Two Chinese associations are planning to show joy and resilience as they celebrate the new year
FRIDAY, February 12 marks the start of the Year of the Ox, which will last until January 31, 2022. Traits of the ox include hard work and positivity, which is something that organisers of South Wales’s Chinese New Year celebrations have had to show during lockdown.
Shirley Au-Yeung, who is the chair and founder of the Chinese in Wales Association, says that her organisation has faced challenges over the last year, but it is ready to put on a show for its community – albeit with a pre-recorded online display rather than a bustling celebration in Swansea.
The association, which was founded in 2017 and emerged from another charity, the Swansea Chinese Community Co-op Centre, works to make a positive difference to the lives of ethnic Chinese people living in Wales. Since November 2019, it has been based at Swansea’s Grand Theatre.
Shirley, who is 40 and works as a business consultant alongside her commitments to the charity, said: “Even though we are still in lockdown, we want to bring joy and resilience. Even though you are facing the storm, we adapt and learn how to dance in the rain, enjoy life and change your attitude.
“We are part of the Welsh community and we want to contribute. We want to bring a taste of culture to others – that’s the main aim.”
The pandemic has thrown up unexpected challenges for the association, which they have had to overcome to organise its celebrations. One of its trustees, a university music teacher, has been stuck in Taiwan since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Because of her job, she has been able to use her network to find talented students to produce performances to include in the association’s display.
Other elements of the show include dance, tai chi, an orchestral performance and people playing musical instruments, including the piano and violin. The result is a video that will be published on the association’s social media channels at 11am on Friday.
“We don’t have a fancy device to film everything and we don’t have a professional filmmaker, but we just wanted to show the spirit to recipients, no matter how difficult it is and what challenges you are facing,” said Shirley. “We are still smiling and just want to get this done.”
Even though this year’s celebrations will be held online, Shirley is grateful that a Chinese New Year celebration will be able to take place at all. After the outbreak of Covid-19 last year, the association had to cancel its plans entirely to protect its members.
The event, scheduled for February 2, 2020, was cancelled even before the UK had its first confirmed case of coronavirus. Because there was a possibility that someone might have travelled from Wuhan or come into contact with someone who had been there recently, Shirley decided not to put on their planned event at the Grand Theatre.
Shirley said: “Our events cannot take any risks. We have loads of Chinese community members come to our events to celebrate. Any of them might have come from China at the time. Swansea and Wuhan have a strong link as well, so we cancelled the event one week before.
“A few days later, we had the first cases in the UK and Wales. I’m glad that I didn’t do it because you never know.”
Previously, the Chinese in Wales Association had put on its new year events at Swansea’s National Waterfront Museum, which attracted crowds of over 4,000 people from across Wales.
Looking ahead to the new year, Shirley is hopeful that there will be gradual improvements to the lives of the Chinese people living in Wales and the UK as a whole.
She said: “In March, people didn’t understand why we needed to wear masks. They didn’t like the virus, and they didn’t like Chinese people.
“The good thing is that the vaccine is in progress, so I will be quite positive – especially now people understand the pandemic. Even though we know a small group of people still don’t treat it seriously, the majority of people understand what’s going on, and the majority of people know that it’s not a ‘Chinese virus,’ so we will suffer less from the opinions and abuse from others.
“Now, things are more settled, and people have more information. I believe that this year, we will bounce back gently.”
Like the Chinese in Wales Association, the Cardiff Confucius Institute, which aims to communicate Chinese language and culture to the people of Wales, has had to settle for an online schedule rather than its preferred option of in-person celebration and education.
In a normal year, 500 families would visit the Chinese New Year celebrations held by the Confucius Institute at the Red Dragon Centre in Cardiff Bay. This year, the institute – which launched in 2008 as a partnership between Xiamen University and Cardiff University – has moved its public events onto Zoom.
Christine Cox, 35, who is the manager of the Cardiff Confucius Institute, said: “Chinese New Year is the biggest cultural festival in the Chinese calendar. It is important that Cardiff remains a multicultural place to live. Even though we are stuck in our homes, we can all celebrate different cultures.”
The Confucius Institute is working alongside Cardiff Hubs and Libraries to deliver a day of activities to celebrate Chinese New Year on Saturday, February 13.
Even though the events will be held online rather than face-to-face, Christine is optimistic that it will still be interactive and enjoyable.
Cardiff Confucius Institute events:
- 10-11am: Chinese language taster session
- 12-1pm: Chinese New Year lecture
- 2-3pm: Chinese painting and paper cutting
“On Zoom, it’s a bit different as we’re not able to do as many of the activities as we normally would and we’re not able to interact as much with people,” she said.
“Our tutors all have a lot of experience of running virtual events now and they are really good at making them fun and interactive. We are looking forward to running them online.”
- To learn more about Chinese in Wales Association’s Chinese New Year celebration and find out where to watch it, please see their website (HERE).
- The Cardiff Confucius Institution’s events are open to members of the public and are free to attend. Registration is required. Click HERE for more information.
