Ricefield Education Outreach
 
Ricefield strives to promote a deeper understanding of Chinese arts and culture.  Our mission is to provide educational services designed to encourage children and adults to discover Chinese art and culture through listening, observing, creating and handling.
 
We offer a variety of workshops and craft based activities that relate to different aspects of Chinese cultures.  The workshop can be tailor-made for your school, college or community group, mixing different elements to suit your needs.
 
Lion Dance
The lion is traditionally regarded as a guardian creature in many Asian cultures.  The Lion Dance is performed in many Asian countries like China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore, with each country possessing their own distinct styles and purposes.
Lion Dance is a form of traditional dance in Chinese culture in which performers mimic the lion's movements in a lion costume. Usually performed by martial arts schools, the dance symbolizes good fortune, prosperity and longevity. Lion Dances now appear in the West during Chinese festivals, particularly Chinese New Year, as well as at other multi-cultural events. The workshop features a demonstration of a Lion Dance, music and storytelling.
 
Dragon Dance
The dragon dance is a highlight of Chinese New Year celebrations held in Chinatowns around the world.  Chinese people often use the term “Descendants of the Dragon” as a sign of ethnic identity. In the dance, a team of dancers carry the Chinese dragon on poles, which the lead dancers will lift, dip, thrust, and sweep the dragon head.  The dance team mimics the supposed movements of this river spirit in a sinuous, undulating manner. The dragon's fabric and bamboo body can be tens of metres long.
This workshop encourages teamwork to demonstrate the magnificent and well-coordinated presentation.
The participated class is encouraged to make their own dragonhead and tail for the future activities in school.
 
Calligraphy
Calligraphy is an art dating back to the earliest day of history and widely practiced throughout China to this day. Although it uses Chinese words as its vehicle of expression, one does not have to know Chinese to appreciate its beauty because in essence, Calligraphy is an abstract art.  Our teacher will start to introduce simple characters at the beginning and then progress to more complexes writing such as your name.
 
Brush painting
Chinese brush painting and Chinese Calligraphy are closely related because lines are used in both.  Lines are used not only to draw contours but also to express the artist's concepts and feelings. They may be straight or curved, hard or soft, thick or thin, pale or dark, and the ink may be dry or running. The use of lines and strokes is one of the elements that give Chinese painting its unique qualities. These brush strokes can be adapted to represent space, form, light and shade.
Materials Needed: Brush, ink stone, ink/colours and paper.
 
Lantern making
Lantern making has been widespread across the world to integrate with different cultures.  Chinese Lantern Festival falls on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunar calendar, the night of the first full moon after the Chinese New Year.  This festival is also a Chinese Valentine's day where youngsters celebrate the festivals with their lovers in such a beautiful and romantic evening.  Lanterns are also displayed in other festivals such Mid-Autumn Festival. Lantern making has a long history and there are a lot of romance stories told about lanterns and lovers related to this festival. 
Materials Needed: Paper, bamboo, wire, glue, ribbon and scissor.
 
Origami     
Origami is a form of visual or sculptural representation that is defined primarily by the folding of the medium (usually paper). This workshop enables participants to transform a simple piece of paper with just a few folds into 3-D art works such as flowers or animals. This art form can be done individually or with interactive teamwork to produce a large artwork for exhibition.
 
Paper Cutting
Paper cutting is a very distinctive visual art of Chinese handicrafts. The main cutting tools are simple: paper and scissor or an engraving knife. Clever and deft craftspeople are remarkably good at cutting in the theme of daily life. The beauty of a paper cutting lies in the creation of simple imagery of flowers, animals and insects on a piece of paper.
 
Kites Making
During the 12th century, Chinese kites spread to the West. The oriental and Western kite culture was formed after years of development.  In this process, Chinese traditional culture integrated with the kite craft, and finally formed the kite culture with unique characteristics.
Children will be taught in 4 stages: structuring, paper hanging, colour drawing and flying.
 
Opera Mask Making
Traditional Chinese drama relies on exaggerated painted faces and masks to symbolize characters and to help story telling.   Chinese opera mask can portray humans’ complexity, celestial beings, fertility, mythology and nature.  It is about life!  In this workshop, participants will be guided to make and paint their own mask. And there is a story telling element where participants are told famous legends and stories.
 
Chinese Dance   
China is a broad and vast country with numerous ethnic groups, and Chinese dance has a history of over five thousand years.  Most of the Chinese dance originated from ‘folks’: people dance in their communities and at celebrations.  Children will be introduced to key steps and movements, then progress to dance with the music as a group performance.
 
Ribbon Dance
Ribbon Dance is based on an old, colourful Chinese dance. The ribbon stick hold by the performer is a varnished dowel with a wide 12-foot brightly colour polyethylene ribbon attached.  The flying ribbon is symbolic of joy and happiness. Participants learn and perform ribbon dances with traditional Chinese music.
 
Tibetan Dance
Nearly every Tibetan can sing and dance. They sing anytime for any event, and dance at festivals, weddings, and gatherings during their spare time.
From historical writings we can see that more than a thousand years ago folk religious and sorcerers' dances were very popular in Tibet. They influenced the Wild Bull Dance, Yak Dance, Deer Dance, Crane Dance, Peacock Dance, Sorcerers' Dance, Drum Dance and other kinds of folk dances that have been handed down to this day.
 
Tai Chi
Tai Chi, an ancient exercise form of China, fills with the traditional connotation of philosophy. As one of the most important branches of Chinese Kung Fu, Tai Chi emphasizes the harmony, balance and unity between people and nature, and promotes the healthy development of people both physically and mentally.
 
Healthy Chinese Cooking
Most classic Chinese cuisine is inherently healthy because of its reliance on vegetables, vegetable oil, stir-frying and fat-free condiments.  Chinese cuisine originated from different regions of China and has become widespread in many other parts of the world. 
This workshop is suitable for those already in cookery class.
 
Others:
Learning Mandarin Language
Chinese Knot Making

Contact us
If you are interested in any of the above programmes and wish to know more, please email: info@ricefield.org.uk or telephone: 0141-331 1019
 
A CD containing a PowerPoint of the above is available on request