- Details
By This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The local Chinese American community recently gathered for a day of music and cultural performances at Mall of America to celebrate China’s Mid-Autumn Festival. The daylong event was free and open to the public. Watch all the performances on youtube @ https://bit.ly/2NxBg0J
This festival is one of the most popular holidays in China. Much like America’s Thanksgiving, it is celebrated by the entire country where everyone travels to visit family.
The rotunda at Mall of America was decorated with many red lanterns suspended from the ceiling, providing a festive setting for the main stage where performances took place throughout the day. Unfortunately, seating was limited, as was the ability to view the performances from the edge of the rotunda owing to the placement of many posters extolling the virtues of the city of Chongqing, one of the event’s primary sponsors.
The event began with a cultural and tourist video by Chongqing, followed by performances that included the Chongqing Jaio Ayi Art Troupe that had traveled from China to participate in this event. More than 15 local members of the Chinese and Hmong communities presented 30-plus performances throughout the day.
The Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival has been celebrated since the Zhou Dynasty (1045-221 B.C.). It started as a celebration of the moon. The Emperor believed that by giving gifts to the moon after the fall harvest would help guarantee a good harvest the following year. These offerings were usually placed on an outdoor altar for the moon to “see,” and consisted of various foods and drinks, like tea. The practice of celebrating the moon spread from just the Emperor through the upper class and into the masses during the Tong Dynasty (A.D. 618-907). It wasn’t until the Song Dynasty (A. D. 960-1279) that a formal festival was established and celebrated by the entire country. It is to occur on the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar corresponding with a full moon, which means it can occur anywhere between the middle of August through early October in the Gregorian calendar.
Add a comment
- Details
By Pearl Lam Bergad, Chinese Heritage Foundation, contributor
On the afternoon of March 31, the Chinese Heritage Foundation’s Sunday Tea Series presented photographer Wing Young Huie in a talk on his career and his new book, “Chinese-ness, The Meaning of Identity and the Nature of Belonging.”
Huie had invited us to meet at his studio, the Third Place Gallery, located in the heart of south Minneapolis. Fifty of us were seated in a semi-circle, bathed with natural light from the studio’s store-front windows and surrounded by Huie’s large photographs on two long brick walls. `
Huie began his presentation by talking about his father, who first came to this country from Tan- Shan, Guangdong Province in China when he was very young. He worked very hard, saved his money, returned to TanShan to marry and came back to work hard again. It was only after many such cycles before he was able to finally bring his wife and children over here. Wing Young was the only one of his six children who was born in this country.
Add a comment- Details
Cabin fever setting in? Make an outing to Phalen Regional Park in Maplewood and see the beauty of the Xiang Jiang Pavilion in the snow, which is based on the famous Aiwan Pavilion in Changsha, Hunan Province built in 1792 under the reign of the sixth Qing Dynasty Emperor Qianlong.
The pavilion is named after the Xiang River that runs through the heart of Changsha. The Xiang Jiang Pavilion stands 35-ft. tall and 23-ft. wide and is in the style of Changsha architecture with sweeping eaves (unlike the Beijing style with straight eaves). Its granite columns are from Nanyu, Hunan Province, and weigh 10 tons each. Its glazed roof tiles are from the Qu Fu Tile Factory in Shandong Province.
The beautifully carved couplets on the two front columns on both the Xiang Jiang Pavilion and Aiwan Pavilion are identical. They mean, “Along the mountain path, a red sunset unfolds, Blossoms of 500 peach trees burst forth, Jade green clouds descend over the mountain cliffs, A pair of red-crowned cranes await their bamboo home.”
Visits are free and open year-round. (Photo and pavilion facts: Linda Mealey-Lohmann)
Add a comment
- Details
By Greg Hugh
The Harbin Municipal People’s Government of China recently held the 2019 An Appointment with Winter in Harbin to celebrate over 40 years of sister-city relationships established with more than 36 cities in 28 countries. A 12-member delegation representing the City of Minneapolis (Sister City of Harbin since 1992). The delegation included Minneapolis City Council members Kevin Reich and Steven Fletcher; members of Meet Minneapolis, Mark Andrew, Melvin Tennant, William Deef and Courtney Ries; Leah Wong, Minneapolis Downtown Council; Ken Lau, US-China Peoples Friendship Association-MN Chapter; Jill and Sky Li Griffiths, China Champions Program-University of Minnesota; Greg and Linda Hugh, China Insight.
Living up to its theme, 2019 An Appointment with Winter in Harbin, many sister-city conference-related events were held and since it also took place during the 35th Harbin China International Ice and Snow Festival, delegates also had the opportunity to visit many festival events during the sister-cities conference.
Upon arrival in Harbin, our delegation was greeted at midnight by Robert Song, chief liaison officer for Harbin’s foreign office department, along with two college student volunteers, Abby and April, who would be our tour guide and interpreters during the conference with whom the group bonded during our three-day visit. A personal transportation van for our group was also provided. Fortunately, our delegation was staying at The Songbei Shangri-La Hotel was the conference headquarters and we were glad to be checked in after the long flight. Later we learned that some of the other 400 other delegates from other cities from all over the world were staying at three other hotels in Harbin.
Add a comment- Details
By Greg Hugh
The Community Room of Grammercy Park in Richfield, Minnesota, was filled to capacity when Chinese Heritage Foundation (CHF) recently held its 14th annual open house. The CHF was established in 2004 by members of the local Chinese community to preserve and promote the understanding of Chinese history, culture and tradition among all Minnesotans. In 2008, the CHF Friends (CHFF) was established separately to support the mission of CHF through educational and cultural activities, community outreach programs and fund-raising projects.
Prior to the start of the program, Margaret Wong, CHFF Board chair, welcomed the gathering and encouraged everyone to register and mingle with each other. Also, as is custom of most CHFF functions, guests were treated to a luncheon put together by Yin Simpson, event planner extraordinaire and CHFF Board member. Evidently, this was a very popular part of the open house since the gathering devoured the tasty offerings, which prevented most of the volunteers an opportunity to partake of the food prepared by a few CHFF board members and other volunteers.
Wong introduced Carol Barnett, composer of “Mother,” which was sung by mezzo-soprano Clara Osowsky, to make a few comments.
Representatives from previous CHF/F grant and fellowship recipients were then introduced to provide remarks. These included Source Song Festival, History Theatre, Theater Mu, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul-Changsha China Friendship Garden and the Department of History at the University of Minnesota.
Add a commentTerms Of Use
Terms of Use All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, contact [email protected] with subject line “Permission request.”
About
CHINAINSIGHT (CI) is published monthly ((except July/August and November/December are combined) by China Insight, Inc., an independent, privately owned company started in 2001 and headquartered in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota.
CHINAINSIGHT is the only English-language American newspaper to focus exclusively on connections between the United States and the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Our goal is to develop a mutual understanding of each other’s cultures and business environments and to foster U.S.-China cultural and business harmony.