By Colin Chisholm
Translation by Christine Qin Yang
Whether you celebrate New Year on January 1, or you celebrate the lunar New Year like in Chinese culture, one thing that both nights have in common is that it’s customary to share that night with friends and family, and anyone else whose company you’ve come to cherish.
This year, Bill Bu and the Hong Kong-Canada Business Association Atlantic Section decided they wanted to broaden that notion of celebrating with friends – they turned their annual Chinese New Year Gala into an opportunity for the Chinese community to share its culture with their Nova Scotian friends and associates, and allow those friends the chance to return the favour.
In past years, the HKCBA has partnered with the Chinese Society of Nova Scotia to put on the annual Chinese New Year Gala in Halifax, but this year, they wanted to try something new, and decided to do so solo.
“There are different societies in the community. There are other Chinese community organizations, and they also will come up with something that will reflect their mission, and their interests, and their unique features,” says Bu, the president of the HKCBA Atlantic Section. “People want to have different ways of doing things, people want to try different things.”
That’s not to say that the HKCBA was strictly alone in running this year’s celebration. Sponsors played a big role in putting this year’s show together.
“This is the first year that we’re running the program on our own, and of course, with a lot of support,” says Bu, who says that this event boasts over 20 corporate sponsors, all of whom share ties with the HKCBA. “I think it will be nice for us, also – the HKCBA – is, being a business organization, we’re connected with local governments, the business community, and also the university community.”
The sense of welcomeness that the Chinese community feels from Nova Scotia businesses and universities is not lost on Bu, and as a way of giving back, he wanted to use the opportunity of celebrating Chinese New Year to show that appreciation.
“This event, it’s not really a Chinese New Year celebration. We’re using the Chinese New Year celebration as a platform to celebrate the Canada/China/Nova Scotia linkages,” says Bu. “This is also to showcase that we do appreciate other cultures. This event will be unique in a way, because we are going to provide not just Chinese culture, but also local Celtic Nova Scotia heritage.”
Hosted at Saint Mary’s University, the evening’s entertainment was a mix of both traditional Chinese and Celtic Nova Scotian music and dance. The Chinese side of the entertainment, which included songs, instruments, and folk art, was provided by students of SMU’s sister school, Beijing Normal University in Zhuhai. Their Dean of Chinese Studies – Dr. Zhang Mingyuan – accompanied them as a special guest.
The Celtic Colours International Festival took the reigns for the Celtic entertainment, with exhibitions of traditional celtic dances and instruments. In the festival’s 19-year history, they’ve never played alongside traditional Chinese performers.
“We never have had that opportunity, so we jumped at it,” says Joella Foulds, the executive director of Celtic Colours. “We thought that would be really fun, and really interesting to see some of their culture being displayed, and for them to see some of our culture being displayed.”
It’s a tradition for the Celtic Colours festival to end the show with all the performers performing together, and this was no exception (but it was exceptional). The sold-out evening ended with all the performers from both cultures coming together in a rendition of Auld Lang Syne, sung in both English and Chinese.
Bu believes that this showcase was an example of the kind of multicultural understanding Nova Scotia needs in order to prosper, and the kind that many in the province already routinely extends.
“The ties, really, they exist here,” says Bu. “It’s how we can show the ties to the people, and people will work together to strengthen those ties.”
对你而言，新年是公历1月1日还是农历大年初一呢？不论你心中的新年从哪天开始，不变的是与亲朋好友的相伴、相惜。
往年的新年晚宴较局限于华人群体；而今年,卜志雨先生带领的港加商会大西洋分会决定举办一台面向新省社会各界的新春晚会,让更多人有机会接触到中国农历新年。
新省一年一度的新春晚宴由港加商会和拿省华人协会合办了数届。今年，港加商会想要做一些新的尝试,决定来次独秀。
协会会长卜先生表示：“当地的社会群体众多。这其中就有很多不同的华人组织。这些组织实施不同的举措,来履行自己的办会宗旨和方向。大家有着各自的风;同时,大家也都想尝试不同的事物。”
首次独家承办如此大规模的活动,协会表示,离不开赞助方和社会各界的大力支持。
据卜先生透漏,这次活动20多位赞助商都与港加商会有着紧密联系。“作为一个商业组织,港加商会和当地政府、商业机构以及高校都联系密切。这对我们而言意义重大。”
从另一个角度来说，卜先生希望借这次春节庆祝活动来回馈当地企业及高校，感谢它们对华人群体的支持。
“本次活动并不单单只是庆祝中国农历新年,我们更想借此机会来庆祝中、加、新省三方面的友好关系。”卜先生表示：“这也展现了我们对其它文化的尊重。此次活动非常特别是，我们不仅与大家分享中华文化，同时也将欣赏到新省凯尔特传统文化表演。”
本次晚会在圣玛丽大学举办。当晚，传统中华文艺表演与新斯科舍省凯尔特歌舞交织呈现。圣玛丽大学的姐妹学校北京师范大学珠海分校带来了声乐、乐器演奏及民俗表演等。分校文学院院长张铭远也作为特别来宾出席本次活动。
凯尔特国际文化节艺术团队也为大家呈现了独具凯尔特风情的歌舞表演。凯尔特国际文化节开创19年来，艺术团从未有机会与传统中华文艺表演同台。
“我们从来没有过同台的机会,所以当我们了解到这次机会后,当然毫不犹豫地答应了。”凯尔特国际文化节负责人Joella Foulds说：“可以与其它民俗表演同台竞技是非常有趣的事情 。”
凯尔特国际文化节表演有一个传统，即在演出尾声，所有演员共同登台演绎最后一个节目。这次也不例外，但也可以说是个例外，因为双方演员用中英文唱响《友谊地久天长》,为晚会拉下帷幕。
卜先生相信，这样的文化活动可以大力推动新省多元文化的交流与繁荣发展。他表示,许多省份在这方面已经相对成熟。
“多元文化间存在着深深的纽带。”卜先生感叹道：“这次，我们向大家展现了文化间的纽带。今后,大家也将会共同努力,加强这根多元文化间的纽带。”
