October 1st is Chinas National Day. This year China is celebrating its 65th anniversary of the founding of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949. Even though there is a lot about the government of Communist China I dont agree with, and it has certainly been guilty of many human rights abuses, especially in its earlier years, Im not going to make a political statement here about it. China is my host country, and so far it has treated me well, so it would be disrespectful of me to bag it to others, except where I may be personally affected. Today I had the honour of attending, by invitation, a National Day reception in a palatial conference centre at a Guesthouse in the north of Zhengzhou. It is the location where the President and other members of the CCP stay when they visit Zhengzhou. Today the special guest was the Governor of Henan Province (referred to as the mayor by Emile, the foreign affairs officer who got me my job in Zhengzhou). I attended along with several other foreign teachers who hail from countries as far afield as the USA, Brazil, Italy and Denmark. Representatives from other foreign language school companies were also present, and many other Chinese guests. My group met at a central point and were driven there in an 8-seater hire car. It was good to meet other teachers, a couple of whom I had met at previous functions, but most were new to me, including an American girl who lives in the apartment building adjacent to mine, but teaches in a different school a considerable distance away. The function included the playing of the Chinese national anthem (which actually gave me goosebumps!), the inevitable speeches and toasts, some prize and award presentations for whatever reasons, and a varied, interesting and mostly delicious Chinese banquet served by beautiful young Chinese waitresses in traditional dress (take a look at the menu - the translations are good Chinglish). All the speeches were given in both Chinese and English, though they werent always easy to understand from where we were sitting due to the reverberation in the hall.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 08:28:05 +0000
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