On the 19th of January, YK Pao School celebrated the New Year of the Dragon with a special day of performances and activities showcasing the richness of traditional Chinese culture. The day was designed to be interactive and to get children to experience Chinese culture hands-on, and to learn more about New Year traditions. “This event brings together loads of different activities, and really lets children spend a whole day having fun and actively learning about Chinese culture”, said Lily Jin, the event’s organiser.
In the morning, students gathered for a special assembly wearing red clothing to symbolise good fortune. The assembly featured the Chinese Choir, who sang a selection of traditional New Year songs, the Piano Club, as well as other students who had prepared songs especially for the occasion.
The whole school was filled with different events and activities, allowing students to spend the whole day immersed in Chinese culture, learning new skills and discovering new things. The gym became a market full of traditional Chinese handicrafts, a sea of colour with something new around every corner. There were paper-cutting artists, stalls selling animals made out of sugar, calligraphers, painters, and a host of other attractions. As some students enjoyed the market, others attended workshops in other traditional crafts run by visiting experts, practicing calligraphy, making opera masks and, appropriately, painting dragons. Parents were also involved, making this a day for the whole YK Pao School community.
In the auditorium, there were performances by visiting entertainers. Traditional circus skills like plate-spinning, ribbon dancing and face-changing from Sichuan opera were all featured, as well as clowns and a magic show, in which unsuspecting teachers were called up to be part of the performance…
Throughout the day, groups of students travelled to the nearby Shanghai Animation Studio who produced an animation of Journey to the West and have used many traditional Chinese art techniques in their work, such as paper cutting and ink painting. At the end of the day, the whole school came together to dance a Dragon Dance and welcome in the New Year.
