Talk - Learn - Discuss, Join Sunbird Culture Club
New blog upload on the 1st and 15th
Forum dates: June 14, Aug. 9, Oct. 11, Dec. 13, 2021, the 2nd Monday of even months
Gǎnjǐn dǎ - 赶紧打 - Hurry up to get vaccinated
Sichuan Province Health Commission lauched a promotion video this week to call-up for getting vaccinated soon. The rap song is called 'Vaccination Divine Comedy' by netizens and is becoming quickly hot. Watch here the short version of the video, with the subtitling of several phrases.
Click to see the rap song texts in Pinyin, Chinese character and in English.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGsrmZXc6bI
Online Forum on June 14, 2021
May 15, 2021 Confucius, his teaching practice and leadership
Confucius, 孔子Kǒng Zǐ (551–479 B.C.), was a great Chinese Master of Education and philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period. Legend has it that he had 3000 disciples. He was a versatile man and with a height of 1,95 meters. How did Confucius build up his knowledge system? With this question in mind, I did my study. Confucius could not seriously start learning until he was 15-year-old. Based on the materials found, I could conclude that Kong Zi mostly did self-study, and he was the first self-taught big education master in Chinese history. Before he was 20-year-old, Kong Zi found himself a white collar job in the most powerful noble enterprise. Before 30, Kong Zi started a vocational school to train his disciples the needed skills to live a better life. Click to read the whole article.(1195 words)
Confucius was widely considered one of the most important and influential individuals in human history. Confucius's teaching and philosophy form the basis of East Asian culture and society, and remain influential today. If you are interested in Confucius and his leadership, join our Sunbird club activity on Monday evening June 14 to discuss & learn from each other.
May 12, 2021
Decennial census and the learning of Chinese language and culture
On May 11, 2021 two news came out on the same date: the results of the 7th Chinese national decennial census were announced. China's total population is more than 1411 million, with November 1, 2020 as the reference date. China is still the most populous country in the world. The average age of the Chinese population is now 38.8 years old. The average population of each household is 2.62 persons. Family households continue to shrink.
Another news from Dutch central television NPO appeared on the same date. It was a talk about the learning of Chinese language and culture. It is reported that more than 260 VWO students at Dutch middle schools took part in the recent exams of Chinese proficiency. Nine years ago, only 20 students did that...
The speakers of the NOP program let know that their children have been learning Chinese as well, because China is a big and important country and will be more important soon.
Please click here to read the whole post.
May 1, 2021 Today in history
Labour Day, 996, and the 1st SEZ in China
-- by Sunbird Chinese Culture Club
May 1, 1890 - the first International Workers’ Day (Labour Day 劳动节Láodòng Jié) was established by the Second International (former International Workingmen's Association) during the Marxist International Socialist Congress 1889 in Paris. There were important demonstrations in 1880s, one severe and bleeding demonstration was the Haymarket Affair in Chicago on May 4, 1886. Workers strongly requested to shorten working hours to eight hours a day. The establishment of Labour Day put universal peace movement forward... Click to read more
Watch the video to see the origin of our Logo
Narration in mandarin
Get English & Chinese texts in Post April 23.
April 23, 2021: Our Sunbird Logo
Today is the World Book Day. UNESCO established the World Book Day to promote book, publishing and reading. We would like to provide you a short reading material regarding the Sun Bird, the inspiration of our logo. Please watch the above video, listen to the story in mandarin while enjoying the photos. Click here to get the Chinese text, Pinyin text and the English translation.
April 13, 2021: Robert van Gulik
Robert Hans van Gulik (1910 - 1967) 高罗佩 (Gāo Luōpèi) was a Dutch sinologist, orientalist, diplomat, translator, and novelist. He was born in Zutphen. As a son of a medical officer in the Dutch army, he was tutored in Mandarin and other languages from three years old. He studied in Leiden University and obtained his PhD in 1935 from Utrecht University. Robert van Gulik is fluent in 15 languages and was stationed in various countries, mostly in East Asia (China and Japan). His Chinese name is 高罗佩 (Gāo Lúopèi). He made great contributions in bridging Chinese cultures and western cultures. Click on the photo of the poster below to see the details of the online celebration.
Royal Association of Friends of Asian Art (KVVAK) organised a 2-day online event on April 9-10, 2021. I have joined most of the programs, I think the event is a very successful one, more than 20 experts around the world: professors and young academics, including Van Gulik families and some influential people, presented their research results and their fond memories of Van Gulik.
The first day was a professional symposium, research results around Mr. Gao were presented by different universities, there were about 180 participants. On the second day, Van Gulik families shared their lively stories, several experts presented the guided tours of the museums and documentary video tours with personal memories. There were many artifacts and historical photos on display and the number of the participants reached 230.
Mr. Gao is famous for his detective fiction Judge Dee. Many people know him as a writer, but he was much more than a normal writer. He was a very versatile man, not only a diplomat but also a practitioner, a collector, a lover of classical Chinese musical instruments, a prolific draftsman, a storyteller and a tender father who had lived a passionate life. Mr. Gao has already inspired many people and will continue to inspire many generations to come.
Mr. Gao witnessed the change of China from the war period to the founding of New China and then to the period of full domestic development. He passed on the changes in China to the Western world in time, giving the West a better understanding of China. Even today, his life and contributions are still the research topics of university scientists around the world. During the two-day event, participants named the research phenomena about Mr. Van Gulik "Gao Study", 高 学 (Gāo Xué).
Mr. Gao has accomplished a lot in his 57-year life. He never stopped working and he is a model of lifelong learning. Thanks KVVAK for organizing this great event. - Kitty Miao
Versatile Robert
April 20: UN Chinese Language Day celebration 联合国中文日
仓 颉 Cāngjié
(~ 5000 BC)
Inventor of original Chinese writing
UN Chinese Language Day is observed globally on April 20 every year, and is celebrated by UNESCO to honour the multilingual culture and diversity. The event was established by the UN Department of Public Information in November 2010. From 2011, April 20 was chosen as the Chinese Language Day to pay tribute to Cangjie, a very important figure in ancient China.
Canjie is claimed to be an official historian of the Yellow Emperor about 5,000 years ago, and the invertor of Chinese characters. Legend has it that he had four eyes, and that when he invented the characters, the deities and ghosts cried and the sky rained millet. ‘Rain of millet’ in Chinese is 谷雨 (Gǔyǔ). The date of April 20 corresponds to Guyu in Chinese lunar calendar.
Standard Chinese (Mandarin) was established as an official language of the United Nations in 1946. In 1973, the General Assembly included Chinese as a working language, which was followed by the Security Council in 1974. More and more UN offices and staff members work with Chinese language. Mandarin is also one of four official languages of Singapore. (With material from: Wikipedia)
Language Plaza will hold an online Chinese cultural evening on April 20, 2021 for members and invitees to celebrate Chinese Language Day.
Follow-up: The online celebration was successfully held. Contact us if you are interested in the cultural quiz or the presentation.