Newsie: Parliamentary Prayer marks Chinese Language Week

MP Raymond Huo will officially celebrate this year’s New Zealand Chinese Language Week (“NZCLW”) by reading the Parliamentary prayer in Chinese at 2pm on Tuesday September 25 2018.

NZCLW is a Kiwi-led initiative to encourage New Zealanders to engage in Chinese language and culture. It aims to promote the opportunities from increased connections to China for students, individuals, businesses and the wider community. NZCLW is running from the September 23 – 29 2018.

For the first time in New Zealand, and in the world, the recital of the prayer in Chinese in the New Zealand House of Representatives, “will be greatly appreciated by Chinese-speaking communities both at home and abroad”, says Jo Coughlan, co-chair of NZCLW.

The English prayer was translated into Chinese by the Auckland-based Chinese teaching and researching Bo Ya Institute. Mr Huo has also sent the translation to National MP Dr Jian Yang for peer-reviewing.

Since its inaugural celebration in 2014, the NZCLW has attracted the attention of both the mainstream English-language media and worldwide Chinese-language media.

In 2015, Mr Huo dedicated his sixth book, Blue Sky, White Cloud – From 100% Pure NZ to NZCLW.  NZCLW also jointly published a bilingual book, Flying Kiwis – Collection of Essays of NZ School Students with the Beijing-based Higher Education Press.

This year NZCLW will be launching another book, William’s Waitangi Day. This book, by kiwi author David Ling, tells the story of William a recent Chinese immigrant to New Zealand and how he learns about Waitangi Day. The book has been translated in to English and Chinese, and in part is trilingual with some key Maori words included.

“As a founding trustee and co-chair I am proud of the achievements the NZCLW has made,” says Raymond.

“It helps new Kiwis in our nation-building process acknowledge our tangata whenua while celebrating our multicultural Aotearoa.”