On March 24, it was a beautiful spring day with bright sunshine and warm breeze when everything started to grow. At the invitation of Wroclaw Municipal Social Service Center, all the Chinese staff of the Confucius Institute at Wroclaw University went to present a China Day Show in Wroclaw Nursing Home.

When the show started at 10 in the morning, over 30 elderly people had already sat in the medium-size meeting room and all the seats were occupied. Some of them came with clutches, some in wheelchairs, and others with the help of working staff in the nursing home. The oldest one was 91 years old.

For this activity, the Confucius Institute had prepared three programs. The first program was Tea Ceremony. With the background music of "Mountains with Flowing Water," CI Chinese Director, Professor Zhang Lilong first gave a brief introduction in Polish to the long history and traditional popularity of Chinese tea culture, and then a detailed explanation of each concrete step of tea ceremony as the volunteer teacher Ms Chen Lamei presented the show. Two of the audience were also invited to sit at the show table and appreciate the tea when it was made. The performer and participants cooperated harmoniously and the whole process was conducted smoothly, lively, and elegantly. The elderly people were fascinated by the show and fine taste of tea, and the room was pervaded with Tea fragrance everywhere.

The second program was practice on calligraphy. Volunteer teacher Mr. Guo first gave an introduction to the art of Chinese calligraphy and potential function of self-cultivation through a show of slides. Then he taught the elderly people to write with Chinese brush, and learn to appreciate the charm of Chinese calligraphy. With white paper flatly placed on their desks, they started to practise writing with Chinese brush earnestly. They learned not only to write some simple characters in Chinese, but also to say "good morning," "thank you," and "good-bye" in Chinese.

The third program was Chinese paper-cutting. Under the guidance of volunteer teacher Ms Zhao Rong, the elderly people first folded the red paper, then drew some lines on it, and next carefully cut the paper based on the lines, and finally a beautiful Chinese character was unfolded. The faces of the elderly people were shining with joy on the reflection of the red paper.

The elderly people were extremely excited like children when they looked at the Chinese characters they had written and the paper pattern they had cut. At the end of the program, they expressed sincere thanks to the Chinese teachers and hoped that they could learn and appreciate Chinese traditional culture again soon.

Tea Ceremony