On the afternoon of February 1, 2025, the fourth day of the Lunar New Year of the Snake, the 3rd “Selection of Canada’s most Representative Chinese Characters” was held at the Xing Wu Zen Temple Cultural Center in Canada. This event was hosted by the Gendo Asia Art Foundation of Canadian and co-organized by the Xing Wu Zen Temple of Canada. Nearly a hundred people participated and witnessed this cultural event that spanned culture and time and space.
Richmond City Councillor and Chairman of the Gendo Asia Art Foundation, Mr. Chak Au
Vice Chairman of the Gendo Asia Art Foundation, Artistic Director Arthur Wang
Abbot of Xing Wu Zen Temple Canada, Master Shi Xing Wu
The event officially kicked off at 2 pm. The Vancouver Hua Xia Chinese Art Troupe performed two classic folk music pieces, “A Beautiful Moon Over Flowers” and “Ascending Step by Step”, for the guests, creating a strong traditional cultural atmosphere for the audience.
Performers: The Vancouver Hua Xia Chinese Art Troupe
Lion dance is an indispensable festive program during the Spring Festival. The lion dance performance of “Auspicious Lion Brings Good Luck” brought by students from the Canadian Shaolin Zen Wu Cultural Center. Lion dance is one of the treasures of Chinese traditional culture. It also symbolizes good luck and conveys good wishes, adding a festive touch of the Spring Festival to the event.
Lion Dance : Canadian Shaolin Zen Wu Cultural Center
Hosts Cao Sisi and Michael Wu formally invited the event organizer, Chairman of Gendo Asia Art Foundation and Richmond City Councillor Chak Au to deliver a speech, introducing the background, origin and significance of the 2024 Chinese Character Selection, and emphasizing the far-reaching influence of Chinese character culture in modern society.
The city councillor Chak Au introduced: The Gendo Asia Arts Foundation of Canada established the localized annual Chinese character selection in 2022. This year is the third session. After three rounds of selection by the expert group, the twelve candidate characters of “gold, transform, retreat, exchange, hope, uncertainty, anxiety, poverty, closure, joy, prosperity, and reflection” stood out from the 278 nominated Chinese characters. Each character carries a specific code of the times. Through public voting, a word is selected to represent the people’s voice for 2024, and Chinese characters are used to condense the collective memory of the people to form an alternative yearbook that records social changes.
Then, Master Xing Wu also delivered a speech. He said: “Chinese characters not only carry the wisdom of Chinese culture, but also become an important bridge for global cultural exchanges. It is the responsibility of every descendant of the Yellow Emperor to inherit and carry forward the Chinese character culture. Let us all work together.
Professor Yang Jinbao, a famous Buddhist scholar living in Canada and one of the judges of this year’s Chinese character selection, also delivered a speech, in which he gave a profound interpretation of the significance of the event, the promotion of Chinese characters, and the inheritance of traditional culture.
The most exciting moment has arrived, the host officially announced the unveiling ceremony of this year’s Chinese character selection for the 2024 One-Character Review Chinese Character Selection: The drummer opened the ceremony with exciting drumbeats, Master Xing Wu struck the opening gong symbolizing auspiciousness, and Gendo Asia Arts Foundation Chairman Chak Au and Vice President Arthur Wang jointly unveiled the red cloth to complete the unveiling ceremony. The word “hope” was named Canadian Chinese Character of the Year 2024, reflecting the mood and expectations of the people. The audience burst into applause, and cameras and audience members’ mobile phones recorded this important moment.
After the unveiling ceremony, Master Shi Xing Wu wrote the word “Hope” which was elected this year.
A piece of paper with the fragrance of ink and a long-lasting Zen feeling. The master presented the calligraphy to the Gendo Asia Arts Foundation on the spot for permanent preservation, symbolizing the inheritance and promotion of culture.
The wonderful cultural and entertainment performances also showcase the diverse charm of Chinese culture. The martial arts performances by Canada’s Shi Xing Wu Shaolin Zen Wu Cultural Center, including “Seven Star Fist”, “Changhong Sword” and “Yin Hand Stick”, as well as Master Shi Xingwu’s on-site impromptu martial arts performances, were vigorous and powerful, showing the unique charm of Chinese martial arts, and the audience applauded again and again.
A group of “little ladies of Chinese opera” from Hong Jie Dance Academy performed lively and lovely opera dances, showing the charm of traditional opera.
The classical dance “Taege” by Deyi Dance Academy is light and graceful, with dancers in red makeup and rouge, showing the elegant style of traditional Chinese classical dance to the audience.
Chinese characters are witnesses of history and writers of the future. A cultural event of Chinese characters and the integration of Chinese culture not only brilliantly displayed the profoundness of Chinese traditional culture, but also promoted the exchange and integration of Canada’s diverse cultures. The guests at the conference all expressed the hope that there will be more cultural activities like this in the future, so that Chinese culture can continue to shine overseas and the cultural torch will be passed on forever.
Thanks to the Gendo Asia Arts Foundation of Canada and Xing Wu Zen Temple, thanks to all the guests for coming, and thanks to every friend who participated in the voting!
Let’s meet next year and reminisce about the past and the past with a word!
Canada’s third “One Word Review” annual Chinese character selection event has come to a successful conclusion!
