Posts tagged Priscilla Khong
Qian Qian Shou 千牵手 (Thousand Linking Hands) 2010
Aug 2nd
Priscilla, Gang and I had an eventful 1 week at the annual Qian Qian Shou (千牵手) (Thousand Linking Hands) in collaboration with TOUCH Community Services International, to share the spirit of volunteerism, promote cultural exchange and bilingualism amongst the youths from both Singapore and China.
Residing at the newly built school located at the outskirts of Dijiangyan (都江堰), You Ai School （友爱学校）is well acclaimed as a fully facilitated and one of the forerunners in the education for the physically handicapped. The town of Dujiangyan, though was one of the most devastated areas affected by the 2008 earthquake, 2 years of impressive rebuilding works have turned this town (about the size of Singapore) into a land of greens and high-rise buildings with almost no trace of the destruction.
Upon 5 days of Service-Learning camp weaved with Project SMILE training, students were gearing up for their final task, the community engagement. 120 youths from Singapore and different parts of China, namely Shanghai, Sichuan, Xian, Dujiangyan, had one common goal which was to bring smiles to the communities of 8 different service points for profile ranging from children to elderly and earthquake victims.
For the past 5 years, Project SMILE in Qian Qian Shou has been a tool to empower young people with a skill, to bridge and connect, to engage and enrich. Students without prior experience in performing gained confidence in public speaking, to many was their first time participating in such community outreach, these are few of the many stories we encounter. I am grateful to be part of this process of youth development through magic beyond the boundaries of Singapore.
Another highlight of our trip, was certainly the challenging yet exciting and meaningful show put up by Priscilla at Xingfu Sheltered homes (幸福家园安置点), which accommodates up to 1700 families. Despite the weather; our enthusiastic audience comprised the young and the old, braved the rain with their colourful umbrellas on stools brought from their homes. The makeshift stage has wings made up of cupboards, chairs and canvas. It was indeed sight to behold. Applauds and laughters filled the air as our youth volunteers kicked off the 45-min show with their creative magic parody of a Chinese classic, “Journey to the West”, followed by Priscilla’s finale magic show. The two full days of sleepless preparation, frenzy outdoor stage set up, house to house visiting for show publicity were all efforts worthwhile.
During the closing ceremony of this 1-week friendship camp, with linking hands and hearts, the tear-jerking classic theme song “手牵手”was sung once more. Dreams and aspirations written on coloured papers, folded into paper aeroplanes flew across the hall as a symbolism that the end of the camp marks a new beginning for each to pursue their goals. Their tagline, “一个终点，也是一个新的起点” (ie. an end, also a new beginning), I believe, was the seed that Qian Qian Shou has sown in the hearts of all the youths.
In all, am so thankful for great Chinese friends and great spicy steamboat (四川火锅) and great little panda toys as souvenirs! Sichuan, a place I will come again. Long Live Qian Qian Shou!
Motorbike Production
May 26th
Check it out !
The Constance of Change
May 4th
Been working on redressing and improving my japanese parasol routine.
Take a last look at it before it takes on a a totally different feel. Excerpts from 2008Magicbox.
Back from my holiday !
Apr 16th
Hey everyone!
Got back from my short trip in London and Rome. Well, I had the great opportunity to cycle around Rome and eventually ended up in a park. It was just lovely to have this change of environment and pace of living. Sitting on the grass all relaxed, having wine and great pizza with my sister and her friends.
We took in a lot more sights, starting at the Vatican City. It was very picturesque, the Sistine Chapel which Michelangelo painted was just breathtaking. I was awed at its magnificence , grandeur and most of all , Michelangelo’s’ brilliance.
I felt that the Vatican was very extravagant , but I just couldn’t help admiring all the artistry. I managed to see the Room of Constantine which was designed to be used for receptions and official ceremonies. I felt that compared with Raphael, Michaelangelo beat him hands down. The pictures drawn by Michelangelo were very vivid and really potrays the message very well. For example, in the Sistine Chapel, what struck me the most was the fresco of The Last Judgement. When I first saw it , I was dumbfounded, just the colors are enough to make you stand in awe.
Here’s a lil funny part of the fresco.
The Last Judgment was an object of a heavy dispute between Cardinal Carafa and Michelangelo: the artist was accused of immorality and intolerable obscenity, having depicted naked figures, with genitals in evidence, inside the most important church of Christianity. When the Pope’s own Master of Ceremonies, Biagio da Cesena, said “it was mostly disgraceful that in so sacred a place there should have been depicted all those nude figures, exposing themselves so shamefully,” and that it was no work for a papal chapel but rather “for the public baths and taverns,” Michelangelo worked the Cesena’s face into the scene as Minos, judge of the underworld with Donkey ears {i.e.foolishness} while his nudity is covered by a coiled snake. It is said that when Cesena complained to the Pope, the pontiff joked that his jurisdiction did not extend to hell, so the portrait would have to remain.
In the painting, Michelangelo does a self portrait depicting himself as St. Bartholomew after he had been flayed (skinned alive). This is reflective of the feelings of contempt Michelangelo had for being commissioned to paint “The Last Judgement”.The figure of St. Bartholomew depicts the satirist and erotic writer Pietro Aretino who had tried to extort a valuable drawing from Michelangelo. He holds the painter’s flayed skin as a symbol of attempted victimization.
Talk about getting about painting with a vengeance ! To me, it looked like the snake is actually biting his *you-know-where*. I think that does show why you should not offend anyone in the creative industry, most of all painters.
Later I had a chance to go to St Peter’s Basillica, which took 120 years to finish ! It was so huge and quite frankly a tad bit too extravagant for my liking. Inside St Peter’s Basillica, the ceiling is covered with gold tiles. The altar was huge and entirely made up of bronze. There were more than 100 marble carvings adorning the place. I know God deserves the biggest offering, but this reminded me of Solomon’s temple from the Bible which must have had been much bigger than this.
Well, that’s all for the moment, more about my exciting trip coming soon ! Check out the blog for more updates !
