Category: Event

After enjoying a dynamic and patriotic performance at the Taipei Economic and Culture Office (TECO) LA Chapter (see Double Ten Goodwill Entry to read about it), the royal court was invited to the OC Chapter to participate in their annual Double Ten Tea Party Ceremony. Located in an industrial part of Santa Ana, the teen title holder and myself represented our organization and joined in on the afternoon festivities.

I debuted my new “Frozen” inspired dress, and with my tiara and rhinestoned accessories, I’d have to say that the ensemble does resemble a lot like Queen Elsa. Others commented that I look like a mermaid. What do you think?

The cozy venue seated around 200 guests and VIPS included local board members, and Taiwanese business members. We had a full program that included a flag ceremony with military officials, singing of various patriotic songs (both Taiwanese and American), a key-note speaker who encouraged to continue preserving our Taiwanese American heritage, raffle of Taiwan products, and a cake-cutting.

My favorite part of the program was watching the Lion Dancers enter the premise with their clanging cymbals and drums. There were a total of three full sized lions and a baby one who wowed the crowd with their playful performance. The royal court and VIP guests were given red envelops (symbolizing good luck) and encouraged to “feed” the lions on stage.

I unfortunately don’t have pictures of my interaction with them, but boy was it fun.

The Taipei Economic and Culture Office (Santa Ana) was established in Chinatown and relocated to their present location. The office has a vast collection of books and multi-media resources available for patrons to check out in additional to cultural costumes and equipment. Similar to the pageant organization TECO (Santa Ana) mission is to promote and preserve Taiwanese culture for generations to come. To learn more about this organization head to their site (here)

XOXO,

Rockstar

For many readers October 10th is 20 days before you need to get a costume for Halloween, but for my Taiwanese compatriots, it’s Double Ten Day – also known as Taiwan National Day.  It marks the beginning of the Wuchang Uprising  a revolt that led to a declaration of independence from the central government by Wuchang and several other provinces in China in 1911 and this year we are celebrating Taiwan’s 105th anniversary.  With such a milestone you know we’re going to have a rockin’ party to celebrate.

Hosted at the Taipei Economic and Culture Center in Los Angeles we had the opportunity to watch a wealth of performances from all age groups in the Taiwanese community. The programed started out with singing the Taiwanese and American National Anthem, then proceeded to officers of the military creating various formations with poise and precision. The program was filled with talents from local Taiwanese schools and non profit organizations, and my favorite were the traditional Taiwanese aboriginal dance followed by the silk sleeve performance.

Similar to the United Stated, Taiwan’s colors are Red, White and Blue – and my pageant sisters and I all coincidentally dressed up in blue, which looked fabulous in all the photos. I guess we really do have a connection to one another.

Among the attendees at this event were many influential political leaders including: Congressman Dr. Judy Chu and the Mayor of Walnut Mary Sue. There were many other local male councilmen and community leaders who supported this celebration and it was wonderful to see everyone come together to commemorate such an important day. It was entertaining, fun, and just one of the many celebrations to wish a Happy Birthday to Taiwan! Stay tuned on the next several posts – the royal court had an awesome time representing the beautiful island.

XOXO,
Irene

Knowledge is power and as an educator I have a deep respect for all great minds and individuals who make a positive mark on history. Confucius’ has no doubt been in influential teacher and philosopher so it’s no surprise that several organizations in the LA area came together on to celebrate this 2566th birthday.

The afternoon program was packed with rituals to commemorate Confucius and many attendees from all walks of life attended. There were Chinese school teachers, children, city councilmen, and Chinese celebrities. I wish I had more pictures to share, but photography from my end was more limited. Here’s a photo of me and the Teen titleholder representing the the royal court.

The ceremony was a very elaborate one with all members dressed in costume. There were several other individuals dressed in other attires who took on different roles including an enthusiastic drummer, English and Chinese MC, and officers dressed in yellow or dark blue uniforms. After the ceremony finished we had four lion dancers and a wealth of entertainment. The woman below is a famous Chinese tv actress!

Confucius believed in self-cultivation, which is the ability for humans to shape their own destiny.  He believed that we are all teachable and as a counselor and educator I too agree with this philosophy. With the right mindset, hard work, and diligence we can achieve more than if we ever expected.

For myself, I expect my future to be an impactful one. I want to be a positive role model and be a resource for students who are still figuring out who they are and want to be. As a supporter of education I too believe that teachers are life-long students and I myself have returned to school to continue my own professional growth. Shout to everyone who goes to work during the day and school at night! It’s definitely hard and there are days when I just want to just be a bum and go back to bed, but I know that these investments are worthwhile in the long run. We control our actions that influences who we will become tomorrow, so my question for todays post is this….

What are your goals and how do you plan to reach them?

XOXO,

Rockstar

On Saturday September 10th the Royal Court was invited to support Diamond Bar’s annual Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, an afternoon dedicated to the big cheese. It’s believed in Chinese culture that the moon is at it’s roundest and brightest of the year, and that symbolizes unity and camaraderie – and nothing brings people together like food and entertainment!

The spacious park was transformed into a mini night-market complete with different vendors serving up traditional Taiwanese snacks like stinky tofu, milk tea with boba, fish skewers etc. There was also live performances by the children of the community and I was quite impressed with the skill of many of these entertainers. We had a martial art demonstration, song and dance performance, poetry reading, and traditional Chinese instruments just to name a few. Our royal court also participated and worked the stage with our catwalk.

While the celebration was a intimate one U.S. Congressmen Ed Royce and other local city council members made appearances to show their support. It definitely takes a village to host an event like this and the volunteers do this year after year.

Overall this was a fun low-key event where I got to meet some wonderful members of the Taiwanese community in a fun atmosphere. Thursday, September 15th is the actual Moon Festival Date. What do you plan to do?

Will you be eating moon cake? Until next time….

XOXO,

Rockstar