Another year away from home. I don’t have quite strong feeling of being alone for this. I talked to my parents on the phone quite a lot. I told them what I usually did and asked for their advice. Mum and Dad were amazing that they always knew what was going on in England and always provided me most useful information. With regard to the Spring Festival, I think I am quite happy that at least I did offer a bit of help with two celebrations, one for OXCSSA and one for my college. I am being useful – this is moment that I feel pleased.
Report of the Drinks Reception on 31 January 2008
The drinks reception in the Ashmolean Museum started at 5:30pm on 31 January 2008. The Lord Mayor, Cllr John Tanner with his wife and the Head of the Department of Education, Professor John Furlong, were the first three guests for this evening.
It was a great pleasure for the association to welcome so many distinguished guests and students to our Chinese New Year Celebration.
From the University, we had the International Strategy Office, the Leadership Programmes for China, Students Funding and International Office, Oxford Press Office, and Computing Services, with us.
We also had 10 Heads of Oxford Colleges who were celebrating Chinese New Year with us -
The Principle of Brasenose College, Professor Roger Cashmore
The President of Corpus Christi, Sir Tim Lankester
The rector of Exeter College, Ms Frances Cairncross
The Warden of Keble College, Dame Averil Cameron
The Warden of St Antony’s College, Professor Margaret MacMillan
The Principle of St Edmund Hall, Professor Michael Mingos
The Principle of Somerville College, Dame Fiona Caldcott
The President of St John’s College, Sir Michael Scholar
The President of Trinity College, Sir Ivor Roberts
The Dean of Templeton College, Professor Michael Earl
We also had with us professors, lectures and tutors from the University, such as Professor Mark Pollard from Research Lab for Archaeology; Professor John Furlong, Professor Ingrid Lunt, Dr Chris Davies, Dr David Mills from the Department of Education; Professor Robert Griffiths from the Department of Statistics; Professor John Knight, Dr Albert Park from the Department of Education; Dr Maria Jaschok from the Department of International Development; Professor Christopher Schofield from the Department of Chemistry, Dr Jane Shaw from the Department of Divinity, etc.
The University of Oxford is one of the worlds leading universities. Also it is part of the great city – Oxford. We had with us 18 of the City’s councillors, including the Lord Mayor of Oxford John Tanner, the Deputy Lord Mayor of Oxford Stephen Tall, the Last year’s Lord Mayor Jim Campbell.
The Lord Mayor of Oxford, John Tanner opened the reception by his interesting and compelling speech. Dr Heather Bell, Director of International Strategy, spoke on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor of the University who is abroad. We would like to thank Dr Bell very much for her informative speech. President of Affiliated School to the Ren Min University, Liu Pengzhi, introduced her excellent performance group to us and wished everyone happy New Year. Our Chinese Students and Scholars Association’s president, Wen Rui, told our guests the story of Chinese New Year celebration and how our association works.
We would like to thank everyone who was there for our Chinese New Year Celebration. We would like to thank the Ashmolean Museum for their important contribution to the success of the day. But of course, none of this would be possible without the support of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China. We would like to say a special word of thank to them, especially the Formal Culture Councilor, Ke Yasha and the officer of the culture division, Liu Yang. They brought us The Performance Group of Affiliated High School to Renmin University who came all the way from Beijing especially to attend our Chinese New Year Celebration. Also we had a performance group nearby from St Clare’ School. They have made fantastic contribution to us for many years. We would like to thank them very much as well.
We would like to thank everyone for coming to celebrate our Chinese New Year with us last night. May the worst day of the New Year be better than the best day of this year! Happy New Year!
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Invitation to the Chinese New Year Dinner at Brasenose
Dear All,
I am pleased to announce that a Chinese New Year Dinner will be held on
Thursday, the 7th of February. You and your guests are warmly invited to attend.
The Spring Festival(known as Chinese New Year) celebrates the new year for
everything coming back to life. Food plays an important role from 1st January to
15th January in Lunar Calendar. Much of the food has symbolic meaning. For
example, the names of some foods sound similar to characters with lucky
connotations, while the shape or colour of other foods symbolises properties
such as happiness, prosperity and good fortune. Kumquat plants, which are
popular presents, are considered lucky because of their little golden fruits.On
New Year’s Eve houses are brightly lit and families gather together for a large
meal. The traditional food depends on whether you’re from south China -
sticky-sweet glutinous rice pudding called nian gao – or the north – steamed
dumpling called jiaozi (or djiaozi). Most people stay up all night celebrating
and at midnight fireworks and firecrackers are set off to frighten away evil
spirits.
Starter: Dumpling and Spring roll
Main Course: Fish, dry sausage and egg fried rice
Dessert: Yuan Xiao (made of sticky rice flour filled with sweet sesame stuffing
and round in shape)
The shape of Dumpling resembles that of ancient gold and silver ingots or a
crescent moon, and symbolizes the hope for a year of plenty.
As the Chinese phrase “may there be surpluses every year” (pronunciation in
Chinese: nián nián yǒu yú) sounds the same as “may there be fish every year.”
Yuan Xiao symbolises family unity, completeness and happiness.
Each student is permitted to invite two guest to dine in the magnificent
surroundings of Brasenose’s Hall with traditional Chinese decoration. The dinner
will comprise three courses of Chinese New Year food including vegetarian
options, for which the cost will be £6 per head. The dress code will be casual
with Brasenose members also being required to wear gowns. China dress would be
appreciated. Doors to the Hall will be open from 6.30, and as many of you
already know, it is best to get there early to get a good seat! Dinner will be
served promptly at 7.15pm, so you must be seated by then.
If you would like to attend the dinner, either with or without guests, you will
either need to swipe in at the machine in the Lodge or use online UPay system
https://www.cashless.co.uk/. Please select the “Chinese New Year Dinner” which
is towards the top of the screen.
I hope to see many of you on Thursday next week for what I hope will be a
fantastic evening. Please do not hesitate to contact me for any additional
information.
