【Time】13:00 – 16:00, October 30th, 2016
【Venue】Trumpington Meadows Primary School, Kestrel Rise, Cambridge CB2 9AY
【To register】https://goo.gl/forms/T1vRl5CnrweiVajH3 （please click ‘read more’ to open the link directly）
【Price】 Free！！！
The Family Learning festival is the biggest annual event of this type in Britain，aiming to encourage the whole family to learn together. After successfully organizing the event for three years, this year’s family Learning day will be held at the CCCC on 30th October from 1 pm to 4 pm.
This event will provide a great opportunity to explore, increase understanding to the Chinese culture and participate in Chinese society. Also a chance for all of us to increase our knowledge, enrich family life, or simply to enjoy the weekend.
This year there will be more activities than the last,including: food cooking, paper cutting, lion dance, traditional dance, Tai Chi, traditional Chinese musical instruments, yoga, the Chinese board game Go and so on. We have also prepared a special program for Halloween. Plus FREE dumpling taste from a famous brand: Fresh Asian dumpling. Come and join us!
The schedule of the afternoon will be:
【Activity 1: Paper cutting】
List as UNESCO Intangible Culture Heritage, and as one of our folk culture symbol, paper cutting has been practised in China for more than 1500 years. We have invited the award winning graphic designer Ms ShiQiGao to teach us how to tell stories by paper cutting.
【Activity 2: Traditional Chinese instrument Guzheng (ChineseZither)】
Guzheng is a plucked string musical instrument of the Chinese Han people, which originated in Qin during the Warring States period (5 century B. C ~ 3 century B. C). It has strong powers of expression because of its beautiful timbre and wide musical range, and needs a high degree of playing skills. In modern times, many types of similar instruments have appeared.Guzheng is an ancient instrument with rich culture and has a history of more than 2500 years. This year we have invited artists from the UK-China Arts and Cultural Exchange Centre to give a lecture about Guzheng.
【Activity 3: Ocarina】
The Ocarina is an wind musical instrument, a type of vesselflute. Since there are many different styles of Ocarina varying in shape and materials, their tone is very different.The smaller type sounds loud and clear, the bigger type sounds low and discreet. The Ocarina is very popular instrument because it’s low cost and easeof Learning. Even people without any musical training could learn to play verywell after short practice.
The Ocarina’s origins can be traced back to many different cultures, but the modern term Ocarina dates back to the 19 century, when Giuseppe Donati from Budrio, a town near Bologna in Italy transformed theOcarina from a little goose-like toy into a more comprehensive instrument.
An artist from the UK-China Arts and Cultural Exchange Centre will deomstrate it and teach you how to play it.
【Activity 4: Accordion】
The accordion are a family of box-shaped musical instrumentswith bellows-driven free reed aerophones, colloquially referred to as asqueezebox. It can be used in both solo or orchestra performances. Its sound isgrand and the change of timbre is rich. It has been used to perform variousstyle of music. Because its fixed pitch is easy to learn, and small size is easy to carry, the accordions are suitable for people with different background at different places to perform.
Teacher Jingling Huo from the UK-China Arts and Cultural Exchange Centre will give us a superb accordion performance.
【Activity 5: Go】
The game Go was invented in ancient China more than 4000 years ago and was considered one of the four essential arts of the cultured aristocratic Chinese scholars in antiquity.It is an abstract strategy board game for two players, in which the aim is to surround more territory than the opponent. We have invited Mr Yuxiang Lou, amateur 5 Duan，Number 9 in 2010 and 2012 World Amateur GO Championship, to give a lecture about Go.
【Activity 6: Facial painting and Origami】
The origami is the art of paper folding, with a goal to transform a flat sheet of paper into a finished sculpture through folding and sculpting techniques. It is a great fun to do this with your children. Please bring your child to join Ms HuiChan Zhang and her daughter to do origami together.
Facial painting is alway loved by children. To add extra excitement and color to the children we will do free facial painting as well.
【Activity7: Acupuncture Therapy】
The acupuncture therapy is a form of traditional medicine combining acupuncture needles and moxibustion, and is a key component of traditional Chinese medicine. The most common mechanism of stimulation of the acupuncture points employs penetration of the skin by thin metal needles, which are manipulated in various ways, including spinning, flicking, or moving up and down relative to the skin. According to the latest theories there are 361 major acupuncture points on the human body. The moxibustion consists of burning driedmoxa (mugwort) on particular points on the body. We have invited Dr XueGuo to introduce and demonstrate acupuncture on the day.
【Activity 8: Nuomici (Glutinous rice dumping)】
Nuomici, also called Zhuangyuanci, is a type of Chinese pastry. The outer layer is made of glutinous rice flour and the inside isfilled with sweet filling. According to the legend, in the Song dynasty a mannamed Yinglong Zhou went to the capital for the imperial examinations. The journey was hard, and he only had Nuomici to eat. When he finally succeeded and became a champion (zhuanyan), the emperor named the food he was eating Zhuangyuanci – champion’s bread.
Teacher Xiaoqi Zhu and teacher Yuxue will teach us how to make Nuomici.
【Activity 9: Knitting】
Knitting is an useful skill to learn. Jade will demonstrate the skill of kniting.
【Activity 10: 3D Printing Pen】
Want to learn 3D printing, a hot new technology. We will bring the technology onlt only to the front of you but also you can get your handson it, even to use it to create something by yourself.
We have invited Dr Rongsheng Zhang, an expert in the area, to demonstrate the first 3D printing pen in the world. Using PLA and ABS, a 3D printing pen could write on any surface, even draw in the air. It is very compact and does not need any software to support. The only thing you need is to plug it on and start your creation.
If you could arbitrarily move your fingers in the air then you could use the 3D printing pen. Based on 3D printing technology, molten plastic quickly cools down in the air and becomes solid. Only in a few hours’practice you could draw a magic world.
【Activity11: Lion dance, Tai Chi, Baduanjin】
Do you want to try a different way of keeping you or your children fit, some exercises that to keep you fit both metally and physically ?
Lion dance is a form of traditional dance in the Chinese culture and is usually performed during the Chinese New Year and other Chinese traditional,cultural and religious festivals. There are two main forms: the Northern Lion and the Southern Lion. The Cantonese Lion dance is the most famous Southern Lion type, in which two performers mimic a lion’s movements ina lion costume, one performing as the head and other as the body, made from durable layered cloth trimmed with fur. It requires power for the movements and strength in posture.
Tai Chi is a Chinese martial art. The concept of Tai Chi appeared in both Taoist and Confucian Chinese philosophy. The word Tai Chi translates as “supreme ultimate”, and is believed to be a force that transforms the neutrality of wuji (nothingness) to a state of polarity – the Yin and Yang.
The Baduanjin is one of the most common forms of Chinese“qigong” used as an exercise. It traditionally contains standing and seating sets. It is also divided into Northern and Southern style, also known as Shaolin and Wudang style.
We will teach and demonstrate those exercises on the day.
【Activity 12: Making Dumplings】
Dumplings are one of the traditional Chinese food, and havea history of more than 1800 years. They are very popular in China. In Northern China in particular, it is a must-have dish eaten at the Chinese New Year. In some area people also eat dumplings at the Winter Solstice. Some dumplings,apart from the common filling mixtures, also contain special fillings symbolising all kinds of good omens.
We have prepared the ingredient and will teach how to make dumplings. There will be different typies of cooked dumplings available for you to taste and the activity is sponsored by Fresh Asian dumplings.
Halloween eggs: pumpkin carving
Halloween is coming. In order to have a happy Halloween, we have prepared a special site for children paint on pumpkins.
We will also have a competition on carving pumpkins. Please bring your own pumpkins, and we will have a competiotion to choose the best pumpkin carving artist.
So many FREE activities are waiting for you and your family to join in. See you on Sunday!