Source: School of Chinese as a Second Language
Translated by: Naomi Lounsbury
Proofread by: Liang Jianxin
Edited by: Wang Dongmei
On November 20, 2015, the Chinese salon on paper cutting "Paper is waiting for you" was held by the School of Chinese as a Second Language (SCSL) at Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU). The title is a play on the words "only waiting for you", because "paper" and "only" have the same pronunciation in Chinese. It attracted 30 international students from 14 countries including the United States, South Korea, Russia, Colombia, and Madagascar.
This paper-cutting themed salon included ice breaker activities, the history and culture of paper cutting, some serious hands-on paper cutting as well as an intense paper cutting competition at the end.
Naomi Lounsbury, a graduate student from the United States, acted as host for the event. Her humor gave the salon a relaxed and lightened mood. The ice-breaker self-introduction game allowed students to practice their Chinese while getting to know their table mates. Most of the students successfully completed the game of remembering other student’s names, but Yousef Almesbahi from Yemen and Mohammed Shamia from Palestine failed at the task and were punished by having to sing an Arabic song, which they sang beautifully.
Mohammed Shamia (left) from Palestine and Yousef Almesbahi (middle) from Yemen sing an Arabic song. Naomi Lounsbury (right) from the United States acts as the host of the salon.
While learning the history and culture of paper cutting, the students viewed exquisitely cut paper patterns, and intently enjoyed paper cuttings that ranged from the Tang Dynasty to Modern China, many of which varied in their complexity and design. Many students expressed interest in learning more about paper cutting. Questions on the history and culture of paper cutting were liberally sprinkled throughout the short seminar and prizes were given to the winners, creating a competitive atmosphere for learning.
After gaining some paper-cutting knowledge, the students were eager to try their hands at paper cutting. The paper-cutting teachers taught the students to make paper doll chains and the Chinese double happiness character, as well as a complex floral cut. Students were then free to play. One Japanese student cut a chain of bears and a chain of aliens. While cutting the Chinese double happiness character, a student managed to cut the double happiness in half, creating single happiness and making everyone laugh.
During the competition part of the salon the best works from each table were chosen. You Guixian, a Vietnamese student, created a chain of "Spring" Chinese characters. Yousef created a work of art called "Happiness". Japanese student Yuki Kato joined all of his paper cuttings together to create a story of aliens studying Chinese at SYSU. Yun Kang Jae, a Korean student, created a cutting he called "love cat". Finally, Yun Kang Jae’s “love cat” was one of the most popular cuttings while Shigehiko Matsushita’s "I love SYSU" and Yousef’s "Happiness" were also chosen as the most intriguing.
Many students expressed a satisfaction with campus life at SYSU in the event. Marya Yasin, a graduate from Jordan said, "I really like the paper-cutting salon. During the event, I made new friends. We helped each other and completed some satisfactory works of art together." Chinese salons are to impart knowledge about the Chinese language and culture and also promote cross-cultural exchange between Chinese and foreign students.
Group photo
The Chinese salon series of activities is organized by the graduate students in the Master of Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages Program from SCSL. Over 105 Chinese salons have been held since 2007, which were widely popular among international students in the University.
