FEB
2月
2017
Hot Mum Makeover! Chinese New Year in the Far North Just how important is play? 红星时代广告DM 青岛红星时代文化传播有限公司 8388-2269 青岛市南京路100号3-403 登记证号：青工商广固印登字2012-0014号
QINGDAO FAMILY
Before
After
Hot Mum
Makeover
辣妈变身记
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Photo © 东哥
QINGDAO FAMILY
This issue’s Hot Mum is Renae Skinner, native of Australia and dedicated traveller. She and husband Shawn have lived together in Australia, the US and India, and now feel they’ve found more of a home in China, with two young children, Coby and Isabella, at school here and a solid group of friends in the city; and Renae has one of the most uplifting and positive outlooks you can imagine. “I grew up an expat, and now we’re constantly on the move.. It’s crazy not to travel. There’s so many ways to do life, there’s no excuse not to be happy. You just change your lifestyle. It’s so easy!”
Kana
Makeover at 变身地点： G Hair Salon 轻奢日系美 发沙龙
Hairstylists 美发师 : Kana Address 地址：2F, Rock City, 1 Xiazhuang Lu 夏 庄路 1 号乐客城 2 楼星巴克 咖啡旁 (188 9929-8119)
THE PROCESS The salon, G Hair in Rock City, is a sweet little place with smiling workers and delicate, minimalist Japanese style decoration. Hairdresser Kana, who has a cool 7 years of hairstyling training in Japan behind her, explains that the process today will be to wash and soften Renae’s thick black hair, before cutting and highlighting with gold. Is this a Japanese style? “Well, it’s a Japanese style… of European-American influence!” she laughs. ON CHINA What’s striking about Renae is her complete willingness to go with the flow, and her ability to see things in perspective: REDSTAR asked whether she’s done much with her hair before. “Yeah, when I was in India I had something done, but it looked ridiculous! It was half red, half black, with literally a straight line dividing them! It looked alright when it grew out, but for a while it was hysterical. It doesn’t matter. Hair grows, it was never going to last forever.” Kana clips away. Renae is a born traveller, and has a view that puts the rest of our lives in perspective. “My husband and I used to live in India, when we’d just had our first baby and I was pregnant with our second. It was amazing, it felt like such an adventure, but it was difficult sometimes just because of the babies. I connected with India, but it can be really, really dirty… that’s why China is such a breath of fresh air. Isn’t it funny to say that? Honestly, when I hear people complain about China I’m like, no! This is good!” So how does China compare overall? “Well the hardest thing is the language. There’s literally not even a little bit of crossover linguistically. After a lot of Google translate though, I forced myself to learn a bit of Chinese and it’s easier now! There’s also a great expat community here. People tend to stay longer than they do in India, for example, which I think says a lot about a place.”
THE RESULT Stripes of yellow-gold run through Renae’s straightened black hair, in a funky and colourful style. “I’ve always been a little cautious of dyeing…but I feel like this is maybe just what I needed for a bit of excitement in the New Year!” she laughs. After a long session at G Hair, exit the most laid-back Mama in Qingdao.
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QINGDAO FAMILY
Chinese New Year in Heilongjiang Matilda Fors takes a closer look at just one of the many millions of journeys ‘back home’ for Chinese nationals this Spring Festival, and the importance of family.
C
hinese New Year celebrations can differ greatly across China’s wide geography. People travelling home for New Year can move from a city blanketed in smog to a Tibetan mountain plateau, from the tropics to the sub arctic or vice versa. For Chén, a Chinese teacher living in Qingdao, New Year means going home to a tiny, snow-covered village in Heilongjiang 黑龙江 , China’s northernmost province. The name translates into ‘black
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dragon river’, the Chinese name for the river Amur. Heilongjiang borders Inner Mongolia to the west and Russia to the north, and Jilin province to the south separates it from North Korea. It’s capital and largest city is Harbin, famous for European-style architecture and its awe-inspiring Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival in winter. Each year Chén, like most Chinese, makes the long journey back home for Chunjie. This year, she is travelling by car; one of her childhood friends
who also happens to live in Qingdao has bought one. In the past the trip consisted of rocking on sleeper trains and long-distance buses, watching the landscape surrender more and more to the grip of winter. In total, it would take her two days to get to her hometown, a small village in Huma county. The story she tells me of her home are marked by a certain magic, a peaceful crispness that echoes my own Scandinavian roots. As a child, Chén couldn’t believe it when she was told that
QINGDAO FAMILY apples grew on trees: the only crops she’d seen – cabbage and potatoes, hard durable nuggets covered in dirt – came from the soil. She tells me of the 50-minute walk from her house to the Russian border, a sheet of snow crunching beneath her feet and the bare birch trees glistening with frost; and the barbecue places where locals gather to laugh, gossip and bicker together over beers and firesoftened food. Like for so many others, home is a place for nourishment. “I’m not a very good cook!” Chén laughs. “But my mum will make all the food.” Dongbei cuisine, not so familiar to Western palates as numbing Sichuan spice or sweet and sour Cantonese food, is characterised by mild flavours, preserved foods and generous servings. Harsh winters mean that food is warming, fatty and stocked for many months. Wheat and maize are preferred over rice, making noodles, mantou steamed buns and cornbread essential parts of a Northeasterner’s diet. A different food is consumed on each day of
the week-long New Year celebration, many with symbolic meaning, like long uncut noodles signifying longevity and happiness. “Dumplings are important, because they mean change”, Chén says. The character 交 jiāo meaning to cross or hand over, is similar to the jiǎo of jiǎozi dumplings. On the eve of New Year, known as 除 夕 chúxī, Chén’s family clean the house together, and paste to the doors couplets of Chinese poetry and images of auspicious ‘door gods’. A fú character, meaning ‘luck/ happiness’ in vibrant red, gold or both, is perhaps the most common door decoration, often placed upside down since saying “the fu is upside down” ( 福倒了 fú dàole) sounds the same as “luck/ happiness has appeared” ( 福到 了 fú dàole). Everything should be new at New Year, Chén says: bowls, clothing, everything. “My mother even has special chopsticks, just for the New Year.” The culmination of the celebration takes place at midnight. After a late dinner it is customary to set off fireworks, lighting up the night sky with glorious colour and sound. For Chén, there will be no fireworks this year. “My grandfather passed away this year. So out of respect for him, we will wait three years before we set off fireworks, or put poetry couplets on the doors.” Over the restful days following New Year’s Eve, time is spent visiting family, playing cards and connecting with old friends. For the bàinián, first day of the new year, hóngbāo are handed out. These red envelopes
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QINGDAO FAMILY
of money are traditionally given by married couples or the elderly to juniors. Chén puts on a jocular pout and sighs. "No hongbao for me”, she says. "I only get to give them now!”. She provides me with an alternate name for hóngbāo, which is yàsuìqián 壓歲錢 / 压岁钱 . “Where I’m from, it means something like ‘don’t grow up too fast’”, she explains.
leaving Shandong with hopes of a more promising future was Chén's paternal grandfather. But resources were sometimes ineffectively used in the name of rapid progress; when I ask Chén if she’d one day like to move back to her hometown, she replies no. ”There are no jobs. Especially not in my field, which is language and culture.”
When I ask Chén what she misses about her hometown, her answer comes without a second’s hesitation: the snow and the fresh air. “But Shandong, and especially Qingdao, is also a good place to live”, she says. She refers to the dōngběi culture, present in all of China’s northeastern provinces. In the 1950’s, a strong flow of people left Shandong to seek opportunities in the then unexploited north, where resources such as minerals and forest were abundant. The first five-year-plan of 19531957 had provided Heilongjiang with hefty industrial investment, making it into a destination for fortune-seekers. Among the people
I ask Chén about her brother, who has recently left home to live in Guangzhou with his girlfriend. Guangzhou, which is in China’s tropical far south, is a stark contrast to the sub-arctic Heilongjiang. ”It’s been hard for him”, she says. ”He calls me sometimes, telling me things that make him very confused. Southern people love rice and soup; we grew up on bread and noodles. Their portions are very small. It’s hot all the time. It’s very different. Southern people can be so…” She struggles to find the right word, consulting an online dictionary for help. She suggests the words dàfāng 大方 , which in the context
means something like "liberal and in good taste”, as well as xiǎoqì 小 气 , meaning “stingy” or “petty”. Walking out of the dumpling place, the phrase “don’t grow up too fast” is on my mind. Often, it is not until we leave our home that its oddities become painfully clear, our outsiderness a fact. We build our self-image based on the distinctions we make between ourselves and others, and find unity in the things we have in common. When we return home it is often bittersweet, with constant reminders of things gained and lost. "Poets claim that we recapture for a moment the self that we were long ago when we enter some house or garden in which we used to live in our youth”, Marcel Proust once wrote. And maybe this is what going home allows us to do: to, in the midst of a world violently sprouting, take us back to a time when we were walking across still fields, snow crunching beneath our feet, our breaths rising like mist in the air.
QINGDAO FAMILY
What does Chinese New Year mean to you?
Clare
Galaxy, Grade 1 New Year means happiness and well-being.
Zachary
Ben
Jacky
Michael
Champa Flower International Kindergarten Chinese New Year means I get to eat very delicious food, and I get to play with my cousins.
YCIS, Year 4 Chinese New Year means that we will go to my grandparents’ home and our family will gather together.
Daniel
YCIS, Year 7 I think Chinese New Year is about getting the most out of life, and celebrating the past year. I also think it’s a time to think about what you did last year and what you want to do this year.
Charlie
QAIS, Grade 8 Chinese new year is about eating dumplings, family being together, watching fireworks and just having fun.
Qingdao Chaoyin International School, Grade 8 The Chinese New Year represents new beginnings, and new hope.
Jay
GISQ, Grade 8 I think Chinese New Year is very valuable and unforgettable! Our family gathers together to celebrate it. I wish all my family happiness.
QISS We celebrate the New Year and we set off fireworks!
Sejin
ISQ. Grade 7 Celebration. Red. Jiaozi. Dragons. Fun.
Grace Justin
Galaxy, Grade 1 New Year is hoping to have a peaceful and joyful year.
Yew Wah International School of Rizhao A time when my mum makes tiger cookies because I was born the year of the tiger.
Inho
ISQ, Grade 6 Fireworks and a new start!
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The Beauty of China I am often disheartened by the reaction I get from people outside of China when they learn I live here. I find that they are very quick to share their opinions about what they think China is and represents. Their words carelessly belittle and dispel the truth and beauty that abounds here in China’s rich culture, ancient cities, and beautiful people. I use photography to record my own experiences here, and to offer others a chance to build a new appreciation for China. I want my photos to tell a story, to share a highlight, and to show the spirit that is alive here. China’s people and country are remarkable and deserve our whole-hearted respect. Renee Dustman Blog: www.fivedustywontons.com Instagram: @fivedustywontons
QINGDAO FAMILY
Guokai International School of Qingdao Writing Competition The second winner of GISQ’s writing contest, Dave from Grade 12, on What Farewell Means to Me.
F
arewell is strange. It comes to us as fast as time, takes away everything that you had, including your love, hatred, trust, and everything else you have built up with the person saying goodbye. Most importantly, it leaves a painful mark, called sadness. Sadness constantly teases us, making us reminisce the time that we can never go back, and the memories that we used to have. Albeit I am still young, I know and understand the concept of sadness pretty well, because I have experienced it since I was very young. I was born in Korea. When I was born, my parents were busy building up their business that they founded even before I was born. They left the house before morning has come, and get back when the world was almost co mpletely consumed by darkness. The responsibility that heavily burdened their shoulders made them work, work, and work. As a result, the new born baby whose parents were extremely busy was eventually and naturally raised by his grandmother. Frankly speaking, my grandmother is not a beautiful lady. Nevertheless, if I am recalling it correctly, I can swear
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that she is the wisest person in the world. Although her face was full of wrinkles telling the age and time that she had passed by, she was always the one giving me a wrinkle or two to breakthrough every time I face problems. To me, she was the one who was almighty. I still remember the day when she get the ball out of the tree that seemed so high and impossible to me; I still remember the day that she untangled the string of the kite with her magic tricks; I still remember the day when she baked a ricecake for me when I just said one word “hungry”. Just by reminiscing these things, I fell like I still remember the warmth that she provided for me. For the five years old kid, his grandmother was the apple of his eyes. They were both the apple of each other’s eyes. Yet, that day, proved that nothing is everlasting. It was a typical, hot summer day in August. Everything was same as yesterday, except I was a little excited than normal. It was because I was told that I am going to China today. That was literally a big deal for me, because that meant I was going to ride on a plane. For the five years old
kids, an airplane is something like dragon or other imaginary creatures that they can never get close to. For them, an airplane is something that only exists in the word cards that has image on the other side. Yet, the day has come, and I got ready really quick. All of a sudden, right before the departure, grandma stopped me. She said I should be a good boy in China. Then, she gave some advices to my parents. Finally, she looked me into eyes. The moment was silent, and the silence was as cold as ice. What broke the silence was my grandmother’s tears, which she had never shown to me ever. At first, I wanted to ask aren’t you coming with us. Nonetheless, the tears that were flowing along with her cheeks explained everything for me. I thought she was almighty, but she wasn’t. Her years taught me what is sadness, and what is farewell. At the end, when she gave me a last hug, I wasn’t able to stop from crying. All the times and memories were pushing the tears out of my eyes like a volcano eruption. That salty tears, means sadness to me. That last hug, taught me what farewell is. This, is what farewell means to me.
QINGDAO FAMILY relationships and emotions, social behaviours and norms, as well as discovering their own emotional responses. In imaginary play, they are free to experiment with familiar and unfamiliar characters’ roles. They gain empathy as they explore others’ perspectives. They grow a strong sense of self and belonging in role play, experimenting with the knowledge they are gaining in their daily lives.
Play Is Essential For Living and Learning
T
he big debate in early childhood education today is the ‘push down’ of academics, robbing children of play. Many professionals are concerned about what this means for young children, and for the future of society as children grow up without the vital learning selfinitiated play provides them with. More and more, there can be a tendency to over-fill young children’s schedules with formal, planned lessons. Some child psychology professionals, however, suggest we must do the opposite. Encouraging children’s inborn drive to play and explore gives them the most valuable skills in living and learning. All forms of learning, including physical, social, emotional and
cognitive development, are rooted in play. Through play children learn crucial lessons, such as the cycle of practice, fail, try again; building in them persistence and resilience. Play also provides children with opportunities to build their confidence and creativity, constantly strengthening their cognitive ability as they learn in an active way, becoming risk takers and problem solvers. These are valued skills in today’s workplaces, which report a dearth of self-initiation, critical analysis and creativity. Social and emotional skills are also embedded in play. Social skills, with their cues and rules, are explored and experimented with as youngsters engage with peers and explore cooperation. They have time to investigate
At YCIS, through play, character development is supported, validated and encouraged. Individual children are valued for their strengths and differences. Too often as adults we forget about the importance of the formation of personality within a child and how it needs to be gently nurtured. When adults provide time for play, they show children that they respect and trust in their desire to learn and question their world. Within play, children have the opportunity to develop positive, stable characters and unique personality traits, which in turn lead to a strong self-identity that they will carry throughout life. Children may be “small” but by no means should they ever be made to feel insignificant. YCIS early childhood education programmes support these developments through a play-based curriculum led by the children’s interests and explorations. Teachers are actively engaged, as well as closely observing all students. Teachers then creatively extend that learning with further investigations, relevant conversations, and thoughtful settings to deepen children’s play. Teachers respect children’s views, feelings and knowledge. The uninterrupted play is relished by the learners, as they enthusiastically throw themselves into every moment of the school day.
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G N I M O C N O SO
The Best of International Education in Qingdao and Beyond PUBLISHED MID MARCH
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