The First Annual Chinese Language & Culture Event

On Sunday 16 April 2006 the First Beijing Annual Chinese Language and Culture Event was held at the H.Q. Ritz Hotel. The event was organised by Colin Friedman of China Expert International Ltd. (a member of the British Chamber of Commerce in China) and his partner for this event Claire Zhang of Beijing Oriental Sun Culture and Media Ltd. The event was a free event provided as a public service predominantly for foreigners living in Beijing but open to all irrespective of nationality, age or gender.

The organisers utilised the venue’s special shape to the full. The room is horseshoe shaped surrounding a central stage. The tables are along the sides of the “U”. The event concept was based on using the central stage as a platform for the exhibitors, in turn, to promote their services. Additionally the tables along the length of the “U” were allocated as meeting areas for the exhibitors to hold private consultations with their potential clients.

The Event, as a first, was a success despite the fact that the number of attendees was lower than expected. The choice of dates (Easter Sunday, the middle of Pesach (Passover) and just prior to the Chinese May Holiday) seems to have been a factor that adversely affected the numbers. However, those who were present had, as promised by the organisers, a fun and enjoyable afternoon and came away knowing more about Chinese culture and more about some of the better Chinese Language Schools in Beijing.

The Chinese Language Exhibitors were, in alphabetical order, Beijing Dragon & Phoenix Language training Institute, Berlitz, Frontiers, HNBW, Hui Jia and the University of International Relations (UIR). It was interesting to see how the six schools that had all been requested to use their stage time to promote themselves in an interesting, exciting and relevant manner all used this time differently. Berlitz, for example, used a traditional PowerPoint Display to explain their long history of language teaching. Frontiers used their time to show a home-style movie of their school. Their film showed the school’s facilities and some of the teachers and students. They also invited one of their new students (a veteran of only 3 months) to express his opinion of the school and teaching methodology. HNBW were even more creative and they decided to demonstrate to the audience that studying Chinese could be fun and easy if you use informal and creative teaching methods such as games. Hui Jia invited some of their students to the stage where they recited set pieces, whilst UIR, as befitting a University, gave a lecture style performance.

The Culture element was provided in a number of different ways. The King Gesar Tibetan Restaurant Dancers dazzled the audience with their traditional costumes, music and dances. One can only imagine their virtuosity on larger size stage and with professional stage lighting. Miss Cao Lu Qi’s Gu Zheng Recital and the Han Ming Xuan Teahouse’s “Traditional Gong Fu Tea Ceremony” provided a delicate and peaceful contrast to the Tibetan dances. Arguably one of the most intricate performances of the afternoon was Mr. Zhao Hui Yuan, from Beijing Traditional Food Sculpture Community, who on the stage sculpted some of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Mascots whilst blind-folded, and in his meeting area during the course of the afternoon prepared a couple of vases of flowers all sculpted from fruit and vegetables.

Contrary to the low number of visitors the event was well attended by the media – seven newspapers/magazines, both English language Radio Stations and CCTV. The printed media were represented by Beijing Today, Beijing Review, China Campus Magazine, China Daily (Star), China Today, Fortune Times and New Western-Style Food Magazine.

The next Chinese Language and Culture Event will be even bigger and better and at a slightly different time of year.