Chinese community pitches in with $40,000 for victims of quake
5:00AM Wednesday July 30, 2008
By Lincoln Tan
A $40,000 cheque towards relief efforts for victims of China's devastating May earthquake from Auckland's local-born Chinese community has come as a welcome surprise to the Red Cross after donations to the cause had reduced to a trickle.
"China's earthquake seems a long time ago with the Olympics hogging the headlines," said Kelly Mitchell, spokeswoman for the New Zealand Red Cross.
"But the need is still great, and the recovery for victims will take longer than most people's memories. It will take years for most to rebuild their lives."
New Zealanders donated $270,000 in the first three weeks after the earthquake, but Ms Mitchell said the donations had since stopped.
The earthquake in China's Sichuan province killed nearly 70,000 people and many thousands are still missing, presumed dead.
More than 30 million people lost most of their assets and millions of farm animals died after the quake, and survivors have also lost their means to make a living.
A United Nations report last month estimated the damage at US$6 billion ($8 billion) to the region's agriculture sector alone.
Kai Luey, national president of the New Zealand Chinese Association, said the $40,000 was raised from groups "representing the long-term Chinese residents in Auckland" at a dinner last month.
Mr Luey said: "We, the older Chinese community still care about the devastating effect that the disaster caused our compatriots in Sichuan, and we hope the donation would be a meaningful contribution to the relief funds."
The cheque will be presented to Kaye Jensen, Auckland's Red Cross manager, tomorrow.
Ms Mitchell said the donation from Auckland's Chinese community was timely.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Southern Fried Rice - Takes Over China
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1560449379292849948&pr=goog-sl
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Olympic effort for big move ... and don't forget the rice
In just a few days a 12-metre container, full of gear, will be loaded aboard a boat to China.
Inside it will be stowed all the equipment required to help the New Zealand team realise its Olympic dreams.
Everything from printers and plasma TVs, to medicines and muesli bars are included in the inventory, which leaves Auckland on May 25.
More equipment - including uniforms - will be flown to China on June 30.
"A lot of this gear we have carted around for the past few games," says chef de mission Dave Currie, and most of it will be used to make Olympic Village life as comfortable as possible.
Games organisers have provided the New Zealanders with "a blank canvas, pretty much", on which to build a village, so a Maori gateway, and 800kg granite base with accompanying sculpture, should help brighten the place up a bit.
"NZ banners and signs" will add an Antipodean touch to village environs, as should the five outdoor umbrellas.
The Olympic list is nothing if not comprehensive, to the point of being mundane.
12 office chairs are making the trip to China, with 12 whiteboards and an extension ladder.
Sharp-eyed readers might spot an anomaly in the list: 32 drying racks, but only two irons.
That, says Currie, is because the space-age outfits to be worn by our athletes don't require anything as quaint as ironing.
"The kind of gear we have got, you wash it, you shake it, and it's damn near dry."
Six fans and two boxes of air cleaners will help the athletes breath easy.
Dispatching 300 cans of rice to China might sound as sensible as sending coal to Newcastle, but Currie says creamed rice provides a quick blast of carbohydrates to exhausted athletes at the end of their events.
Team management has "no concerns about food or dining" while in China.
The team has banked on the equipment taking a month to clear customs, and Currie is confident everything will be in place by the time the 300-strong squad arrives in China.
An advance guard is scheduled to leave New Zealand for China on July 19, with the first athletes set to touch down on July 27.
Competition begins on August 9.
Inside it will be stowed all the equipment required to help the New Zealand team realise its Olympic dreams.
Everything from printers and plasma TVs, to medicines and muesli bars are included in the inventory, which leaves Auckland on May 25.
More equipment - including uniforms - will be flown to China on June 30.
"A lot of this gear we have carted around for the past few games," says chef de mission Dave Currie, and most of it will be used to make Olympic Village life as comfortable as possible.
Games organisers have provided the New Zealanders with "a blank canvas, pretty much", on which to build a village, so a Maori gateway, and 800kg granite base with accompanying sculpture, should help brighten the place up a bit.
"NZ banners and signs" will add an Antipodean touch to village environs, as should the five outdoor umbrellas.
The Olympic list is nothing if not comprehensive, to the point of being mundane.
12 office chairs are making the trip to China, with 12 whiteboards and an extension ladder.
Sharp-eyed readers might spot an anomaly in the list: 32 drying racks, but only two irons.
That, says Currie, is because the space-age outfits to be worn by our athletes don't require anything as quaint as ironing.
"The kind of gear we have got, you wash it, you shake it, and it's damn near dry."
Six fans and two boxes of air cleaners will help the athletes breath easy.
Dispatching 300 cans of rice to China might sound as sensible as sending coal to Newcastle, but Currie says creamed rice provides a quick blast of carbohydrates to exhausted athletes at the end of their events.
Team management has "no concerns about food or dining" while in China.
The team has banked on the equipment taking a month to clear customs, and Currie is confident everything will be in place by the time the 300-strong squad arrives in China.
An advance guard is scheduled to leave New Zealand for China on July 19, with the first athletes set to touch down on July 27.
Competition begins on August 9.
Rice Rolls
2 bags Rice flour
1/2 bag cornflour
2.5 litres water
filling can be BBQ pork, vegetarian, beef, prawns, dried shrimps.
Mix ingrediaents to make a very thin mix. Oil a container - like a flan dish, ladle a spoon of mix into container.
Steam. When cooked, put a line of the filling on the cooked roll - roll into shape.
1/2 bag cornflour
2.5 litres water
filling can be BBQ pork, vegetarian, beef, prawns, dried shrimps.
Mix ingrediaents to make a very thin mix. Oil a container - like a flan dish, ladle a spoon of mix into container.
Steam. When cooked, put a line of the filling on the cooked roll - roll into shape.
Chinese Settlement in Whittlesea
Chinese Settlement in Whittlesea
http://whittleseachineseassociation.blog....lesea-book.html
"Chinese Settlement in Whittlesea" Book Download
We are pleased to announce the launch of the digitized version
It is offered free to download exclusively on this website.
All you need to do is to extract files from WinZip and Adobe Acrobat Reader to read it.
"Chinese Settlement in Whittlesea: Our Chinese Community, Our Stories" (17.6MB)
http://whittleseachineseassociation.blog....lesea-book.html
"Chinese Settlement in Whittlesea" Book Download
We are pleased to announce the launch of the digitized version
It is offered free to download exclusively on this website.
All you need to do is to extract files from WinZip and Adobe Acrobat Reader to read it.
"Chinese Settlement in Whittlesea: Our Chinese Community, Our Stories" (17.6MB)
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Dragon's creator wants focus on NZ team
5:00AM Wednesday April 30, 2008
By Lincoln Tan
Architect Ron Sang, putting the final touches to his dragon sculpture yesterday, hoped Kiwis could forget about the controversies over the Beijing Olympics and concentrate on supporting the New Zealand team.
The sculpture, an abstract dragon with a greenstone ball, will be unveiled tonight and presented as a good luck gift to the New Zealand Olympians after the launch ceremony of their uniform.
"We don't want to get into the politics of the Olympics, but just get behind our team," said Mr Sang, a member of the New Zealand Chinese Association.
The $50,000 sculpture was designed by New Zealand Chinese artist Guy Ngan, who will be at the function tonight at Villa Maria Estate, where the team's chef de mission, Dave Currie, will be presented with the art piece by association vice-president Steven Young.
Money for the sculpture was raised mainly from the local-born Chinese community.
The dragon will be with the Kiwi Olympians until the end of the Games, when it will be presented to the hosts as New Zealand's gift to them.
"The dragon is a perfect symbol for China, but we didn't want to give them a sculpture of a real dragon because they have plenty of those," Mr Sang said.
"That is why we decided to have an modern abstract dragon, one that's uniquely New Zealand - and having the greenstone is our way of including the Maori people in our gift."
Sheet-metal engineer Wayne Blythen, who worked on the sculpture, said it took six weeks and more than 200 man hours to put it together. It is on a 1000kg black-granite base, imported from China, engraved with the words "in recognition of the enduring friendship between China and New Zealand" in English and Chinese.
The sculpture will be exhibited at the Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin airports until it goes to Beijing in July.
By Lincoln Tan
Architect Ron Sang, putting the final touches to his dragon sculpture yesterday, hoped Kiwis could forget about the controversies over the Beijing Olympics and concentrate on supporting the New Zealand team.
The sculpture, an abstract dragon with a greenstone ball, will be unveiled tonight and presented as a good luck gift to the New Zealand Olympians after the launch ceremony of their uniform.
"We don't want to get into the politics of the Olympics, but just get behind our team," said Mr Sang, a member of the New Zealand Chinese Association.
The $50,000 sculpture was designed by New Zealand Chinese artist Guy Ngan, who will be at the function tonight at Villa Maria Estate, where the team's chef de mission, Dave Currie, will be presented with the art piece by association vice-president Steven Young.
Money for the sculpture was raised mainly from the local-born Chinese community.
The dragon will be with the Kiwi Olympians until the end of the Games, when it will be presented to the hosts as New Zealand's gift to them.
"The dragon is a perfect symbol for China, but we didn't want to give them a sculpture of a real dragon because they have plenty of those," Mr Sang said.
"That is why we decided to have an modern abstract dragon, one that's uniquely New Zealand - and having the greenstone is our way of including the Maori people in our gift."
Sheet-metal engineer Wayne Blythen, who worked on the sculpture, said it took six weeks and more than 200 man hours to put it together. It is on a 1000kg black-granite base, imported from China, engraved with the words "in recognition of the enduring friendship between China and New Zealand" in English and Chinese.
The sculpture will be exhibited at the Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin airports until it goes to Beijing in July.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)