Happy New Year 2023

Bye 2022, Hi 2023!

A calendar on a desk, displaying January 1st 2023, together with some other stationery and a flower vase with some tulips.
Photo credit: Anqi HUANG

As 2022 drew to an end, we wish everyone a happy and healthy 2023! We also would like to remind you that the Chinese New Year (CNY) – Year of the Rabbit – is fast approaching in three weeks’ time. How are you going to celebrate it?

CNY celebrations at Queen’s

We are pleased to let you know that the celebration programme at Queen’s has been underway, with a range of events to entertain all – students, staff members, as well as members of the public. You may find the CNY2023 Programme page via the link below and here are some activities for you to kick a start while more will be uploaded shortly.

Celebrations elsewhere in Belfast

In addition to our celebrations on campus, we would like to make you aware of the social celebration of Chinese New Year in Belfast, operated by Success Dragon and Lion Dance Association, a registered charity in Northern Ireland (Charity no. 105478), who had been supporting Queen’s celebrations before pandemic.

The Chinese New Year Celebration returns to the Ulster Hall Belfast on Sunday 22nd January 2023 celebrating the Year of Rabbit. Come to enjoy a day full of fun and joy, rich in Colours and Culture. With over 12 global dances and music not to be missed.

盛大的中國新年慶典再次重臨 Ulster Hall Belfast。 日期是一月廿二號星期日。超過十二個各式的民族表演包括舞龍舞獅,中國功夫和中國的傳統舞蹈表演等。請從速預訂門票!

Alan Lui, Master of The success Dragon & lion dance association

Please note that we are not involved in performances and ticket booking issues. All enquiries should be sent to the Association directly, following the contact information on the poster.

Chinese Brushes in Belfast and Beyond

On Sunday 29th January the Ulster Museum will hosts this event including a selection of ArtEast NI members’ paintings displayed at the hall area from 12 pm on, and a talk/panel discussion at 2 pm on their themes, styles, and techniques, as well as their attitudes towards challenging lives throughout the pandemic period. There will also be an interactive workshop from 3 pm to encourage audience, especially those families with kids, to have some hands-on practice (e.g. painting, calligraphy, paper crafts) under the guidance of the artists.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is ArtEast-Exhibition-UM-Poster.jpg
See the event on Ulster Museum What’s On

Supported by The Language Centre at Queen’s, the Ulster Museum and the Chinese Welfare Association NI, this half-day event is family-friendly and free for all.

Photo album

To view the ArtEast NI online exhibition starting from Sunday 22nd January when the Year of the Rabbit starts, please click the button below.

Discovering Chinese Family Names and Dialects

Go to the CCP2023 Homepage

关于英国女王大学及北爱范围的中国姓氏及方言的问卷调查

本问卷调查是英国女王大学2023中国新年文化庆祝的一部分。本问卷旨在邀请在女王大学工作和学校的华人师生以及北爱地区的华人、华裔参与此次中国姓氏及方言的文化调查。希望通过此次调查收集并展示在北爱地区/女王大学的中国姓氏和方言的多样性。本问卷主要用中文填写。

我们也欢迎华人社群以外的个人如中文学习/使用者(特别是有正式中文名字的朋友)来参与此次调查,在相应的问题栏下 (问题1,2,5,6,7) 用英文填写信息。

本次问卷调查是自愿参与,相关结果(姓氏、方言)会于春节活动期间择日在女王大学的中文博客平台发布。本次调查查结束时间为中国新年,即2023年1月22日星期天。

Discovering Chinese Family Names and Dialects at QUB and elsewhere in Northern Ireland

This cultural survey is part of the programme for 2023 Chinese New Year Celebrations (CNY) at Queen’s. It invites Chinese-speaking staff members, students from Queen’s University, and members of the public who identify themselves with Chinese origin (e.g. early immigrants) to tell us their Chinese names and the dialects they speak. We hope to collect Chinese names with a focus on a variety of Chinese family names and the richness of the dialects they speak. The survey is to be filled in Chinese.

For members of non-Chinese speaking communities who have been learning/using Chinese, esp. who have a Chinese name, you are more than welcome to share with us your information (in English) in the corresponding section (Q1, Q2, Q5, Q6, Q7) as well.

The participation is voluntary and we will publish/present the result (family names and dialects only) on the Chinese@QUB Blog in due course. The cut-off date for this survey is the CNY date (Sunday 22nd January 2023).

CNY2023 Drawing Competition

The Language Centre has been proactively leading a number of language and culture-associated events, including the branded Chinese New Year celebrations, at Queen’s for years and we are looking to further engaging with students, staff members, as well as members of the public, to enable better inclusion and interaction.

To welcome the Year of the Rabbit (starting from Sun 22nd January 2023), we would like to invite you to join in this CNY2023 Drawing Competition with the theme of the Rabbit (Chinese character: 兔, pronounced as , similar to ‘too/two’). We believe that the image of rabbit is widely used in many arts forms, literatures, and modern designs in both Chinese and many other cultures, though the cultural connotations vary from one to another.

Go to the CCP2023 Homepage

The drawing styles can be of any medium (such as sketching, oils, watercolour, sculpture, etc.) so long as they represent and reflect on your perceptions of the rabbit in your own or Chinese culture. All forms and techniques of presentation are encouraged.

The competition starts from the date when it is advertised and will close on Friday 13th January 2023. The finished drawings (one drawing each participant) should be saved as an electronic copy (JEPG/JPG format, max. 2MB) and emailed as an attachment to Dr Liang WANG at Liang.Wang@qub.ac.uk, using ‘CNY2023 Drawing Competition’ in the subject line. In the email, please briefly include a bio, including your name, your status (e.g. educational/professional background) and the illustration of your idea on the presentation.

All the entries will be uploaded online for exhibition. A judge panel will make a decision on the result which will be announced shortly after the closing date. The winners’ drawings may be used for further promotional purposes with acknowledgement. Prizes will be subsequently given out for collection.

International Volunteer Day

Happy International Volunteer Day!

Highlighting the power of collective humanity to drive positive change through volunteerism, the UN Volunteers (UNV) programme coordinates IVD on 5 December annually to recognize and promote the tireless work, not just of UN Volunteers, but of volunteers across the globe.

UN

The Queen’s Chinese Blog, on behalf of the The Language Centre and The iRise Staff Network, would like to send our best wishes to all those, students and alumni, who have supported us in one way or another on a voluntary basis, for the yearly Chinese language and culture events on campus and elsewhere. It has been a wonderful experience of working with you, which has proved a series of journey logs that we have learned from each other, built up solidarity and mutual respect.

Call for volunteers

As the Year of the Rabbit is fast approaching, we are looking for talented students and staff members to volunteer for our Chinese New Year celebration at Queen’s. It could be in the form of a variety of cultural performances, or language/culture-related topics and skills, and is open to both Chinese-speaking and non-Chinese speaking volunteers.

We also look forward to working with you in our future events.

More opportunities to volunteer at Queen’s

Related reading

Double 11th Day

Double 11th Day (the 11th of November), more widely known as Chinese Singles’ Day, was invented by some young Chinese college students in the early 90s, who were singles longing for love and affection to end their bachelor’s (pun. single/degree) life before their graduation. However, it has now been switched to the commercial side of it – shopping. More and more businesses have started their marketising of the Day as an important occasion of selling their products and service.

Queen’s alumnus, LU Yi (卢艺), BSc in Accounting (2011-2014), has shared his thoughts on the changing phenomenon of the Double 11th Day celebrations

What I feel about this day is that actually it is not just one day of crazy selling and buying. It’s a season which has started as early as the beginning of November when one could feel the air of massive advertising and promotion. People have already started placing orders in order to secure the Double 11th Day discounts and pay in full by that day.

However, I think that the original sense of celebrating the Double 11th Day has received less attention, probably because nowadays young people start to fall in love earlier than people did in the past. In addition, I think it also reflects the changing social attitude towards those who choose to remain single, from being opposing to becoming tolerant and accepting. More and more young people would agree with the social phenomenon that being alone is their freedom, a decision they want to make for themselves rather than following traditional family value and surrendering to social pressure.

So, how did LU Yi spend his Double 11th Day this year?

The timer LU Yi set for remembering the phenomenal moment

Well, haha, I’ve got married at the beginning of this year so I’m no longer a bachelor – no need to celebrate. But I did place a couple of orders to buy something useful – a pair of trainers for badminton play, a down jacket to keep me warm during winter, and a set of earphones, altogether having a discount of 20%. That’s it.

All images belong to LU Yi.

Related reading

Queen’s Chinese alumni, what did you buy for Double 11th Day? And Chinese students at Queen’s, what are you going to order for the Black Friday and Christmas shopping overall? Tell us by leaving your comments below!

Happy Double Ninth Day

This year the Double Ninth Day, or 重阳节 (Chóngyángjié) in Chinese, falls on 4th October. It is traditionally an occasion for showing respect to the elderly or ancestors, as well as attaching special importance to families. One of the customary cultures of practice is to climb a hill to a high place (爬山登高 pá shān dēng gāo) and think of their departing family members with good wishes.

In contemporary times it is an occasion for outdoor exercising (户外运动 hùwài yùndòng) such as excursion (远足 yuǎn zú). In Belfast, the Cave Hill is such a great outdoor site for both local and international residents to go hiking. The photos below are from Ziqing Wei (魏子晴), a postgraduate in interpreting, who recently went out with her friends to climb the Cave Hill for fun.

‘远离城市的浮躁和喧嚣,感受大自然,在山顶眺望远方海天相接处,享受内心的宁静。’

Translation: It’s great to be able to distance myself from the hustle and bustle of the urban life and to appreciate the peace of mind when I can embrace the nature, looking afar from the top of the Hill until the end where the sky and the sea disappear into thin air.

Chinese course enrolment and call for volunteers

With the approaching of the new semester we are pleased to announce that the Language Centre course enrolment starts at 00:30 on Thursday 1st September. We offer over 80 classes in 14 different languages, including Chinese, that have both online and in person teaching. All classes will commence week beginning Monday 10 Oct 2022.

Online registration will be closed on Thursday 6 Oct and we welcome all to make an early registration as courses are extremely popular and fill up quickly.

Class schedule and registration links are accessible via Language Centre website.

Chinese language courses are offered from level 1 to level 5.

Call for volunteers

We are looking for talented students and staff members to volunteer for our Chinese language and cultural events at Queen’s. It could be in the form of a variety of cultural performances, or language/culture-related topics and skills, and is open to both Chinese-speaking and non-Chinese speaking volunteers.

We look forward to working with you in our future events.

Read the Chinese version here.

When The Teachers’ Day Meets Mid-Autumn Festival

Following the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, we think that it is appropriate and respectful to postpone our Mid-Autumn Festival celebration event. The event will be rescheduled and a further notice will be made soon.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a great occasion for family reunion in the Chinese culture, and we hope that you will join us in sending our condolences to the Royal Family on the loss of their most important family member.

Photo: The Lanyon Building with QUB flag flying at half-mast | ©LiangWANG

You may click to read QUB tribute in English and in Chinese.

It is so special that this year the Mid-Autumn Festival falls on today, Saturday 10th Sept, which coincides with the Teachers’ Day in China. Although we will not be able to get together in person to celebrate this double-festival day, we would like to send our warmest wishes to all who share this culture from QUB and elsewhere.

We have seen our students finding their ways of making mooncakes by themselves with passion and creativity. In the following video clip contributed by Qi SHUAI, you may find it interesting to see how mooncakes can be made by using local materials while she feels being distant (and homesick) from their home.

“去年中秋节的时候我还在家里收拾行囊准备开始我的留学之旅,而现在我已经出国一年了,离开父母整整一年了。中国有句古话“每逢佳节倍思亲”,自从出国开始,每次在异国他乡过中国传统节日时候总是更加认真也更加去认真过节。虽然很想念家里的亲人朋友,但也因为种种原因没有办法把回国列入档期。中秋节算是在中国人心中重要程度仅此于春节的传统节日,因为中秋的节日核心就是在月亮下和家人团团圆圆。但中国还有一句古话“明月千里寄相思”,离开家的我只能望月怀远,将寄明月,把想念化为一句句祝福和一块块月饼。”

(Translation: Last Mid-Autumn Festival I was still packing up at home for my overseas study and now it has been a year since I left my parents. As the Chinese saying goes, one would double-miss their family when it comes to festivals for reunion, I am always keen to celebrate the traditional Chinese festivals when I travel away from home. Once again, now I miss my family and friends so much, although I don’t know a date to return yet. The Mid-Autumn Festival is the second most important event after the Spring Festival to Chinese families, as the full and bright moon in autumn symbolises a great occasion for family reunion. However, as I’m at a distant place, I have to borrow another saying that one can only pass on thoughts to their beloved through sharing the full and bright moon. Hence, I look up and afar, praying that the Mid-Autumn moon will share my best wishes and my hand-made mooncakes to the people I love and care in China.)

https://www.instagram.com/p/CiTjReyqxgd/

We would also like to take this opportunity to send our best wishes to the faculties both in Queen’s and elsewhere for a very relaxing Chinese Teachers’ Day!

A photo of two frames with thank-you messages to teachers, a spider plant as decoration, taken in 2018 | ©LiangWANG

Well, then, did you know when the World Teachers’ Day is and if there are any special date for teachers in your culture? Please share with us in the comment box below.

For our Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations and Chinese Teachers’ Day posts in the past, you may wish to read the following entries:

Mid-Autumn Festival Celebrations

Happy September and happy Mid-Autumn Festival which arrives early, falling on Saturday 10th September this year. 中秋节快乐 (Zhōngqiūjié kuàilè)!

Following the successful rolling out of the iRise Social and Wellbeing Event – A Taste of Chinese Tea with Guzheng Music in July, we would like to invite you to join our Mid-Autumn Festival celebration with a cultural talk on its history and social impact, with a taste of mooncakes (赏月 shǎng yuè) and MIDI keyboard performance (赏乐 shǎng yuè) –

MIDI Keyboard with Roses
  • Organised by The Language Centre and BAME & International Staff Network, QUB
  • Presented by Dr Liang Wang, The Language Centre
  • Contributed by Kehan (可瀚), BSc candidate in Music and Audio Production, School of Arts, English and Languages

Date: Friday 23rd September 2022
Time: 15:30 – 17:00 
Venue: The Auditorium, McClay Library

Please note: Due to rescheduling we may have some limited spaces available. For colleagues who signed up for the event and still can attend, you don’t need to do it again. However, if you are no longer able to attend in-person, please email liang.wang[at]qub.ac.uk so that places can be made to others. Please register by 4.00pm on Thursday 22nd September.