In this Issue

Monthly Meetings Held

Last Thursday of the Month (except January,

September, November and December)

7:30 pm

Rewi Alley Education and Cultural Centre

(Wharenui School)

32 Matipo Street, Riccarton

PLEASE NOTE: SUBSCRIPTIONS ARE DUE BY 30 JUNE. IF YOU HAVE

NOT ALREADY RENEWED IT, PLEASE SEE A COMMITTEE MEMBER OR

PAY AS PER THE ATTACHED FORM.

Next Meeting – 27 June 2013

Speaker: Judy Livingstone

Judy and Eric took a group of

photographers to China in April

2012. While there they visited

such picturesque places as Guilin

and Zhangjiajie National Park; a

photographer’s paradise! Then

they went by boat down the Li

river to Yangshuo, where they

saw a spectacular evening show

on water “Impressions of Liu Sanjie”. From there it was off to a Yao village of

Longji in the rice terraces, then by train from Liuzhou to Hunan, visited the

ancient river city of Fenghuang and ended up in Hangzhou then Shanghai. 23 days

of delightful sights, & people – a great tour.

The photo shows a cormorant fisherman. The birds are not fed during the day and

are taken out at night to fish, wearing a collar to prevent them swallowing the

fish they catch. They can live for up to 20 years and cost more than a buffalo!

Come along and hear Judy regale us with her impressions and memories, and of

course pictures!!

Monthly Meeting Speaker

Member News

2013 National Conference

Subscriptions are now due

Diverse China Tour 8 – 30 October 2013

Member Subscription Form

About Us Patron: The Hon Philip Burdon Hon Patron: Simon Deng Li President: Dave Adamson Ph 389 1376 dacb@clear.net.nz Secretary: Natasha Barnett Ph 358 2286 nattle@hotmail.com Treasurer: Vivien Qin Ph 358 4418 Mob 021 500429 vivien.qin@xtra.co.nz

Executive 2013: Ailsa Dodge Anna Chen Anna Lu Bill Willmott (VP) Chris Goodwin Deborah Rhode (VP) George Elder Jian Chen Judy Livingstone Tony Tian (VP) William Qiu Mailing Address: Natasha Barnett 25 Cricklewood Place Avonhead Christchurch 8042

www.nzchinasociety.org.nz

Christchurch Branch Newsletter

June 2013

Member News

Congratulations to Eric and Judy Livingstone, Chris Goodwin, Deborah Rhode, Tony Tian and Dave

Adamson. Read the conference review below to know the reason why!

National Conference, 24 - 26 May 2013

Well, the conference has come and gone, and what a conference it was!! We were blessed with good

weather over the whole weekend, and once we had the conference behind us, the weather broke; good

timing! What were the highlights then?? As Julie Andrews said, let’s start at the very beginning….

…. but before we do that, we need to say a big Thank You to our principal sponsor, the Confucius

Institute at University of Canterbury. Right through the planning and throughout the weekend itself,

they were magnificent. Nothing was too much of a bother, including providing all the facilities and

volunteers as and when needed. Thank You Confucius Institute at University of Canterbury!!

The Friday opening started with a wonderful drum dance performance, followed by brief speeches

from former mayor Garry Moore and national president Eric Livingstone, after which the conference

was formally opened by Mayor Bob Parker.

Bob Parker, Mayor of

Christchurch Garry Moore, Former mayor of Christchurch

NZCFS National Conference Official Opening

We were then entertained by a lantern dance, before being invited upstairs by Mr Zhao Shuyue,

Division Chief of the Beijing Municipal Institute of Culture and History, to attend the opening of The

Chinese Traditional Painting and Art Exhibition, which included painting demonstrations by the three

artists. This exhibition was superb; the delicacy of some of the paintings was truly wonderful, as the

pictures here show.

Drum Dance Chinese Traditional Painting Demonstration

Artist presenting gift to the

Society

Saturday opened with an address by our national president, followed by a keynote address by Consul-

General Mme Tan Xiutian, Building a stronger Sino-Kiwi relationship through culture. This was followed

by Eric Livingstone reading an address on behalf of our Honorary Patron, Mr Simon Deng Li.

Dr Adam Lam, Confucius Institute at University of Canterbury then spoke on Confucius Institute as a bridge for New Zealand-China Friendship. Adam’s talk helped give attendees a much better

understanding of the relationships involved.

Eric Livingstone National President

Mme Tan Xiutian, Consul-General Adam Lam, Director of Confucius Institute at UC

After morning tea we had a very interesting talk by Auckland branch president George Andrews (hot

off the plane from Beijing!), Rewi Alley Friendship Exchange Fund and Simon Deng Li. The Rewi Alley

Friendship Exchange Fund was set up last year following the generous granting of 1 Million RMB (about

NZ$200,000) by the China-Oceania Friendship Association in recognition of the 60th anniversary of

the founding of our society. The aims of the fund are “to consolidate and deepen friendship between

the peoples of China and New Zealand, and push forward bilateral friendly exchanges and cooperation.

Huo Yan, 23, has taken up the first Rewi Alley Writing Fellowship, in what is hoped will become a

permanent event on the bilateral cultural calendar. She arrived here at the end of April and will spend

two months at the Michael King Writers Centre in Auckland. We were delighted to have her at the

conference, and she gave us a very interesting talk.

Janine Morrell-Gunn of Whitebait TV then gave us an amusing talk on her experiences attending the

2012 International friendship sister cities conference, which was part of last year’s prominent persons’

tour. A background to that is Janine went on the 2010 tour, but the September earthquake had her

back in Christchurch within a couple of days!! Second time lucky!

Before lunch we had the launch of Zhang Jichun’s (Jayson) book of poetry, The Beauty of New

Zealand. This was preceded by a brief video and a poetry reading by Jayson. He was able to have a

small number of books at the launch, hot off the press in Beijing. These sold out within minutes and a

full shipment will arrive about the end of June; we’ll keep you posted on that. A superb book; Chinese

and English, wonderful photos, it would make a great gift.

Zhang Jichun

(Jayson)

Dave Bromwich receiving the book “The Beauty of New Zealand”

Straight after lunch we had hands-on participation with paper cuts, calligraphy and tai chi, courtesy of

the Confucius Institute. I’d never done tai chi before, and I have to say having to co-ordinate two

hands and two legs all going in different directions was quite a challenge! When you see it being done in

the parks in China every morning they make it look so easy!

Soon to be national president Dave Bromwich’s segment Shandan and NZCFS Today, and Future Directions was a mix of speakers. Deborah Rhode spoke on the He Mingqing Scholarship (with video), Li

Jing (Becky), of the Gansu Foreign Affairs Office, in Christchurch at the moment for six months,

spoke on her experiences, Marty Gameson gave a presentation on the opportunities there are for

making school to school links, and finally of course Dave himself spoke on the society’s project work in

Gansu. All in all a very interesting session.

Interspersed throughout the programme was a variety of brief cultural performances. Two in

particular stood out; two wonderful songs, one about New Zealand and one about Rewi Alley. Both were

written especially for the conference. Jayson tells me Mr Feng Wenbing who wrote them and helped

to record the event is a man of action with a warm heart, and his wife Helen is an energetic and active

lady in the Chinese cultural dancing community. Hearing the two songs was a very special time for us all;

xie xie Mr Feng!

During lunch and tea breaks delegates were able to look at Peter Harris’ very interesting photographic

perspective, Being There, of the people of Inner Mongolia 1981 – 83, as well Judy Livingstone’s on-

screen exhibition of her photos from her 2012 photographers’ tour.

Following afternoon tea, the day was rounded off with a Society Plans for the Future – discussion on focus and goals for the next five years session, chaired by President Eric.

It was then back to our motels and homes to powder our noses before going to the banquet in the

evening. And what a great banquet it was! There were about 120 dining, to the accompaniment of Luke

Bulger and his guitar, singing Chinese folk songs, and Xi Yao Chen of the Hamilton branch playing on the

gu-zheng. We brought Yao down especially to play at our conference, and he certainly didn’t disappoint.

As well as playing at the banquet he played at the opening function on the Friday and during the lunch

break on Saturday (although we were kind enough to let him have some time off so he could have

something to eat!). He’s a very skilled musician.

At the Sunday Annual General Meeting, national president Eric Livingstone stepped down and Dave

Bromwich of the Hawke’s Bay branch was duly elected. From our branch, Deborah Rhode and Tony Tian

were elected onto the national executive, Chris Goodwin was re-elected as national treasurer and Dave

Adamson was elected South Island Vice President. It is important to record that Eric was given Life

Membership of the National body, in recognition of his five years as National President and six years

as South Island Vice President. Judy Livingstone was given the Distinguished Service Award in

recognition of her six years as Christchurch branch president, five years as national treasurer and an

amazing 12 years on the national executive. Well done Eric and Judy for years of selfless service to

our society!!

Eric Livingstone receives Life Member Award Judy Livingstone receives Life Member Award

The conference finished off on Sunday afternoon with a personal tour of the Chinese collection at the

Canterbury Museum. A big thank you to museum Senior Curator Human History Roger Fyfe for giving

up his Sunday afternoon for us.

We have had very positive feedback from all quarters about the conference; all in all everyone seemed

to thoroughly enjoy themselves, which of course was the aim of the local branch! Not everything went

entirely to plan, but then it never does! However, overall we were delighted.

In the end though, as the saying goes, a picture tells a thousand words, so I think we’ll leave it to the

pictures to tell the full story of what a great and successful weekend it was. Dave Adamson

New Zealand China Friendship Society Inc.

Patron: The Hon. Philip Burdon www.nzchinasociety.org.nz

Honorary Patron: Simon Deng Li

DIVERSE CHINA TOUR

October 8-30 2013

A feast of scenery, culture and history with an NZCFS project rural cooperative visit included, with those who know China best.

NZCFS offers an opportunity to travel in October 2013 to exotic destinations in China with the New Zealand China

Friendship Society, who will show how 60 years of friendship and experience in China produce an unforgettable journey.

A further tour in the highly acclaimed “Projects” series, it includes a visit to an NZCFS project cooperative, where we meet

our project partners and rural communities, and experience real life first hand.

The comprehensive itinerary takes you beyond, to sites in a diverse cultural and geographical environment. Travel from

Yan’an, Shaanxi, in the north to Guilin, Guangxi, in the south through exceptional sites not often included in tours. This tour

will take you to dramatic iconic scenery and diverse ethnic communities, from modern history and ancient towns, to tastes

of culture old and new. It will reward both old China hands and those new to China with rich experiences, memories and

photographic opportunity.

With over twenty years experience in China, and leader of earlier tours, your NZ tour leader will be NZCFS president Dave

Bromwich. Joining the group in China is the very popular Wang Fang, who has accompanied four previous NZCFS tours as

in-China guide. She receives the highest accolades from those in previous groups who have enjoyed her warmth, sense of

humour, and dedication to making your time the most enjoyable.

For more information, look at www.nzchinasociety.org.nz

Or contact Dave Bromwich direct to enquire and register your interest.

dbchinz@xtra.co.nz or call 06 8779930

Dave Bromwich

President

NZCFS

MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTION (Due 30 June 2013)

I/We would like to renew/commence membership of the Christchurch Branch of the New Zealand China Friendship Society Inc. for 2013

Student / Unwaged $ 18.00 �

Single $ 22.00 �

Family $ 30.00 �

Educational Institute/Corporate $ 35.00 �

Donation $ �

PAYMENT METHODS:

Please make cheque payable to NZ China Friendship Society

OR

Direct Credit our Chch NZCFS Kiwibank Account 38-9010-0816274-00

(NOTE: please ensure your name and the word “Sub” are in the reference)

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Please send your cheque and form to:

Tony Tian 341 Wairakei Road Burnside CHRISTCHURCH 8053