WORLD HAINANESE YOUTH WINTER CAMP 世界海南青少年冬令营

The Winter Camp

Three Hainanese youth from Penang were among the 33 Malaysian participants who took part in the 2012. Overseas Chinese youth "Root Tracing" Winter Camp and the 15th World Hainanese Winter Camp held in Hainan in December 2012. The participating youth, 75 of them, arrived in Hainan from far and near: from Australia, Germany, Hongkong, Malaysia and Thailand.
The Camp opening ceremony was held on 21st December 2012 at the compound of Hainan Normal Universary.		At the opening ceremony Mr Pan Xianmin (holding blue flag) and Mr Shi Haitao (red flag) handing over the flag to Jee Soo Lip (from Penang, Malaysia) and Steven Cai (from Australia) respectively
Present at the ceremony were Mr Pan Xianmin, Deputy Director-General, Foreign & Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of Hainan Province and the Vice Chancellor of the University, Mr Shi Haitao together with all the participants, 25 Macau University students and some student volunteers from the University. Ms Han Jia, Deputy Division Director, Foreign & Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of Hainan Province, conducted the ceremony.
		A section of the participants at the Camp openning ceremony
In his welcoming address Mr Shi Haitao gave a brief history of Universit y and its achievement and co-operation with establishment outside the University. He hoped that participants will return to the University to further their education. Mr Pan Xianmin expressed his warm welcome to all participants from far and near. He said the overseas Hainanese and the people in Hainan are closely related, akin to the saying: blood is thicker than water. Hainan is the ancestral home to the overseas Hainanese, estimated at about 3 million. He hoped that participants would have a better understanding of the Hainanese culture, appreciated the warmth and clanship from their fatherland and its achievement today. He further hoped that participants will experience themselves the diversified traditional culture through learning and participation in order to have a better appreciation of the cultural heritage.

The Camp lasted for 9 days, from 21st to 29th December 2012. The activities included a tour to the Haikou World Geological Park (Volcano Park), learning traditional Chinese cultural such as Chinese calligraphy and traditional painting, art of tai-chi, paper cutting and tea drinking and folk song. A visit to Hainan Provincial Museum exposed the participants to the Hainan historical events and displays, its multi religion, the diversified cultural and belief of Miao, Li, Hui and Han racial group. There was also a dialogue cum activity session between the participants and the local students; dumpling making and essay writing competition; there was also tree planting activity included in the tour to Xinglong Botanical Garden. A Christmas eve party was held to celebrate the festival. Participants also visited Hainan second biggest city - Sanya in the south and toured the Nanshan Cultural Tourism Zone. The "South Sea Guanyin", overlooking the South China Sea, is the main tourist attraction in Sanya. There was also a time schedule and assistance to enable participants who wished to visit their respective villages to meet their relatives.


Haikou World Geological Park is locatred about 7 km from the city; the last eruption occurred 13,000 years ago.		Tree planting event is one of the activities to instil green awareness among participants

The first Winter Camp was held in 2000. Since then there were over 1,000 youth who had participated in the annual event. The event has successfully brought about a better understanding of the ancestral homeland among the participants and enhanced a deeper appreciation of their forefathers' contribution to the Hainanese clanman relationship. The Camp also established a closer tie amoung the youth from various countries and regions. The 2012 Winter Camp was jointly organized by Overseas Chinese Affairs Office Of The State Council and Foreign Affairs Office of Hainan Province and run by the Hainan Normal University


Participants, after having some serious learning sessions in class rooms took a relax mode in Sanya.	The Nan Hai Guanyin, opened to the public in April 1988, is located in Sanya Nanshan Buddism Park