Library Fundraising: Lion Dance and Martial Arts

Ah, I love the feeling of helping people. It just gives me a nice warm feeling inside and motivates me to do more. Doesn't time fly by so fast?!? It's already another year, and I remember most things I did last year as yesterday. I've been interested in martial arts for a while, so I really wanted to learn martial arts, and to join the Olympia Kung Fu and Tai Chi club. I've currently learned 2 of the long fist forms, a staff form, and part of a broadsword form.

Well, you see, there is a traditional performance called the lion dance that is performed every year during new year celebrations (for more info on the lion dance, click here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion_dance).

Every year, the Olympia Kung Fu and Tai Chi club performs this traditional dance along with a few forms of Kung Fu and Tai Chi at our local Chinese New Year festival. But along with this final performance, we also do a few others. Of these, there are 2 times where we go to the 2 local public libraries and perform to fundraise for the libraries, and I participated in all of these performances this year, and last year.

Lion Dance at Olympia Library (tail of yellow lion is me :D)

The first Long Fist Form that I learned

Chinese Root Seeking Camp Trip In JingDeZhen Part Two: The Activities of the Camp

The next day, July 19th, the daily activities were initiated.

Day 1 (7/19):

All the campers woke up extra early to get ready for the first TaiChi (太极) lesson. Everyone was provided a white TaiChi uniform with the "Royal China" (皇窑) logo on it. The TaiChi class was started early because: 1. the fact that TaiChi is traditionally practiced in the early morning; 2. to avoid the immense heat produced from the sun. The campers gathered together at the courtyard of the Porcelain Palace, met our instructors, and split into groups to start the classes. We were all very excited about this class and learned 3 moves, QiShi (起式-Ready Position), JinGangDaoZhui (金刚捣碓-Buddha’s Warrior Attendant Pounds Mortar), and LanZhaYi (懒扎衣-Lazily Tying Coat) the first day.

1st day of TaiChi in front of the Porcelain Palace

Our morning class is Teasim (茶道). Everyone was very psyched about learning the ancient culture. Teaism is the study of ancient Chinese tea making history and a particularly formal class which has many strict rules. We made green, red, and a few other types of tea. The whole process is absolutely astonishing, where every single step is extremely important in this tradition. After a while, I was interviewed about why I wanted to learn about Teaism, what was for helping people remember this camp and its culture.

 

Teaism class

Me being interviewed about Teaism

Our second class, Pottery Shaping (拉坯), was in the afternoon after lunch. We learned about the history of pottery shaping and the instructors taught us how to do it. The fact that a chunk of clay can become such an amazing material known as China is just completely flabbergasting. It was a particularly enjoyable activity that cannot be done anywhere else in the world because porcelain pottery’s origin is from JingDeZhen, which has thousands of years of history of making China products.  The porcelain clay of JingDeZhen is unique because it is the only material that can withstand 1300° C (typical clay can only reach 1200° C), stabilizing all threatening toxicants. Every single camper was allowed to keep one finished production but we could make as much as we wanted that day. I made a goblet-like vase that became a bowl at the end which I felt pretty accomplished about.

 

Pottery Shaping class

Day 2 (7/20):

We had TaiChi again in the morning. After practicing what we learned from yesterday, we learned 2 more movements, LiuFengSiBi (六封四闭-Six Sealing and Four Closing) and DanBian (单鞭-Single Whip).

Almost immediately after breakfast, we went on our first field trip of the camp. The general idea was to have classes every other day, so the campers could all have some fresh air and to tour the beautiful nature of China. We visited a place called YaoLi (瑶里) and toured many historical buildings of an ancient town. The buildings were all traditional architecture built along a river. Yet again, the climate was really hot, which drained everyone’s energy really early in the day, but I still saw many interesting things that can't be seen anywhere else. We had a special lunch with the local food style/taste.

 

Me on one of YaoLi's bridges

Day 3 (7/21):

We learned 2 new positions, BaiHeLiangChi (白鹤亮翅-White Crane Spreads It’s Wings) and XieXing (斜行-Walking Diagonally).

Our morning class was Painting Under Glaze (釉下彩绘). Our instructors emphasized that we needed to be extra careful because the plates were extremely fragile. Everyone was provided with a glaze less dried but not fired plate to paint whatever they want. Even with the precaution, some campers still broke their plates when they were drawing. I drew a flower like picture-pattern onto my plate with the magical black ink that turns blue when fired. It was a very long process because we had to transfer the picture onto the plate.

 

Painting Under Glaze class

In the afternoon, we had the HKC (汉语口语测试- Chinese Speaking Assessment). The HKC has 3 difficulties: Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced. Each difficulty is divided into 3 more levels. Elementary has levels 1 – 3 (where 3 is the highest and 1 is the lowest). Intermediate has 4 - 6. Same rule applies for Advanced Level. I signed up for Intermediate and I obtained level 5. It was not as good as I expected. I will continue to improve my Chinese speaking skills.

My HKC results

Day 4 (7/22):

Only 1 new position LouXi (搂膝- Brush Knee) was learned because this was another field trip day. We went to WuYuan (婺源). It was a very astonishing and interesting place to tour around. We visited a limestone cave, where we saw bats on the roof and hundreds of vases filled with preserved wine. After visiting the cave, we hiked on a 1.75 KM long trail along a nearby waterfall. The scenery of the waterfall was gorgeous and I felt like I would never forget the picture.

Me in the limestone cave

The hike 

Day 5 (7/23):

The last 4 new moves, AoBu (拗步- Stepping Lightly), YanShouHongQuan (掩手肱拳- Hidden Thrust Punch and Whirling Upper Arms), JinGangDaoZhui (金刚捣碓-Buddha’s Warrior Attendant Pounds Mortar), and ShouShi (收式- Closing Form), were taught and practiced. Actually, they are not the last 4 moves. The instructors reduced the form because they feared that the campers could not remember the entire form and would like us to practice more so we would be fluent when performing.

The morning class that we had was Chinese Calligraphy (书法).  Mr. WenQing Peng, the famous local calligrapher, was invited to teach us. He talked about the history of Chinese Calligraphy, demonstrated how to write the 8 words “厚德载物，自强不息” (be virtuous to contain the whole world and constantly be strong and work hard), and explained how to write each stroke of these 8 words with the writing brush. We had grid paper, ink, and a writing brush for us to practice writing those words over and over again. Some students were particularly good at this, but I only did okay since this was my first time.

Calligraphy class

 In the afternoon, a group of local middle school students were invited to join our party. We had a mini talent show presented by us and students and played a few games (hosted by my dad and I). At the end, it was free time for both us and students to socialize and exchange gifts. It was very fun meeting all the new people and spending time with them.

 

The start of the party

Playing the games hosted by my dad and I

Day 6 (7/24):

This time, we went to a place called JinKeng(进坑) which is an ancient Chinese village. The village was mainly hundreds of acres of Lotus Flower fields, with a stream running through in the middle. The weather was immensely hot, so everyone hurried back. I learned a lot of information during the trip, for example, how lotus flowers are also categorized as male and female, male being the white ones and female being the pink ones (male lotus flowers are decently rare).

In the lotus flower fields

 In the afternoon, we visited the JingDeZhen Porcelain Museum. There, I saw an amazing collection of porcelain objects from people to giant sized boats. The sculptures were truly a wonderful sight to see. The museum also displayed information on the long history of JingDeZhen’s porcelain pottery.

 

The porcelain boat at the museum, my favorite product

Day 7 (7/25):

We continued to practice the TaiChi form to perfect it for the performance. When we finished the practice, our instructors demonstrated us a TaiChi form of the sword and fan. The morning class was Painting Above Glaze (釉上彩绘). This is different from Painting Under Glaze because the tile we drew on is glazed and fired porcelain which is not as fragile. Everyone was provided a white glazed fired porcelain tile and a plate of oil with 6 different color paints. The cool thing about Painting Above Glaze is that the paint is partially oil. The oil on the smooth glaze makes erasing possible. When I messed up my drawing, I just wiped the tile with a piece of paper. At last, I drew lots of types of fruit on the tile. After lunch and break, we had a music class (音乐). We learned a total of 2 songs, a song about JingDeZhen and a very famous song about Jasmine flower.

 

Me drawing my grapes for the Painting Above Glaze class

Day 8 (7/26):

We practiced the TaiChi form continuously for the next 4 days. Due to the hot weather, today’s field trip was rescheduled. The morning class was clay sculpture (泥塑), a class that I love. I made a realistic pig and goat, but sadly, they could not be fired, so bringing them home was not an option.

Me in clay sculpture class with my pig

The afternoon class was Traditional Chinese Painting (国画). This type of painting generally is done with a brush and black ink (which turns into different shades of gray/grey with different amounts of water mixture). Just like the calligraphy teacher, our instructor taught us about the history of Traditional Painting and then demonstrated to us how to draw lotus leaves and bamboo.

 

Traditional Chinese Drawing

Day 9 (7/27):

Our morning activity today was to make dumplings. They were extremely easy to make. My 10 person group worked really fast and we had 50 done in no time. For lunch, we ate the dumplings that we made. They were really delectable so the first plate on our table to be cleared was the dumplings. With the delicious self-made lunch and a nice rest, everyone was ready for the talent show.

My group making dumplings

The talent show, hosted completely by my dad, had a total of 16 performances, from a saxophone solo to gymnastics. My group had an edited performance of practical synchronized swimming on land (that was rehearsed 4 times). It was really funny and everyone laughed. With all of the refreshments and the intriguing performances, the talent show ended in a success.

 

My groups performance

Day 10 (7/28):

The field trip on 7/26 was rescheduled for today. The trip was a 3 hour drive (1 way), therefore, this trip was not mandatory. Whoever did not go on that trip was then required to go on a different trip (a lot closer). I choose the closer one because of the hot climate and my hatred of long car rides. The destination of this trip was GuYao (古窑).This is a tourist attraction site famous for its handmade porcelain products produced by the experienced artists (typically over 60 years of age). We saw the whole entire process of the handmade porcelain from the clay shaping stage to the final product. Aside from just the usual plates, cups, and bowls, they also made giant vases and furniture made of porcelain. We also watched a special 7 instrumental performance using 7 traditional instruments made of China. Personally, as a music person, I feel like this was a particularly good place to visit because music is an important part of young people’s lives nowadays.

 

GuYao Entrance

Instrument performance

Day 11 (7/29):

We went to 2 more field trip locations fairly close to our campgrounds. The first one was called GuXianYa (古县衙), an ancient county government office. We toured the complete structure of the office and learned its history also. The second site was called YuYao (御窑), a special porcelain manufacture plant entirely owned by the emperors to make their personal porcelain products/arts. This is also a burial site for the smashed objects. The background story is that whenever the emperor ordered the artists to make something, the artists had to make 13 copies. The emperor’s idea was that the best one would be presented to him. But actually, of these 13 copies, the best ones were smashed and buried in the sites. The worst one of the 13 copies was presented to the emperor because the artists feared that if the best one was handed in, the emperor would have higher expectations, making improvements impossible. The sad thing is, this site was destroyed by war, eventually being reconstructed into a tourist attraction/museum.

GuXianYa's court room

Miniature model of the orignal YuYao

 Day 12 (7/30):

This is the last day of classes at the camp. Originally, the TaiChi performance was scheduled for today, but then it was moved to closing ceremony. With the unused time of the performance, the whole camp visited a porcelain market for souvenir shopping. My friends and I didn’t buy a whole lot of things, but we still had a fun time looking at the interesting stuff for sale.

In the afternoon, we had our final class, Incense (香道). We learned about the history of burning the special plant powder. The instructor also taught us how to make our own incense into fancy shapes. Sadly, I have an allergic reaction to the powder and smoke, so I had to miss out on the experience. 

All in all, I enjoyed going through all of these amazing classes and field trips of this camp. They all covered an important key aspect of the long history/culture of China. I made lots of friends and had lots of fun in the process of it all. I learned lots of information and made me see the inner beauty of China, and also show that judging a book by its cover is a false idea.

Chinese Root Seeking Camp Trip In JingDeZhen Part One: Leaving USA, arriving in China, and the Opening Ceremony of the Camp

Main entrance of the Porcelain Palace

On July 18th, 2016, the JingDeZhen (景德镇) summer camp of Chinese Root Seeking officially started. I participated in this camp, and was very excited about learning the Porcelain culture of JingDeZhen. Jingdezhen (or the Town of Jingde) is known as the "Porcelain Capital" because it has been producing pottery for 1,700 years. The city has a well-documented history that stretches back over 2,000 years.

This summer camp was hosted by both of the Foreign Affairs Office of the City of JingDeZhen, JiangXi Province and HuangYao (皇窑) International Porcelian Culture Exchange Center. The campers were from 3 different countries, with 17 campers from Czech Republic (2 chaperons), 4 from China, and 118 from America (10 chaperons). Out of these 118 people for 16 states, about 40 of them were from Washington State.

My father (lead chaperone) and I left Seattle Washington on the 15^th of July and we met 5 other campers on our plane to ShangHai. The 11.5 hour plane ride wasn't as boring as the last few times I went to China, partially because there were lots of new movies that I haven't seen before. I watched 4 movies on the way there. Each movie was at least 1.5 hours long and very intriguing to me, so it took up most of the plane ride. With a occasional rest everyone once in a while between the movies, we arrived in ShangHai PuDong airport in no time. 

We landed and got off the plane at about 8 pm local time. My dad and I walked to the customs line and saw a huge crowd of people. We waited for about 30 minutes until we finally went through, and because we did not have any luggage to pick up at the baggage claim, we immediately skipped to the exit. We were picked up by a really good friend of my mom, and she told us about how things have been and the environment of ShangHai, after all, this was our first time stepping foot in this city. The temperature was a lot hotter than the USA, so I wasn't used to it at all. 

The next morning, we needed to take the high-speed train from HongQiao station to JingDeZhen . The station is the most complex hub in Asia because it is a combination of a high-speed train station, subway, maglev train system, airport, and bus station. Therefore, lots of people transfer there. Since this was the first time for not only us, but also many other campers, we had to rendezvous there early smoothly board the train. With a total of 27 people (24 campers, 2 chaperons, and 1 parent), we went on the train safely, securely, and on time. Due to the fact that my dad purchased the tickets of the whole group, all of us was in the 4th cart of the train. During the near 4 hour ride, everyone met each other very quickly, doing different things together like playing card games even though we are all from different states. In the middle of the train ride, several campers came on every once in a while at the occasional stops. 

Group photo when everyone just got off t

When we finally arrived, all the campers (about 50 when everyone got on), parents (about 6 of the came along), and chaperons(3) went to the exit and grouped together. And because of the reason that WuYuan station is very far away from our campground, the people that work at JingDeZhen sent buses to pick us up. We all took a group photo before we started to board the buses. The bus took about 50 minutes to arrive in JingDeZhen. Everyone started registration, picked up the camper handbook, and got their room keys. I was the first to get my room card so I headed straight for my room. My roommates came with me and we laid in our beds and rested. We were only a fraction of the 139 campers. The rest of them came by themselves at different times, but everyone arrived at the end before 11:00 PM on the 17th.

The next morning, the day of the camp's opening ceremony, I woke up at 4:30 AM because I couldn't sleep (jet lag). So, I went on to the balcony of our room and just stood there watching the beautiful scenery. There were steep hills and mountains filled with trees lit up by the tiny fraction of the orange sun. The sky was a nice, deep, dark blue color, with giant marshmallow white fluffy clouds filling it up at some parts.

Everyone gathered in front of the
Porcelain Palace

After breakfast, people gathered together in front of the Porcelain Palace at 8:30 AM for the opening ceremony. The weather was very nice, with lots of sunshine and very clear skies, bringing everyone a very happy mood. On the stage, 2 giant vases stood on a long table, for an upcoming activity to remind people of this camp. At 9:00 AM, the MC announced the ceremony started and the people in charge gave speeches related to the camp, like their hopes for the camp and the activities of the camp. 

My dad giving a speech  as representative of the chaperones

After the speeches, the two camper representatives received the symbolic camp flag from the organizer of the camp. 

Passing the flag

Then, the campers released balloons high up into the air, symbolizing the camp has officially started. Next, all of the campers, chaperons, workers, and speech givers lined up to carve their names into the 2 giant vases, which would then be heated up and kept in the museum as a symbol of this year's camp. This entire process was recorded with a drone and by the local TV station. I felt very happy and honored that we would all be remembered because of these wonderful works of art. 

Releasing the balloons

Everyone carving their name into the vase

After the opening ceremony, we started our first camp activity which was to tour and look around the Porcelain palace, learn about the stories of all the important pots/plates/bowls, and observe the entire porcelain manufacturing process. It was truly fascinating and definitely a once in a life time experience. 
    

A part of the manufacturing process of porcelain 

The scenery of the campgounds

Science Fair 2016

My current middle school,  Aspire Middle School, provides the Challenge Academy (CA) program. This program is especially for highly capable students to get advanced education. As a 6th grade student in this program, I was required to participate in my first formal school science fair and regional science fair.

Screenshot of my Slope Intercept Form Features 

For my project this year, I decided to make a computer program that would help kids to learn the Slope Intercept Form (y=mx+b). This is a linear equation that gives you the X coordinates, Y coordinates, the slope of the line, and the y-intercept of the line. The reason that I wanted to do this project is because when I learned the Slope Intercept Form myself, I thought it was very confusing. So, I to make a program that can help everyone learn about this subject. The programming took me a very long time because this was my first time ever learning and developing legit programs using HTML5 (HyperText Markup Language 5), CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), and javascript. I finished the project with a very nice section about the Slope Intercept Form and 6 scenarios on how the Slope Intercept Form is used in the real world.

We had a good 4 months to prepare for the upcoming science fairs and our in-class presentations. Every participant worked really hard to finish all of the checkpoint assignments, papers that we need to turn in along the process of a solid finishing project.

Me programming my project

School presentations came very early, and at first, I was very nervous about them. But it was a very easy task and I did really good because I worked really hard and practiced a lot. My teacher thought I did a especially good job and gave me 50 extra points.

At the school science fair, everyone (about 90 participants) had 2 required judges and other specialty judges. I was well prepared once again, so I didn't shudder and was very fluent. The judges found my project very intriguing and I got 2nd place for 6th grade.

Me with my 2nd place ribbon

At the regional science fair (with about 300 participants from 6th graders to people in high school), I did not win any prizes. My project seemed a little complex and people thought it was kind of confusing so I did not acquire the most satisfying of the marks.

Even though I did not achieve my goal to obtain a award at the regional fair, I learned a lot of knowledge/programming skills on the way of arriving at my final project. It motivates me about next year's science fair by giving me background information about the necessary etiquette
of the science fairs, which will help me prepare for next year. If you want to find out about the topic, you'll have to stay tuned till next year!!!!

Note: If you want to see or use my program, feel free to post your email in the comments and I can give you my code/program. :)

MathCounts 2016

Like I said in my last post, the Math Olympiad competition was my first math competition that I have ever participated in, which happened when I was in 5th grade. Well, since my team and I won, it inspired me to go deeper into this type of competitions. 

Coincidentally, I graduated to middle school and there was the opportunity to have a special class to prepare for a math competition called MathCounts, so I signed up. We met together every Tuesdays and Thursdays before school of the year starting in October for the classes. This competition is not divided by grade level, so there is a disadvantage for 6th graders. We were coached by my math teacher, who has lots of experience because she has been coaching for 5 years now. 

After about 5 months, in March, we had the School Round of the competition to decide who would be elected to the regional competition. There are 4 parts to the whole process. Starting with the Sprint Round, everyone gets 40 minutes to finish 30 problems. Then comes the Target Round, 8 problems divided into 4 pairs that each takes 6 minutes. After the Target Round, it comes the team round which everyone gets into teams with 20 minutes to solve 10 problems. Lastly, there is the Countdown Round, which is a chance for the top 10 people to get a better rank in the competition and settle ties. Everyone gets 40 seconds to try to solve the problem before the other person, and whoever gets 2 problems right wins. 

According to the final School Round results, I got 3rd out of our whole school (32 participating students, six 8th graders, nineteen 7th graders, and seven 6th graders), which was surprising since I beat almost everyone except one 8th grader and one 7th grader. But after the Countdown Round, the 4th placer beat me and I became 4th. Either way, I was in top four, meaning I was eligible for the regional competition as part of our school's team.

On February 27th, we went to the Regional Competition and through all of the competitions. The problems were not really hard, but they definitely wasn't easy. We had a break, and then the results of the first 2 rounds were announced. I got 8th in the whole regional competition (I acquired a role in the Countdown Round)!!!!!

Regional Competition

I was very happy that I made it so far, but I did not move up in the Countdown Round. The good news is, my team got 2nd place at the Regional Competition, which means we qualified for the State Competition!!!!!

The State Competition was hosted at Microsoft's Main Campus on March 12th, and the building was very cool. We went through all of the tests and again, thought they were very easy. The results were announced and we obtained 16th place as a team, and I achieved 131st in the state out of 161 participants as a individual (it isn't that bad for a sixth grader in my opinion). The competitors in the Countdown Round were all very good and very fast, and it was very interesting watching them 1v1 each other. 

Sadly, we didn't get any further than that, but still, I was very pleased with my results since I didn't have a lot of experience. This loss is important to me because it is a source of motivation to keep trying, beat my score of this year's competition, and make it to Nationals maybe!!!! :)

I hope you all found this decently interesting, please leave a like or a comment on what I should try, work on, or write about!!!!!  

Have a good day!!!!

Yours Truly,

Erik

2015 Math Olympiad

Yes, I know that this event happened more than a year ago, but this was a very special moment in my life. Here is the background piece of the story:

I participated in a competition last year, on May 7th, 2015 that changed my life. This

competition is called the Math Olympiad with more than 12 sites and about 52 schools participating throughout Washington. This event is hosted by WSMC (Washington State Math Council).

I have always had a passion for math, and I worked on math related things everyday. As preparation for this competition, my team met every Saturday of the year since the end of October. We moved around a lot to find meeting rooms that were vacant so we could use it. The meetings were all fun, we did all kinds of math problems, watched videos, read books, and many other things to help us strengthen our math abilities. After meetings, we ate snacks and chatted with each other until everyone's’ parents arrived. The Math Olympiad also had a t-shirt designing competition, and we consulted to each other briefly about our ideas.

On the day of the competition, we all felt confident about it. The competition is divided into 2 parts, Session 1 and Session 2. The Session 1 test is a long session problem that relates to the real world, meaning it’s based on an issue in society, and the Session 2 test is then split into 5 more categories, Number Sense, Measurement, Geometry, Probability/Statistics, and Algebra. We made sure that we had all of our necessary materials (calculators, pencils, erasers, etc.) and waited for the opening ceremony. After a few minutes, the site organizer came and started her opening speech.

My Design (front)

Teammate's Design (back)

After the speech, she announced the t-shirt designing winners, and my design won for the front side, and my teammate’s design won for the back side. This was very surprising because there are only 2 t-shirt design winners, and the winners were both on my team.

After the announcements, the competitions started. We went to the gymnasium while other grade leveled people went to other places for their tests. The first test that we had to take was the Session 1 problem. We were given an allowed time of 1 hour exactly, but everything was simple for us so we finished with more than 30 minutes to spare. Then, when everyone finally turned in their test papers, we went outside for a 15 minute break. When the break was over, we entered the gym again for the start of the Session 2 tests. We did the first 3 with 5 minutes in between each one, had a 10 minute break afterwards, then finished the last 2 with the same break policy. We finished each one with a lot of time to spare, averaging out to about 10 minutes each. They were all  easy, so we were all very confident about our results.

When all of the testing have finished, we went back to the commons of the school to eat lunch. We had ordered pizza, and we had a chat with our parents about our thoughts on the competition. Shortly after lunch, the host came in again and she started the awards ceremony. A feeling of nervousness fell upon us, until finally the award section of our grade. Turns out, we got 2 superior medals, one for session 1 and one for session 2. Superior medals are the best type of awards that participants can acquire. It means that these competitors scored 80% or better, and that's what happened for both sessions. We took lots of pictures and my team and their parents were all very happy. This event is particularly important to me because it showed me that we have the ability of winning and achieving great things, and what we actually need is to try hard so that we can actually use this ability.

Me (middle) and my team with our medals that we got from the competition.

This is one event that is very important to me, and I want to share it with everyone to see what I have experienced and I hope you enjoyed learning about the Math Olympiad. But, this is only 1 of the many other life changing events that I have. :)

Sincerely,

Erik Ma