Area students experience taste of Chinese culture Fidelity Chinese School presents performances in Manalapan, Howell

Area students experience
taste of Chinese culture
Fidelity Chinese School
presents performances
in Manalapan, Howell

PHOTOS BY DAVE BENJAMIN Students from the Fidelity Chinese School, Marlboro, demonstrate a fan dance during a celebration of the Chinese New Year, Feb. 12 at the Taylor Mills School, Manalapan.

Students from the Fidelity Chinese School of Marlboro brought a dragon and the culture of China with them to the Taylor Mills and Lafayette Mills schools in Manalapan, and the Newbury School in Howell last week.

The students from the Chinese school came to celebrate the Chinese New Year, which this year is the Year of the Horse.

Dr. Chee Ching, the Chinese school’s former principal, guided the celebration and performances. The present principal at the school is Dr. Gwo-Ming Jan. Approximately 220 students ranging in age from 4-18 attend classes at the school on Saturday mornings at the Marlboro Middle School. The Fidelity Chinese School was founded in 1994.

"The students come to the Chinese school to learn language and culture," Ching said. "The students come from all areas including Howell, Princeton, Englishtown, Marlboro, and East Brunswick."

Students from the Fidelity Chinese School present a demonstration of kung fu techniques during a celebration of the Chinese New Year at the Taylor Mills School.

Throughout the performances, the elementary school students in Manalapan and Howell were treated to the melodies of a Chinese orchestra, led by Ya-Tien Ko. Ko’s daughter, Brittany, 9, is a third-grade student at Taylor Mills School. She also participates in the Fidelity Chinese School orchestra.

There are several sections of instruments in the Chinese orchestra, Ko explained, as the musicians gave a demonstration.

Explaining the sections of the orchestra to the children, the director identified the bowed string instruments: erhu, a two-string violin; jinghu, a Peking opera violin; banhu, the highest pitched two-string violin; gaohu, a high pitched two-string violin; zhonghu, a two-string Chinese viola; dahu, low-pitch, two-string bass; and gehu, a Chinese cello.

Moving on to the percussion section, he named the drum; twin bells; muyu, a wooden block shaped like a fish; bangzi, the wood block; lo, a gong; and yunlo, the gong chimes.

Four instruments make up the wind section: the dizi, a horizontal bamboo flute; hslao, a vertical bamboo flute with five holes in front and one hole on the back; sheng, a mouth organ; and sona, a Chinese oboe.

The other instruments of the orchestra are the pipa, a lute; liuqin, a small lute; zheng, a zither; sanxian, a three-string guitar; yangqin, a butterfly harp; yuehqin, a moon-shaped mandolin; and the ruan, a round lute.

With all of the instruments combining their sounds, the orchestra performed for the children. Maybe it was the music, or maybe it was the new year atmosphere that aroused a 60-foot-long yellow and red dragon that came to the celebration and performed the dragon dance. The dragon flowed through the air and then came to rest. It was then awakened by loud sounds. It danced. It bowed and then departed.

Two sets of Chinese yo-yo experts, four students — Charles Hu, Englishtown, and Ryan Lee, Terrance Wu and Jeffrey Yee, all of Marlboro — and four instructors — Frank Wang and his brother Benjamin, Steve Lin and Jeffrey Yee, all of Marlboro — demonstrated the Chinese "toy" yo-yo as the audience listened to "Canon in D" by Pachelbel, which was played on Chinese musical instruments.

A Women Soldier’s Fan Dance, a traditional Chinese dance, was performed by Shirley Wang, Morganville; Virginia Hu, Englishtown; Emily Chiang, Freehold; and Sheila Cheng and Tiffany Cheng, Marlboro, who were dressed in red and black costumes. Serena Hu, Englishtown, was the instructor for the dance troupe.

The New Year’s event ended with a kung fu demonstration by a group of students and their teachers — Paul Wang, Freehold, and Jeffrey Yee, Marlboro. Channing Huang, 8, a third-grader at the Newbury School, is a member of the kung fu demonstration group.

Ching said the holiday lasts for 15 days and at the end of that time a special lantern ceremony is held.

Lafayette Mills School Principal Scott Taylor said, "It was very authentic. We had great feedback from all of the teachers and students who saw the program."

Taylor said Chinese history is part of the curriculum in the fifth and sixth grades. He also praised the visit as an excellent learning experience.

"What was very nice for our grade levels was the orchestra," he said. "Our kids at this level are learning instruments. The music teachers were able to go back to the classroom and discuss and compare the Chinese instruments. It was great for the music kids."

Taylor Mills School Principal Ruth Jacobson said, "We celebrate the Chinese New Year every year at our school with a play and a dragon parade."

The presentation by the Fidelity Chinese School enhanced the celebration even more, the principal said.

"The children were particularly impressed with the yo-yos, the kung fu, the dances and the music," said Jacobson.

"It was just wonderful," said Newbury School Principal Diane DiDonato. "Our kids don’t know enough about the Chinese New Year."

DiDonato said the performance was extremely well received by her students, a nice way to be immersed in the special holiday of another culture. She noted that the children were very respectful and accepting of the cultural differences.

"Everything was very well run," she said. "It was very professionally done. The children who performed ranged in ages and they did all kinds of things. The students in our school learned a lot about the Chinese New Year. It was a positive, educational, culturally enlightening experience. I would love to have them back every year."