Social Events

Opening Reception
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Everbright Center Ballroom Foyer and Cafe Bar area
7:00-9:00 PM

This is a great way to meet old and new friends and set up appointments for the next two days. Snack food and drinks will be provided.

Dinner at Harvest Festival Restaurant
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Directly across from the Everbright Center

Please join us for a lovely dinner on Wednesday night across from the Everbright Center. This will be a great opportunity for networking, enjoying good food and traditional Chinese music.

The menu for the dinner includes:
Lobster with a savory butter sauce.
Fresh Crab in shell, lightly salted and steamed.
Fresh jewfish, pan fried.
Pork and tofu, sautéed in a gravy with mild spices.
Fresh local shrimp, lightly salted and fried.
Fish noodles, sautéed with celery, ham, and pickles.
Fish noodles prepared this way are a local favorite!
Pan fried beef with a local sweet and savory gravy.
Sauteed mushrooms and broccoli in a savory sauce.
Fresh pork, pan fried with salt and savory spices.
Shellfish and cole cooked with oyster oil.
Wheat noodles sautéed with eggs, cole, and pork.
Soup made from chook braised in savory spices.
Fried spring roll with spiced egg, carrot, and leek.
Boiled dumplings with a sweet filling.
Baked small sweet potatoes, lightly salted.
Freshly preserved queen goose, lightly salted.
Pickled, tart potherb, sweetened for balance.
Pickled pigeon with a salty and sweet flavoring.
Pressed and boiled mutton, cut and served cold.
Steamed lily pumpkin. It has a light, sweet flavor.

Wednesday's dinner will feature two musicians performing with traditional Chinese instruments:

Yang Shangfu graduated from Hubei Art College in 1976. His major was Chinese traditional instruments. He loves to play traditional Chinese folk tunes, and put all his time into researching ancient Chinese instruments, including the Erhu, Dongxiao and  Bawu, which is an instrument played by some minority ethnic groups in China.

Zhang Guixing has played the Pipa for the past fifty years. He studied under a famous professor of the reknown Chinese Music College. He has also studied the regional music of Jiangnan, Canton and Chaozhou.

Their music presentation will include such pieces as:

• “Dating at Aobao”, which describes the romantic love of young Mongols and their earning for pure love and a better life.
• “Shanghai Bund” was famous in the 1980s. It’s a song from a teleplay about Qingbang mobsters.  It describes the ethical pride of young people at that time and fighting scenes.
• “Racing horses” is pastoral music. It expresses the passion of pastoral life and the joy of racing horses in the expanse of the plain.
• “Wonderful Eve of the New Year” shows the joy of getting together with friends for Chinese Spring Festival.
• “Celebrating the Harvest” expresses the happiness and joy of farmers when they harvest their crops. It describes the emotionally moving scenes of the harvest and the farmer’s hope for a bright future.
• “The Swallow-Bamboo under the Moonlight” is Dai minority ethnic group music from Guangxi and Yunnan Province, which is played on the Bawu. It expresses the feelings of young people who are pursuing love and life.
• “River Scene under the Moonlight” describes the breathtaking scenery that travelers experience in the wilds during springtime nights when they journey through nature.
• “Lotus” is a Kejia minority ethnic group song that describes how the Kejia people are like the lotus, which grows up clean and pure out of the dirty mud and water. It shows their ethnic pride.
• “High Mountain and Flowing River” is a famous folk song from Henan Province. It is a song inspired by the story of Zhong Ziqi and Yu Boya. During the ancient Spring and Autumn Warring States Period, these two were a famous pair of extremely close friends. The song is like a dialogue and tale of their friendship.  
• “Nostalgia in the Autumn” is a song about missing your hometown during the cold weather of autumn and the contradictory feelings that you experience in your heart: On the one hand it brings you joy to think about your family and home, on the other hand you feel sad because you are not with them.
• “The Moon on High” is a fantasy song that describes the sights one might see on the moon, including the Moon Palace of ancient Chinese lore. It describes the wonderful sights, the brightness, and so on, of the lovely moon.
• “Moon in the Han Palace”. During the Han Dynasty some Chinese women would be chosen to become dancers or serving girls in the imperial palace, but once they entered, they could never again leave the palace. While they lived a luxurious lifestyle, they never again could communicate with or see family and friends, and so the song describes their lives as prisoners inside the palace and their heartache.