At 9:00 am on 29 June 2018 (Barbados local time), a grand Chinese language and cultural event was held in the auditorium of Combermere School, the alma mater of the global superstar Rihanna. This event was jointly organized by Combermere School and the CUPL co-operated Confucius Institute at University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus (the CI at Barbados).
Vincent Fergusson, President of Combermere School, David Bulbulia, Foreign Co-Director of the CI at Barbados, and Song Qingbao, Chinese Co-Director, together with all the Chinese teachers, attended the event.
This event contained culture display and exchange, including the Chinese language, calligraphy, traditional dance, singing, Chinese zodiac culture and so on. Students showed strong interests when participating in these activities. The auditorium was full of joy and happiness.
During audience interaction, Li Yanhua, moderator and Chinese teacher at the CI, spurred the enthusiasm of the students with her good knowledge of the Chinese language culture as well as Chinese-teaching skills. “Chinese Fever” has been kicked off. During calligraphy display, Chinese teacher Zhang Yuan, who was dressed in graceful Tang suit, demonstrated the invisible connection between the Chinese calligraphy and the Chinese traditional culture through the performance. The performance received many exclamations and applause. The following dancing performance brought joy and excitement to the audience, when Teacher Zhang Ke revealed the glamour of the traditional Chinese dancing through her beautiful performance. Many students became her big fans. Students danced and enjoyed a lot when they participated in the interaction. Rihanna’s voice is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and the voice of Teacher Yin Pan’s is also sweet and moving. The students couldn’t help but interact and sing together with Yin Pan. Yin Pan also introduced the Chinese Zodiac culture through this very interesting and lively way to the local students. The audience are deeply immersed in the glamour of the Chinese language culture in a cordial and friendly atmosphere.
In the end, students walked onto the stage in an orderly manner and got close to the Chinese culture. They had a close look and interaction with Chinese ancient fans, snot-rag, opera masks and so on, to gain a better understanding of the Chinese Zodiac culture and Chinese calligraphy. Then, they had close exchanges with the teachers of the CI.
(Dance-teaching by teacher Zhang Ke)
Combermere School has a profound cultural background and high artistic richness. Chinese language culture and the history of Combermere School add radiance and beauty to each other. In the near future, the two schools shall continue to deepen cooperation and contribute to the friendship between Barbados and China.
