MAINTAINING a rich, diverse culture and heritage of Chinese diaspora in a small country such as Fiji is no easy task.
It gets even harder when you consider yourself the “Generation-X” of your time.
But among so many cultural changes and westernisation, there is a small group which stands out in the pursuit of keeping its heritage intact.
The Chinese Youth Social and Cultural Association-Fiji, which was formed in 1975, still carries the weight of expectations their forefathers had bestowed upon them.
The group, which compromises 60 Yat Sen Secondary School students and 40 former scholars, was a visual delight as they lit up the night by performing various Chinese dances and items in the Capital City to mark the 2017 Spring Festival, The Year of the Rooster last week.
Looking after the group’s affairs is Rene Wong, the cultural secretary for the association, whose role is not only to look after the welfare of its members, but most importantly to guide all their cultural performances around the country.
In an interview with this newspaper, Mr Wong shared his experiences and the 42-year-old opulent background of the association which began at Yat Sen School.
He provided the names of the people who had stimulated the association’s presence in 1975.
“The association was co-founded by pioneers like Dixon Seeto, Jenny Seeto and Newton Nuen,” Mr Wong said.
He said one of the main reasons the association was formed then was because the members saw an increasing number of Chinese people in the country.
“The collective ideas from the pioneers were generated from the fact there was an increase in people of Chinese ethnicity with the main idea of keeping our values intact,” Mr Wong said.
He stated the idea just started as a meeting at first before it finally became a dance group with members.
Mr Wong highlighted the journey to establish the first Chinese cultural dance group in 1975 had its fair share of obstacles.
“One of the major challenges back then faced by the Chinese people was not being of Fijian descent. It was very hard to go work and go through the authorities in setting up businesses and organisations like this,” Mr Wong added.
But despite the hardships and roadblocks faced along the way, the association still believes in its core values and missions in striving to be the best in keeping their cultural significance alive.
“Our key value is to uphold the Chinese tradition and culture in Fiji and to see it is instilled in every person who has Chinese background,” Mr Wong said.
Since its inception, more than 400 students and youths have gone through their cultural system in performing traditional dances, music and items until now.
“Those members over the past years have significantly contributed to our cause and we do keep track of them,” he stated.
With the ever growing members in the Chinese fraternity in the country, the group has embarked on a mission to perform and uphold the meaning of its dances and invite more youths to join them.
“We have seen the responses from the youths which are very vital for us. We are trying to make it more fun for them to join us. We recruit once every year. We participate and train them for performances and events,” Mr Wong said.
“But what makes this particular performing group unique is the ability to draft in members of other ethnicities to join them.
“What is surprising is that we have people joining from other cultural backgrounds,” Mr Wong stated.
“This shows that other people are also willing to learn about our culture which makes us even more determined to do better.” As for him, the significance of learning and maintaining the tradition of Chinese culture in Fiji means a lot to the group.
“We live in Fiji, we want to know how our ancestors did things back then. The early settlers found it a bit challenging. They had to adapt to lifestyle changes in Fiji, but slowly they managed to do so,” Mr Wong highlighted.
Mr Wong stated that since 1975, there had been some changes in generation gap in terms of cultural dances and items performed by the group as years passed by.
“We now offer more cultural dances with the main lion dance to showcase our culture. Back then, they only had the main dance, so we are mixing things up now,” he said.
According to Mr Wong, some Fiji-born Chinese youths in the country were losing their cultural identity and these are the people the group targeted.
“We are trying to get hold of these youths so that they can be involved with us and we can instil our traditions and values in them once we are gone,” he said.
The association’s main objective is to leave a legacy so that the upcoming generations will learn and look up to it as an advocate of Chinese customs and values in the country.
Mr Wong said when some of their group members visit homeland China, the response they received was overwhelming.
“We got an enormous response when we visited our mainland. They took pride with us for our work we were doing in Fiji,” he said.
“They were glad that we took incentive in doing cultural dances and items to promote our culture.”
In order to maintain its identity and services, the group usually charge for their performance which varies depending on the type of items requested, the duration of their performances and how many members are taking part.
“We perform in schools, hotels, celebrations and for businesses around the country,” Mr Wong said.
He added the association would now try to get in touch with more communities and business in the country to showcase what they had to offer.
“Hopefully we can work together and do something spectacular for Fiji in the coming years,” Mr Wong said.
So next time when you see the group performing to the tune of drums and traditional iconic Chinese lion dances, remember the hard work and effort these youths have put in to come this far.
Like the famous Chinese philosopher, Confucius, once said: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
