March 10, 2015, by Lisa Chin
Graduate School’s Chinese New Year Celebration 2015
UNMC Graduate School had its annual Chinese New Year celebration on Friday, 6th March 2015.
The celebration kicked off with the introduction of a new team member from Research Training and Academic Development (RTAD) – Ms Vimaleswari Danapal as the Assistant Manager. Among the highlights of her speech were on enhancing the postgraduate students experience through training and enrichment programmes as well as emphasizing the support services provided by the Graduate School.
Ms Vimaleswari [right], giving her welcoming address.
Calligraphy is not only a practical technique for writing Chinese characters, but also a unique oriental art of expression very much like painting.
One of our postgraduate students practising to write the character 永 [yǒng, “forever” / “permanent”].
The Eight Principles of Yong [永字八法] explains how to write eight common strokes in Chinese Calligraphy. All eight strokes are found in the character, 永.
How to be good at calligraphy? Just one word – Practice!
The Chinese couplet refers to a pair of complementary poetic lines, often written on red paper and is usually seen on the sides of the main door at Chinese houses. Red paper is used as the colour red is believed to be auspicious in Chinese culture. Pasting couplets during Chinese New Year is believed to bring blessings in the new year and to keep evil away.
Successful completion!
Nicely done!
Among the refreshments served during the celebration were noodles and tangerines. Noodles are traditionally served during Chinese New Year as they symbolise longevity. Tangerines are believed to bring good luck and fortune.
We hope that this year’s Chinese New Year celebration was a good experience and exposure to know a little bit about Chinese culture. We also hope that the celebration brought back good old memories to some [including myself], in reminiscing those days when we had to practice writing calligraphy in school.
We would like to take this opportunity to express our heartfelt gratitude to those who came and celebrated with us – you guys made the celebration so much more fun and meaningful!
May the Year of Goat 2015 is filled with auspiciousness for all of us! Cheers!
-
Post a comment
