Posts in Photo essays
The 11th Christchurch Lantern Festival draws huge crowds

"By 1869, about 2000 Chinese men, many from Guangdong Province, were working the goldfields of Otago and the West Coast. They lived in their own settlements, some of which have been restored in places like Arrowtown. A Poll Tax was introduced in 1881 to discourage Chinese immigration. This was later rescinded along with a formal apology and the establishment of the Poll Tax Heritage Trust."

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Gala show by the Gala show to celebrate the Chinese New Year of the Rooster hosted by the Consulate General of China in Christchurch

The two-day event was held at the City's Isaac Theatre Royal on January 16 and 17, and saw performances by the Wuhan Acrobatic Troupe, and Wuhan Opera and Dancing Theatre. More than 800 people attended the celebrations on the 16th including 13 mayors from various South Island councils. Minister Nicky Wagner and MPs Jian Yang and Maureen Pugh were also present. Consul General Jin Zhijian noted that the show was the first performance from China at the historic venue after the 2011 Earthquake. The event also celebrated the completion of 10 years of sister city relationship between Christchurch and Wuhan.

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Culture and sports: Christchurch to host the largest gathering of Filipinos in NZ during the Labour Day weekend this year

Delia Richards, Liaison Manager for Filipino worker's Social Integration Programme at Canterbury Migrants Centre, and also the founder and President of the community organisation Philippine Culture and Sports, and Christchurch City Councillor Jimmy Chen (on right of Delia), kicking off preparations for Pistang Pilipino 2017 sa Christchurch (PPSC), on February 4.

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Travelouge Across South

In this holiday issue, we encapsulate the beauty, the history, and the issues across South Island. This is by no means an exhaustive list, and we have left areas around Kaikoura for obvious reasons, but readers may find the 69 pictures - from page 4 to page 15 - an useful aid to get the gist of Te Waipounamu. Yes, this is the Maori name of New Zealand's South Island, which means "the waters of greenstone".      

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Parade: Santa comes to town

Marking 70 years of something is no mean feat. Especially in the rapidly changing modern life with so many distractions all around. But Christchurch’s Annual Santa Parade achieved that on December 4. Though with time, the event has become more multicultural in nature, with Indian, Chinese, Nepalese and Fiji floats proving to be great crowd pullers.

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WoW: Out of the world in Nelson

Since 2001, visitors from around the globe have been treated to the "twin-wonders" of Nelson in the form of the World of WearableArt and Classic Cars Museum. Displaying one of Australasia's largest private collections of vintage cars, visitors are also treated to over 70 World of WearableArt garments.

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The Canterbury Community Gardens welcomes all

This is how the Association describes itself, "The Canterbury Community Gardens Association is a networking organisation for community gardens, promoting the growth of new and existing initiatives. CCGA is a group of community gardeners and supportive individuals who are working together to promote and strengthen community garden initiatives in Christchurch."

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Photo essay: Yogyakarta - The city of graffiti

Yogyakarta is the hub of Javanese culture in Indonesia, which has seamlessly integrated cultural traits of Hinduism and Buddhism, with Islam. Even though, the people of Java are mainly Muslims, they are very proud of their links with other cultures and religions. On top of it, the most striking feature of the city is the omnipresence of graffiti on almost every wall around the city, presenting a very liberal face of Indonesia. To quote the Lonely Planet, "Yogyakarta is where the Javanese language is at its purest, arts at their brightest and its traditions at their most visible."

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