Three years have passed since the Chinese New Year and Lantern Festival was celebrated.
On February 12, the spell was broken as The Chinese Association (TCA) hosted the annual celebrations.
“With the number of infections decreasing dramatically over the last few weeks and with the South African government lowering all Covid-19 restrictions and allowing more public events, our committee deliberated as to how we could celebrate the Chinese New Year,” said Erwin Pon, chairman of TCA.
He added that Sacred Heart College was the ideal outdoor venue that could easily host a few thousand people but they had limited it to 25% of the maximum capacity. Everyone that attended had to register on an electronic system that issued them with tickets and all strict Covid protocols were implemented during the event.
The event hosted more than 25 different food, game and other stalls and there was four hours of live entertainment including lion and dragon dancing to belly dancers and singers. The highlight of the evening was definitely the spectacular fireworks display at the end by Starburst Pyrotechnics.
The event was also attended by esteemed leaders from the community with speeches given by head of Sacred Heart College Heather Blanckensee; MMC in Johannesburg for Environment Infrastructure Michael Sun; CEO of the Nelson Mandela Foundation Sello Hatang and Pon.
Blanckensee mentioned that the school had a long history with the Chinese community, with their very first Chinese learner attending the school in 1933. Sun thanked the Chinese community and brought Chinese New Year wishes from the Executive Mayor of Johannesburg, Dr Mpho Phalatse.
Hatang thanked the Chinese community and the TCA for supporting their food fundraising drive and hoped to continue the partnership with the community into the future.
One of the other activities during the event was the handing out of the TCA University Bursary Awards and PK Pon Best Matric Awards to the most outstanding Chinese students in South Africa. This year there were two awards presented to the 2020 and 2021 best matriculants (as last year’s award was deferred due to Covid and lockdowns).
The winner for 2020 was Andi Qu of St John College who achieved an average of 96.5% and eight distinctions, The winner of the 2021 best matriculant award was Yi Lou of St Peters College who achieved an average of 97% and eight distinctions. The winners of the best matriculant awards each received R20 000 sponsored by the Pon family, represented by Pon Ng Sui Chee (aged 109).
Pon closed off the proceedings for the day by honouring the many people lost during the past few years due to Covid, spoke about TCA’s many activities over the past years, thanked all the TCA and TCA Women’s Federation committee members, and wished the public a very happy Chinese New Year.
He then initiated and kicked off the countdown to the spectacular fireworks display that capped off the Chinese New Year and Lantern Festival celebrations for 2022.
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