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Events
In this page, you will find out what events we will going to have and what we have held and participated recently. Please send us your comments, questions, or suggestions regarding our events if you have. We appreciate your feedbacks!
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Upcoming Events
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2010 Chinese New Year Celebration
| Please mark your calendar for our annual Chinese New Year festivities at the Intercontinental Hotel on the Country Club Plaza on Sunday evening, February 7, 2010. For more detail, click here. |
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Past Events
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2009 Plaza Art Fair
PLAZA ART FAIR BOOTH A BIG SUCCESS
The Society for Friendship with China’s Booth at Kansas City’s Plaza Art Fair the weekend of September 25 through 27 succeeded in all areas we had hoped. Our booth was quite visible on the east corner of Ward Parkway and Wyandotte, allowing a great deal of publicity and the opportunity to make many new friends.
Selling Chinese craft and artwork as well as chances for a fully-paid five-day trip for two to Xi’an, our Sister City in China, brought in money to help fund our scholarship program in schools there. Each purchased chance for the excursion was represented by a lighted lotus flower printed with a number. People at the art fair enjoyed seeing the lotuses slide down a ramp to the banks of Brush Creek to float in the corral, an especially beautiful site as their lights glowed in the evening until the light of dawn.
Jim Hill, a member of the US-China Peoples’ Friendship Association, won the trip when the lotus with his name was drawn from the water on Sunday afternoon. He and his guest will see the sights of the city, tour the excavation of the Terra Cotta Soldiers, and visit our school in the mountains. |
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The 5th Annual Kansas City Dragon Boat Festival
Photos taken by Eric Bowers. To view more his photo works, please visit: www.ericbowersphoto.com |
The 5th annual Kansas City Dragon boat Festival was held on Saturday, June 13, 2009. As before, the festival was held at the southeast corner of the County Club Plaza. We started in the morning with activities for children and Chinese entertainment. Dragon Boat racing occured in the afternoon. This year’s schedule was as follows:
- 10:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. - Wishes for sale $5 each
- 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. - Children’s Activities
- 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. - Food Sales & Booths Open
- 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. - Cultural Performances
- 1:00 p.m. - Wake the Dragons Ceremony (including the official delegation from Xian, China)
- 1:15 p.m. - Dragon Boat Races (usually lasts about two hours)
- 9:00 p.m. - Launching Wishing Lanterns
Sponsors in 2009
- The Society for Friendship with China, Inc.
- Kansas City Parks and Recreation
- DST Systems, Inc.
- Neighborhood Tourist Development Fund
- Kansas City-Xi’an Sister City Committee
- Kansas City Plaza Rotary Club
- KCCA
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2009 Chinese New Year Celebration
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The Chinese New Year Celebration was a spectacular success at the Intercontinental Ballroom in Kansas City January 25, 2009. Everyone rang in the Year of the Ox with great fanfare.
The evening opened with every guest being greeted by our student ambassadors from Avila University, University of Kansas, University of Missouri – Kansas City and Park University and Student Ambassador Committee Chair Mary Edith Lillis.
The Chinese New Year Celebration was a spectacular success at the Intercontinental Ballroom in Kansas City January 25, 2009. Everyone rang in the Year of the Ox with great fanfare.
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The evening opened with every guest being greeted by our student ambassadors from Avila University, University of Kansas, University of Missouri – Kansas City and Park University and Student Ambassador Committee Chair Mary Edith Lillis.
The ballroom was filled with more than 200 guests who found a gift of gratitude at their place setting - a cashmere scarf from China, a token of friendship representing the warmth our sponsors, attendees and members enable us to provide to the An Shang, HanJiaPing, and Yu Kou Schools, and Shaanxi Normal University in Xi'an, China each year.
To begin the evening, guests enjoyed visiting with friends old and new during the wine reception preceding dinner. Conversation flowed over the beautiful art on display for the silent auction from many local artists donating talent to support the Society.
Throughout the dinner, awards and acknowledgements were given for support and involvement in Society endeavors. Special thanks were extended by our event host John Phillips to longtime Society friends Jeannette Nichols and Michael Newburger, and to our Year of the Ox Sponsor DST Systems. Larry Moore accepted a special award for his continued support of the Society over the past 10 years.
We are sad that we won't be seeing our longtime supporter, Mistress of Ceremonies Surae Chinn as often now as she departs Kansas City from Channel 5 News. However, we are happy for her continued friendship from afar in her new role as News Anchor in Washington, D.C.
The evening highlight was Mary Eisenhower's keynote address as President of People to People International. Mary told a moving story of the difference each individual makes by reaching out to others in the spirit of friendship around the world. We are grateful for her inspirational words over dinner, as she touched on the emotion and purpose of the New Year for everyone.
The evening would not have been complete without our talented friends who danced and provided entertainment that moved so many of us after dinner. Dancers from the Jasmine Chinese Dance Group and KCCA Dance Group performed cultural pieces and our own Celebration Chairperson, Jinsong Zhang, performed a stunning swan solo dance. We are very lucky to enjoy such beautiful Chinese performances in our great city.
The children's Drum Roller Team, led by Daniel Xue perked up the ballroom with a rousing performance of rhythm and style on beautiful red Chinese drums. Sponsorship from the Society helped fund the drums, and we truly enjoyed the talented performance in return.
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Children Drum Roller Performance and Dumpling Party
On 11/15/08, society held a dumpling party to raise money for Drum Roller, the Chinese drum team, at Princess Garden. After the key notes given by Bob Chien, the team performed three drum shows as well as lion dance, folk dance and chores for the guests. Please look through photos for more details. Click on picture for a larger view.
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2008 Ethnic Enrichment Festival
| 2008 Ethinic Enrichment Festival was held on Agu. 15 - 17 in Swope Park. The Society for Friendship with China represented China in the Festival with Chinese food booth and Chinese cultrual programs. Please click here to review photos taken by Linda Hanley, and here to see photos taken by Jiazhu Hu |
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The Society For Friendship with China joined the Sister Cities Internation Conference held on July 16 -19. Please click here for a review this event.
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The Review of 2008 Chinese New Year's Celebration
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On Sunday, February 10th, 2008, The Society for Friendship with China, Inc. celebrated the Chinese New Year, 4076 - Year of the Rat, at the InterContinental Hotel in Kansas City, MO. Approximately 250 attendees were entertained by over 20 dancers and musicians.
Honored guests included Mr. Haung Ping, Chicago Consul General of the People’s Republic of China; Mr. Chen Guowen, Consul and Director of Commercial Affairs; Mr. Zhang Huixun, Consul and Director of Political & Press Affairs; and Mr. Wang Weijia, Vice Consul for Commercial Affairs.
Kansas City, MO Mayor Mark Funkhouser welcomed our Chinese dignitaries to Kansas City, while Event Chair Jeannette Nichols spoke of the Society’s accomplishments for 2007. Dr. Limma Place of the UMKC International Academic Programs presented the UMKC academic scholarship to Paseo High School Senior, John Van Winkle.
Several award winners were recognized at the event: Bridge of Friendship Award - Jeannette Nichols; Certificate of Appreciation for Dragon Boat Festival -- Kile Morrison; Certificate of Appreciation for Scholarship - Mary Eisenhower, Michael Newburger, and Larry Moore.
We wish to thank KCTV5’s Surae Chinn for anchoring the Master of Ceremonies, and Larry Moore of KMBC-TV Channel 9 for his superb “calling” of live auction items donated by Garmin, Sprint, and Joan Horan. We also thank those who contributed the variety of items for the silent auction.
Other attendees included William M. Tsutsui, president of the KU Confucius Institute; John Fierro, Park Board President; Avila University President Dr. Ronald Slepitza; Dr. Olga Ganzen of Park University; Jody Edgerton – KC International Director; Jan Armstrong, Edgar Snow Memorial Fund, Inc.; Plaza Rotary Club - Kile Morrison and Will Hodgerson of the Plaza Rotary Club; Leadwood Rotary Club - Mike Searcy; Sister City Association President, Michael Wood; Dr. Carolyn Kadel – JCCC International Director; Joyce Cox, President of the US-China Peoples Friendship Association; KCCA’s Tammy Wang; Janet Kannard and Kathy Pemberton – DST Systems, Inc.; Angela Dahl and James Ma – Garmin; and Sprint Vice President, Mihwa Cha, and Director of Finance ,Yijing Brentano
The Society for Friendship with China wishes to express its appreciation to DST Systems as the Dinner Sponsor and thank its sponsors, entertainers, organizers and volunteers for their hard work and effort to make the Year of the Rat celebration a memorable event.
Below are some of pictures from the event. Please click on image for a larger view.
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