On the 28th of Oct. 2012, the Timaru District Council held the Third South Canterbury International Festival at Aoraki Polytechnic. Present were more than 20 countries and ethnic groups delegations including China, Germany, Korea, Japan, India and Argentina, etc. Guests included Janie Annear, Mayor of Timaru, Li Yucai, Education Consul and Xu Zhijie, Cultural Consul from the Chinese Consulate General in Christchurch. Mr Li Yucai, on behalf of Madam Tan Xiutian the Consul General, gave a speech at the opening ceremony. Mr Li reviewed the relationship between New Zealand and China and then expressed the hope that the festival could be successful.

This was the first time that the Confucius Institute at the University of Canterbury （CIUC） had participated in the festival. To highlight the festival’s theme “family”, CIUC set up the exhibition room to reflect the structure of a traditional Chinese home, with five areas designated as ‘study’, ‘wardrobe room’, ‘sitting room’, ‘dining room’ and handcraft room. Besides traditional Chinese hand-made items exhibition, the Chinese room distinguished itself from the other exhibition houses by having many interactive activities. For example, visitors could use Chinese brushes to write their names, try on traditional Chinese clothes and taste Chinese tea and food. They also could try paper cutting and Chinese opera mask painting. These activities allowed the visitors to experience Chinese culture, which enhanced both their learning and their enjoyment.

The Study

The study was decorated in traditional style and the ‘four treasures of the study （writing brush, ink, inkstone, paper）’ were displayed. A teacher demonstrated   Chinese calligraphy by writing visitors’ names in Chinese. The Confucius Institute also supplied paper and brushes for the visitors to practice. This display attracted a crowd who all were keen to have their names written in Chinese. The resulting artworks impressed the participants, who then tried to imitate the brushstrokes. A reporter from the Timaru Herald also requested the teacher to write the name of the newspaper in Chinese. Throughout the day, the queue to the study remained very long.

The Wardrobe Room

China has the saying “56 ethnic groups, 56 blossoms, 56 ethnic groups make one family.” The wardrobe room was developed based on the idea of the big family in China. A poster displayed photos of the 56 ethnic groups in the shape of a ‘peace’ dove. At the same time, clothing from various ethnic groups was available for guests to try on and they could take photos of themselves. There was one little girl, who, after putting on clothes of Xinjiang style, could not stop twirling around in her dress. She even instantly learned the typical neck movement in Xingjiang dance, which the audience enjoyed so much that the girl’s mother managed to take some special photos.

The Sitting Room

A table with a tea set on it was placed in the centre of the sitting room. Next to the table, there was a guzheng: a traditional Chinese stringed instrument. A volunteer demonstrated a traditional tea ceremony in the beautiful traditional Chinese music. The combination of the tea art and music was very peaceful, and allowed the visitors to experience the grace of Chinese civilisation.

The Dinning Room

The Chinese people have an old saying “Nothing is more comfortable than sleeping in bed; nothing is more delicious than dumplings”. Dumplings have long become a representative of the well-known Chinese food throughout the world. Besides stuffed buns, moon cakes and fried dough twists, the Chinese House also prepared some fried dumplings for sale. The smell of the dumplings attracted the visitors, and many of them came back for more dumplings. By the end of the day, “another bite, please” became the nickname of the Chinese kitchen.

The Handcraft Room

The Paper Cutting and Mask Painting area attracted a lot of children. The volunteers taught the children how to paint masks and cut paper-cuts. The children paid close attention to the explanations, and were eager to have a try themselves. Not long after they had worked on them for a while, they were able to create charming pandas, lifelike goldfish and pretty window adornments. The children could paint traditional Chinese opera masks. These activities increased the children’s interest in China.

In order to give a platform to every delegation, the host invited them to introduce the style of their people respectively. The Chinese team sent the University of Canterbury PhD student Shanshan Song and the Chinese language student Jack Chaney. They exhibited clothes from the Han and Tibetan ethnic group. When Jack Chaney said in fluent Chinese， “I am Chinese”, there was a round of applause.