Ringing in the Lunar New Year: the return of in-person assemblies
By Lorraine Ng and Audrey Yeung
On January 20, 2023, the RCHK secondary community gathered in the Performing Arts Centre (PAC) for the annual Lunar New Year assembly, a celebration before the Lunar New Year holiday. Due to the pandemic, it was the first whole school, in-person assembly held in quite some time, which made the atmosphere all the more electric.
A highlight of RCHK’s secondary assemblies are the exciting performances by students, and this year’s Lunar New Year assembly was no different, encompassing a variety of performances ranging from Chinese operatic singing to K-pop dancing - a truly exceptional way to end the first semester.
Elfrida Lam, coordinator of this year’s assembly, said all performers had to undergo an audition process. Prospective performers were required to first express their interest and submit a recording of a sample performance, similar to what would be expected of them in the final assembly. Subsequently, the final performances were then selected based on their relevance to Chinese culture (e.g wearing red, singing a Chinese song, etc…) and suitability with other performances.
For those who wanted to participate in the assembly through a different role aside from performing, students had opportunities to assist with backstage, lighting, and filming, in addition to hosting the assembly, which were all crucial in facilitating the smooth running of the large-scale student-led event. In the end, all the hard work seemed to be worth it, as Lam said she was “grateful for the whole crew's effort” and that the “whole team heard lots of cheers at the assembly, so it seemed like everything went pretty smoothly.”
Year 10 student Ching Hei Lam played the keyboard in a band to the song “小幸運” by Hebe Tien. When asked about her experience performing she said that “it was quite exhilarating. We haven’t had a large-scale assembly like this for three years now, so I couldn’t wait to be on stage again.” She also mentioned that “through the rehearsal process, we got to know [the other acts’] routines quite well and were able to help each other through it. I made a lot of new friends this way.”
When asked about their favourite performances from the assembly, Year 10 student and audience member Andrea Chow exclaimed that she “loved all the performances” but “the K-pop ones won me over”, adding that she especially enjoyed the performances because “it was one of the rare opportunities we get to watch them in person”. Vani Tanna, another audience member from Year 10, commented that her favourite was NYXIS, a K-pop dance group. With so many people in the PAC, it was difficult to see the stage at times, but the lively atmosphere certainly made up for it. In addition to the performances, both students also particularly enjoyed watching Mr Copley dressed as the God of Wealth, who walked through the audience throwing candy and chocolates, which left students scrambling to pick them up and catch them mid-air.
Overall, this year’s Lunar New Year assembly was a success, with the assembly this year being particularly special as it was the first time in years the whole RCHK secondary school community was able to enjoy it live, amidst the pandemic.