one we have chosen, or in my case, to have the compassion needed in my future profession towards the patients, if we have failed to do so to our family?



An ideal place to live =)