“The 23rd of twelfth lunar month, Sticky sugar making,
the 24th of twelfth lunar month, sweep the house,
the 25th of twelfth lunar month, Frozen bean curd making
the 26th of twelfth lunar month, to buy meet
the 27th of twelfth lunar month, to kill the cock
the 28th of twelfth lunar month, leavened the dough
the 29th of twelfth lunar month, steamed the Mantou
the Chinese new year’s Eve, stay up all night
1st and 2nd days of the lunar year, walking all the way…”
This is a widely popular Spring Festival ballad, especially across Northern China, which describes the traditional customs associated with celebrating the Chinese New Year. House of Knowledge are delighted to partake in reproducing these traditional celebrations this year. House of Knowledge not only offers our students an international perspective to understanding different cultures from different countries, we also celebrate and share lots of Chinese culture with our students. This helps embody the concept of “Global Mindset”, one of HoK’s ten core values. Shunyi, Chaoyang Park and Xinglong campuses of House of Knowledge held their own Chinese New Year Celebrations recently to begin the festivities for the most important Chinese festival together!
At our Shunyi campus, the students were delighted to have a special stage and lighting created for their performances. The audience awarded the performers with loud cheers and applause as the students showcased their well-prepared acts. The show began with an introduction by the student MC, followed by a mesmerizing kungfu performance, rhythmical cup dance, energetic singing and dancing, and the most popular performances being a hip-hop dance and a Chinese style performance – the Chinese drum! All parents, with their children, went to the Chinese temple fair after watching the fantastic performance. The fair activities included: Beijing traditional art – dough and sugar figurines, writing Spring Festival couplets using Chinese calligraphy, Touhu, dumpling making and candied fruit sticks, Chinese printing. A Shadow play, which was written, directed, made and performed by Grade 3 students themselves, was the highlight of the temple fair. Last but not the least, all HoK community gathered together in the playground to enjoy the beautiful and splendid Dragon Dance and soak in the Chinese New Year atmosphere.
The celebrations at Chaoyang Park were held in collaboration with our brand-new Xinglong campus and the students had the opportunity to perform on stage with the full lighting and audio equipment. The parents were excited to see their children wearing the traditional clothing during their performance which they had spent a long time preparing for. The children performed the songs and dance of <Shaolin Heroes>, <The Great Lucky of Chinese New Year>, <Happy Chinese New Year>, and ended with the fun fashion show by the parents and children. Everyone took part in the Chinese New Year activities on offer, such as: making candied fruit sticks, the story of Chinese Nian, dough figurines, Chinese cutting, making dumplings and little pig… A perfect ending to the celebration came with the lively lion dance in the outside playground surrounded by with HoK community.
With the Year of Pig approaching, House of Knowledge would like to wish you and your family a joyful and prosperous year ahead. Happy Chinese New Year!
