Submitted by cob on
On the afternoon of Feb. 15, the eve of Chinese New Year (Spring Festival), a grand Chinese New Year Celebration was held by the Confucius Institute at University of the Bahamas. The event was held at Choices Restaurant in the campus which was decorated with red lanterns, Spring Festival Couplets, decorative firecrackers and it was attended by Dr. Pandora Johnson, vice president of UB, Dr. Ronnie Stevenson, vice president of UB, Dr. Tucker Rolle, Dean of School of Communication and Creative Arts, Ms. Rowena Pointier, Director of Dept. of Culture of the Government of the Bahamas, Ms. Sabrina Skinner, senior official of Dept. of Education of the Government of the Bahamas, Prof. Fan Yong, Chinese Co-Director of the CI at UB, Dr. Chase, Bahamian Co-Director… and the faculty and mandarin students of UB as well as the mandarin students and officials of the high schools where the CI at UB offer Chinese language courses. The attendants totaled about 100.
The celebration was hosted by Dr. Chase, Bahamian Co-Director of the Confucius Institute. Dr. Pandora Johnson gave a speech on behalf the university. She extended a congratulation on the Chinese New Year, and gave thanks to the Confucius Institution for implementing Chinese language education and spreading Chinese culture to the students of UB and the Bahamian public in general and for helping UB students to go study in China with the support of Chinese government scholarship and increasing the understanding and friendship between the peoples of the two countries.
Miss Ken-Reesha Alissah Price who scored a full mark in last year’s HSK tests spoke on behalf of mandarin students in UB. She said that the learning of Chinese language, though very challenging helped to broaden her vision, increase her knowledge base, make more friends and enlarge the potential of her future development.
Then in an official ceremony, the leadership of UB and the co-directors of the Confucius Institute presented the candidates of last year’s HSK 1&2 tests with their official HSK grade certificates and had a group photo together.
During the celebration, the performance of Chinese songs and dances given by mandarin students, the shows of Tai Chi Boxing and Tai Chi Fan given by the Confucius Institute Chinese faculty and lively games played by the attendants won the warm applauses from the audience and added to the festive atmosphere of the celebration.
ZNS TV, the largest public TV Station sent their journalists to cover the event and conducted on-site interview of the co-directors of the Confucius Institute, student representatives and leadership of the university.
The climax of the celebration came when the participants were invited to write the Chinese character “Fu” which symbolizes “good fortune” for everyone in the year of 2018, which also expressed the attendants’ wish for the continuous development of the Confucius Institute at University.
by Liu Dongmei