Chinese New Year Celebration 2009 Report

Chinese New Year Celebration 2009 by Malaysian Chinese Community of Volgograd State Medical University, Russia A report by Thien Wei Khiong (vice secretary of MCC) Details of the occasions: Date: 22 February 2009 Time: 12pm- 4pm Venue: Medical Hostel No 4, Street Hiroshima 8.

CHINESE NEW YEAR 09 COMMITTEE LIST ORGANISING CHAIR PERSON: MELVIN CHUNG HSIEN LIANG SECRETARY: CHAI CHAN SIN VICE SECRETARY: THIEN WEI KHIONG TREASURER: YIM SHAO EN FUND RAISING COORDINATORS: DORIS CHEAH YEE HSIEN LAW SHU AN JEENA FOO MEI CHIEN BATCH REPRESENTATIVES: 6TH COURSE: CHAN LEED WI 5TH COURSE: CH’NG HAN NIE 4TH COURSE: TAN LI FEN

3RD COURSE: LEE JIANN WOEI 2ND COURSE: YAP TECK CHONG 1ST COURSE: DANIEL TAM ZEN KUANG PREMED: LAI KEAN HOWE

It all began in November 2008, when the committee for Chinese New Year Celebration was setup. President Melvin Chung, a 5th-year student, got everyone into an early preparation. In total, only 3 committee meetings were held to share ideas and opinions. Choices and decisions were made based on careful enquiries and cost, for we knew we were financially limited. Hence, to hunt for sponsorships was one of the early aims. The planning of the menu was actually quite a headache. There were many lovely Chinese dishes, desserts and recipes that we suggested. Sadly, little of the ingredients were available in Russia. So what we did was to narrow down the list and get good hands to prepare them. Since it was a tough task to be cooking, a group of boys bought and carried all the ingredients whenever wherever they were needed. Some ingredients were bought at a faraway open market as they had the lowest prices. Some ingredients had to be brought back by students who went home for winter. It was indeed full cooperation from the community. Initially, the committee of MCC agreed that each member (each Chinese student) should contribute at least 400rubles money-wise for the celebration to come true. Of course, that amount was not comfortable for everyone but in the end, 100 members paid-up. By February, all the Chinese students were given their tasks. Everyone had something to do. We had teams for invitation cards, decoration, dedication, sound system, slide show presentation, cooking, baking, packaging, distributing, serving, performing, photographing, and of course cleaning up. Like how the Russians say , a special “ BIG THANKS” to Russian Resources Sdn. Bhd. and Malaysian Embassy, Russia, who each sponsored 500USDs, to make this occasion an obvious success. All of us really appreciate your kindness and generosity. Thanks to the helping hands, at the start of the event, each of the 100 members was presented with an ‘ang pau’ consisting of 300rubles, which was a great delight on a Chinese New Year so far away from home. We spent money the best we could and we are very happy too that we saved some for the coming years. Days before the occasion, each Malaysian student received an amazingly done invitation card, which had them all excited to come, for it was hand-made, every single one of them, and completed with each guests’ zodiac description. The word “autumn”(in Chinese) and the theme ‘Earthen Red Ox’ made quite an early impression to all that time, CNY celebration was going to

be great, memorable. Non-Chinese students had to ask the meaning of the theme and this became an opportunity for us to explain this little part of Chinese culture and history to them. Guests were all awed when they finally entered the hostel hall. The decoration simply elicited the mood for a CNY celebration. There were pink plum flowers, ribbons and tiny lanterns on branches sprayed white. Daniel (1st year) and friends made pretty ancient Chinese coins to hang on two big branches. About 80 lanterns were hanging on the ceiling, big and small ones, and a terrific dragon crawling on the wall. The dragon was a decoration item for the previous celebration and Ying Ying (6th year) remodeled it for us. 12 zodiac signs with their own description and prediction were pasted on every corner, and of course, a big banner across the wall which said “Earthen Red-Ox, A symphony of hopes and beginnings”. The day of pretty ladies and smart men officially started with a short thank-you speech by Melvin Chong. He was taken over by our MC, Kelvin Yii, a 4th –year student, revealing the menu which consisted of Kung Pau Chicken, Sweet and Sour Chicken, Meat Balls, Dumplings, StirFry Vegetables and Egg Rolls. Vegetarians had the stir-fry vegetables and an addition of Ragu, a Russian vegetarian dish. For snacks, everyone received a pretty little packet with peanut, butter and cornflakes cookies. The menu was displayed on slide show for everyone to see. Our thirstquenching drink was the Lo Han Guo and as a sweet surprise for the guests, the Chinese students dedicated to their friends herbal eggs. Along with the egg, they received a little hand-made paper fish with list of names that wished them HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR. So, the longer the list, the happier they were. Through this idea, MCC received a little extra money for the occasion. To entertain the crowd, a slide show depicting our efforts and behind the scenes was displayed. In it, there was also Chinese New Year songs, videos and advertisement, downloaded from the internet. The hall was filling up very quickly. It was definitely too small, so we had to urge our guests to shuffle about so that everyone get a view of the anticipated performances. The first performance was a welcoming act by a group of students dressed traditionally, carrying s fans, ang paus, basket with oranges, charms. They presented their items to the crowd two by two and ended the act by giving away the oranges to those that put up their hands. Next was a display and slide show of the lion dance and our mc explained that there are two types of lion, the south and the north and in jump our own live lion! The crowd was AWED as this was a first and some of them had never even seen one before! A boy was patting the lion as if to irritate it. He wanted the lion to jump and collect something that was hanging above. The lion gets ready. The crowd held their breaths. Up goes the lion and it grasped the parcel hanging there! The crowd cheered so loudly! The parcel opened and it was a scroll. When the lion got down, it was hungry and so, our president presented it with a ang pau , cabbage and oranges. The crowd watched as the lion began to eat quietly. After some time, it got up again to dance for us. It

was really an eye-opening performance from Chai Chan Sin and Sarabdev. A special gratitude to Vietnamese students for trusting us their Lion Head. Just before food was served, fourth year student, Tan Li Fen, our very own nightingale, sang a beautiful but sad love song, like a calming draught. Some of us sang along with her. After the song, everyone went to have their food at various floors in the hostel according to their year. After sometime, they all came back to the hall for more performances. So, we presented the chopstick dance. Also realized by Li Fen, it was a nice and sweet dance by 6 cute girls dressed in red. They made elegant movements while hitting the chopsticks together. Then, Chinese New Year songs were presented by the choir team which consisted of pre med, 1st and 2nd year students. They had a variety of melody and rhythm and they sang with such enthusiasm. It was loud and clear and from outside, you can hear the beautiful music. One of the highlights of the event was our last performance, which was a Chinese Rap by Charles Chong and our Mauritian friend, Shekhar Ramjutun. Both looked cool in black overalls and they made the crowd cheer, whistles, scream, etc. Everyone truly enjoyed watching them, listening to the beat alone was enough to groove in. In the middle of the rap, Ren Ren, a Chinese friend from China, and Jenna Foo joined in to do a little twirl with the guys. People were whistling to this. Some simply smiled or laughed. A big applause was heard when the rap ended. Salute to our superstars! We had no more performance and so it was time for everyone to snap pictures. Here, I’d like to mention Cherrie Chan Yiru, who snapped pictures of every excellent moment of the event. With the SLR camera, her pictures turned out to be appraisable. Towards the end, everyone had finished snapping pictures with everything and everyone and they brought home good memories of our Chinese New Year in Volgograd. Though the real Chinese new year was a month ago, it didn’t feel so.

Chinese New Year 2009 Earthen Red Ox

The first general meeting with the organizer, Melvin Chung and secretary ; Chai Chan Sin

Invitation cards in the making.

Spraying the branches of the ‘mei hua’ tree.

The setting up of the hall with latterns.

The famous dragon, with his creator and helpers.

The placing of the grand welcome banner. Melvin Chung, Organizing Chair Person

The Grand Chinese New Year hall of 2009

Kelvin, Emcee of the event with the stunning event banner.

Students displaying both traditional and modern outfits as they welcome guests to the event.

The sweet and outstanding singer ; Li Fen

Mr. Dennis (Malaysian curator) with 6th year students.

The crowd

Laughter and smiles

souvenir stall

Performers of the chinese chop stick dance and lion dance No missing a chance to snap a picture with the famous dragon.

Chinese Students of VSMU

The End of the event…