Report from the Program Committee

2000–2001 proved to be a successful and exciting year for the program department. Many new challenges kept us on the go. I would like to thank our fellow Directors for their great ideas and support. I must thank our Executor Director, Mr. Stephen Siu for his undivided attention to all our programs and of course my heartfelt thanks to our staff members for their dedication.

Programs cannot be run without sponsorships. I am most grateful to our many sponsors, who have supported us and showed great faith in our projects.

We are greatly indebted to all our volunteers. We have approximately 200 active volunteers helping us in running special events, as well as operations. Over 8000 hours were contributed to the Centre this year. A Volunteer and Staff Recognition Dinner were held last December.

The cores of the Centre's programs in the last fiscal year included:

Chinese Cultural Courses

Between September 2000 and June 2001, we have coordinated a total of 164 courses with an enrolment of about 2000 students. Apart from the original established courses, this year, we have managed to introduce a variety of Chinese Musical Instrument Courses like Erhu, Dizi and Zheng as planned. Other new courses included Picture Mounting, Arts and Crafts for Children, Phonics and “How to Build a Personal Computer.”

Children's Courses & Programs

Chinese-Language Summer Camp for students aged between 4 and 15 was held in July and August 2000. Apart from the widely used Cantonese dialect, this camp introduced to student with some basic knowledge of Mandarin, therefore, the camp provided training in both dialects. Other programs provided by the camp were Chinese Art and Culture and Kung Fu for Children.

We organized a Chinese Culture Camp for children adopted from China. The FCC Toronto Chinese Cultural Camp was held last August and again in March 2001. This eight-week camp's programs included Mandarin lessons and Chinese arts and crafts. The camp was successful in providing knowledge of Chinese culture to Canadian families who adopted kids from China.

CCC introduced its own Arts Camp for children aged between 9 and 12 during the March Break. It was well received.

Programs for Young People

The China Study Tour was definitely one of the most memorable experiences for all our participants. This youth group spent three weeks in China. Apart from sightseeing, they studied the career areas of international business, culture and arts and attended intensive Mandarin language training. The trip gave them the opportunity to further appreciate Chinese culture. They visited major Chinese cities such as Beijing, Xi'an, Hangzhou and Shanghai. The students were interviewed by Fairchild TV and CFMT upon their return to have their stories retold. Many of them have become active volunteers in our Centre.

The Chinese Canadian Youth Millennium Conference as a great success. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Mrs. Yvonne Chiu for her dedicated support. The purpose of this conference was to help Chinese Canadian youths understand their cultural heritage and to discuss the challenges of the future. This conference is partly funded by City of Toronto's Millennium project. This event was the effort of a group of devoted young people who worked diligently under the supervision of Dr. Ming Tat Cheung, Mrs. Yvonne Chiu, Mr. Stephen Siu and myself. This one-day conference also provided an opportunity for “interaction” between our community leaders and the young people. To recognize the outstanding achievement of Chinese Canadian youth and to promote greater understanding of their contributions to Canada, CCC launched the Youth Achievement Awards 2000 at the same time. Besides the Youth of the Year Award, there were four other categories presented. They were Performing Arts, Visual Arts, Leadership and Community Services and Athletics. With the overwhelming response we received, it was decided that we should make this an annual event. The participants had joint sessions with delegates attending the 3rd National Chinese Cultural Organizations Conference.

“Searching for our Roots” was a special event in conjunction with the Imperial Ball. Led by Dr. Ming Tat Cheung and Mrs. Doris Cheung, four youths and Fairchild TV crew went to Guangdong Province, China to film this memorable and exciting trip. Four episodes were televised. This journey proved to be educational and a great opportunity in promoting our Centre.

Community Festivals and Celebrations

The Mid-Autumn Harvest Moon Festival was held on September 19, 2000. Over 800 people attended. As usual, this event was organized in conjunction with the Great Sedan Chair Race. Eight teams participated and created a lot of fun and excitement. Festival celebrations included art and crafts station, exhibitions, performances and demonstration of arts and story-telling. Special thanks to the Toronto Arts Council for their on-going support.

Chinese New Year Celebrations – a special event was held at the ROM on January 19, our program attracted a crowd of almost 5000 people, setting an all-time record high for Friday night at the ROM. This event was covered by CTV, City TV, Global TV, CFMT and Toronto Star. Our Chinese New Year celebration was held at the Centre on January 27, featuring a mini-concert by famous Chinese musicians including George Gao and Fan Sheng-I. Over 400 people attended. Our Chinese New Year Dinner was held on February 2, at Golden Regency Restaurant.

Dr. Hin-Shiu Hung Art Gallery Exhibitions

After the Silk Road Exhibition in June of 2000. Arts Week 2000 “Creative Edge” exhibition was held in September, featuring oil painting, wood sculptures and prints by five Scarborough artists. The Canadian Chinese Visual Artists Exhibition “Interaction” was held in December 2000. This exhibition displayed art pieces by nine renowned artists. Their artworks were greatly admired by the public. Other than the two above-mentioned events, there were over 10 exhibitions organized by other artists.

Special Group Tours

In the past 12 months, over 15 organizations brought approximately 500 people to the Centre. These group tours will serve as a fine tool in promoting our Centre as well as the Chinese culture.