Chinese Virtual Centre Pre-Release Phase
We are pleased to announce the pre-release phase of our exciting new Virtual Chinese Resource Centre. We would love to hear feedback from a range of stakeholders and potential users. Thanks to all those who are taking part in our BETA test of our new virtual Chinese Resource Centre of NI, and we hope you enjoy your first experience.
We welcome your feedback in English or Chinese from inside the app or by a direct email.
We would ask you to not share the link with anyone else at this stage or in any public arena or social media site as we will need to make some final tweaks before public launch.
This will be a space that CWA plans to develop in the future for art exhibitions, conferences, online museum and other uses.
Keeping The Centre at the centre is our motto and we are delighted that we can now extend this to the digital world
Chinese Language School
The Chinese Chamber of Commerce (N.I.) set up the Chinese Language School in 1983. The main objectives of the school are to maintain the Chinese language and culture within the Chinese younger generation. The success of the School and its development are due to the hard work of the CCC Education Committee.
We now accommodate over 230 students. There are 18 classes in total, 12 of which are Cantonese classes, 5 Mandarin classes and one Mandarin class for adult. Classes range from kindergarten low, middle and high, primary 1 to 6 and GCSE classes.
Teacher's Toolkit Launched
The Chinese Welfare Association NI are pleaded to release their new Teacher's Toolkit to support the recently developed CHIME Learning Resource.
Whats Cooking in our New Virtual Centre
The new Virtual Chinese Resource Centre has been made possible by funding from the Department For Communities. The Community Heritage Fund opened in November 2020. It aimed i to support small-scale projects in Northern Ireland which help connect communities to the heritage in their local area. The objective was to help people connect with and benefit from the heritage located on their doorstep such as buildings, monuments, landscapes, parks and sports grounds. Through sharing stories about the everyday places and finding out about the past, it was seem as a way of helping strengthen our connections with the community around us.
The Chinese community have a rich and varied heritage, and much of what we value is specific to Northern Ireland having been here over 50 years. The aim of our project was to face some of the challenges of COVID and to help people reconnect with the Chinese Community and to help our members enjoy and promote their own cultural heritage.
Paul Mullan, the Director of The National Lottery Heritage Fund here in Northern Ireland said:
"The experience of the lockdown in response to coronavirus (COVID-19) was a powerful reminder of the value and importance of the local environment to communities. Connecting with nature and heritage can be critical for maintaining personal mental and physical wellbeing. We would like to build on this by helping people to strengthen their connections with their local area, tell their stories and find out about their past and the places where they live. Whether they live in a city, a town or the countryside, everyone can benefit from the heritage of their immediate environment such as the buildings, monuments and landscapes that can be found within 15 minutes or so from their front door."
This struck a chord with our members and we worked hard with heritage and digital experts to turn the challenges of COVID into opportunities and to make practical solutions for the problems we faced. The result is an exciting now Virtual versions of our Chinese Resource Centre. Here we can hoist events and run activities online just as we usually do in the Centre. We see this as a great way of connecting with people and helping them access our heritage and culture.
Whats Cooking?
One great example is to bring the rich heritage of Chinese food to life, with young people taking the led. So why not visit our Virtual space and learn more about the different styles of Chinese cooking, and then take a tour of our Virtual Gallery where you can learn more.
Our online resources and how-to videos, will soon get you cooking, as you watch Bonny and her son explain the background to Chinese Food and how it is important in family life.
Then try to keep up with our exciting new talent of the future as he cooks up everyone's favourite.