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100 years of Chinese in Holland – Stories of the Chinese immigrants

8 Dutch Chinese will be portrayed by the stories of their friends and colleagues and shown in an Art & Culture expo during the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Chinese immigrants in Holland. In this way the portrayed person / story can express the norms and values of the Dutch society and their way of seeing things, from the Dutch perspective. So, I was asked as the youngest among them, I  feeling honored to be portrayed in the 100 years of Chinese in Holland project. I gave the contact details of some influential people to me, so that they can be interviewed. Now it is a funding matter. Just wondering if it will get through the board . .

but after all a great initiative, and they also have a project, collecting 100 Chinese lions dancing at the DAM. Wu Dao Dragons will also perform Chinese Martial Arts in some events.

Chinese Lunar Party @ RASA Utrecht

3 Feb. 2011 – How do you celebrate the Chinese New Year?

This was one of the questions they asked me on the Dutch National Radio interview. I volunteered bringing people together as a performing artist, co-organizer of this wonderful cultural celebration of Chinese New Year event at RASA, theater for World Cultures bringing them joy and happiness. Of course, Chinese New Year is less amusing then in China. But we try to make the best out of it! We should enrich culture!

Chinese New Year is the most spectacular day of the year. Everybody in China is celebrating it, fireworks, a lot of good food and traditional dishes, snacks and more. The sphere is really nice. Married couples give red envelope with brand new notes inside, known as Hong Bao in Mandarin and Lai See in Cantonese, to unmarried, most of whom are children. A gift which is given during holidays or special occasions. The red color symbolizes good luck and ward off evil, known in Eastern countries. A lot of happiness and joy, family and friends come together and have dinner.

This morning I took Dark Angel to the car-wash. She was dirty, so I took her to a shower. While driving through the wash lane another TV programmer called me. The situation made it quite funny.

Now she’s clean & shiny I immediately drove to a college in Alkmaar, which is about an hour driving from Utrecht. There I had to give a Kungfu workshop to the VWO pupils. They had a China theme and different Chinese cultural workshops.

This college offers the subject; Chinese language. There should be more of these schools in Holland. This is a great opportunity for the new generation. When I was in college I didn’t had this wonderful offer!

Here are some pictures, there were 55 teenagers! Wow, this is amazing. I didn’t had a microphone but still it went really good and they were all enthusiast about this art. I’m happy that I also emphasized on the philosophy and culture of Chinese Kungfu, instead of the physical movements.

It is important that the youth learn to know their body. Balancing the body without errors. That, what is out of balance, is dangerous. This is the same in life. Overdoing or not living in harmony with nature, is risky.

Learning Kungfu keeps them fit and healthy. Purifying the mind, and to be aware of the surroundings by forgetting them. It is an art that comes with a deep philosophy.

First of all, the pupils are all stiff, and not flexible. Except for some girls in the group, but they need strength.

You have to loosen your muscle to relax and adjust to the flow of the movement. If you want to eat, you have to open your mouth right?

It was amazing to see such a big group of Western students practicing Chinese Kungfu, it gives me self-satisfaction. I am proud of you guys!

After this class I had to rush back to Utrecht. The weather was fine, so I enjoyed driving. In Utrecht I had to go to the RASA Theater for the Wu Dao Dragons performance  in the evening. This event was organized by Kosmopolis Utrecht, Rasa, ACSU, Wu Dao Dragons, Stichting Lai Yin and local entrepreneurs. But we had to do the rehearsal and technical stuff. I didn’t had lot of sleep, because I was editing the Music Video for the performance till deep in the night. Everything was a bit in a hurry, but it was a good show. I really appreciated the warm support and enjoyed the sphere.

It was definitely different backstage, but that is the perspective of the performing artist. Although the technical problems and preparation, I have to say Congratulations Wu Dao Dragons! It was really good to see people enjoying the show. If the our music video worked well on the background, it would be even better! You know what, it is always the technical problems,  it is not the first time. Last year with the China Festivals the music also went down when Koon hit the floor. Guess what, this is the second time! And we changed the sequence, but what a coincidence he had problems with the music when he was doing his solo. Yup, I just find it really sad for him but appreciate his professional spirit and persistence. To me it was quite stressful fixing the technical problems with the technician, because you want to concentrate on the performance. It needs a lot of focus. I’m happy to have Leon and Weije here as our presenters, both good friends of mine. In the back of this picture you see Bas as the DJ. We all know each other and that is so beautiful about it when we combine our strength we can make something together, which we should be proud of ourselves.

Later that eve, we had another performance. This was for the club party at the same location.

Finally at 22.30 we can change clothes and have a drink and a chitchat with our friends in the club party. Pack in and time for some pictures 😉 So this was my Lunar year instead of having dinner with family. Stressful but exciting and self satisfying. When I hear the applause and the smiles I’ll forget all the hard work.


I would like to thank everybody who came to see us, our performance and participated the Chinese NY event. The sphere was really great. I love it! Special thanks to my sister & Ck for the help.

It was a heavy day, fully planned, workshop and two performances.. and all the other organisational things and problems between. There are times that I am so stressed by the pressure, but I never had given up for the things I did.

During hectic and stressful times, I’d like to relax my self by taking a hot tube, I try to stay under the water as long as I can hold my breath. This will loosen me completely. This is the way I relax & recharge myself. Another good help is a nice massage. Burn a home scent and put on relaxing music. That will calm you down by feeling, smelling and hearing it. Maybe it will work for you too.

I get my inspiration from the daily life and I’ll think about it when I go to bed. In my sleep, it’s processing the memories and fantasy.

ACSSNL – Chinese Lunar Festival

It was way too early this morning! But it was nice to see how a group of Chinese exchange students from all different cities in Holland set up a big show in Theater De Muze in Noordwijk to celebrate the Chinese New Year. The Chinese Embassy and local news were present. Unfortunately, I don’t have any video recorded, cuz the person overslept and then the other technician guy who promised me to do it forgot to record our Wu Dao Dragons show!! Nooooo, hopefully there will be some video footage online soon, there were lots of people filming and taking pictures.

On the set of Amsterdam Heavy

Shooting Day 1 – @ Rotterdam

06:30 am – The day started very early in the morning. It is still dark and grey outside. I didn’t had much sleep, and so are Koon & David. They took a nap while listening to the warm relaxing ballads. It was so quiet.

The building use to be a warehouse. When we entered the building, it really gives you the underground feeling, dark and dirty, there were graffiti on the walls, broken bricks, just the right place for criminal activities. I have one word to describe it, creeeepy.

The room where we stayed was called the Death Room, sounds good right? It looks like a crime scene, just like in the movies. Wit the blood on the wall it looks like a SAW movie scene. There we stayed for like half a day after the make up and dressing, waiting for the cast call. But it was very very cold, It was like freezing.

Click here to check out our vlog

We have a small heater in the room which didn’t produced much heat. We were all sitting around the heater. There were also such a thing called hot hands, which are warm packets to warm up your hands, but some put it on the neck, and some in their shoes. We pass that around to keep people alive till the shoots are done.

The best thing is the gas heater, which looks like this! But it makes a lot of noise, so every time we were rolling the heater needs to be turned off.

Some weaponry showcase  . .

I thought I have clothed well for the set but double pants is probably not enough! My toes were frozen!

It’s lunchtime!

We went outside to have some fresh air and went to the theater at the corner which is luxury to us at that moment . . sure that the director wouldn’t like that but the whole crew were going to this theater for the toilet. It was like heaven, clean bathroom, comfortable sofa’s, lounge music, everything to relax for a while =)

Check out the video by clicking above picture

One last scene to go today. We’ve been waiting for another 4 hours, and at the end, we’ve been told that we can leave. My dear!

20.30 pm – After all it was a long long day without daylight, locked up in the death room, for some a nightmare. But I’m happy that the Wu Dao Dragons had the chance to play in this movie together.

There is a Chinese saying, ‘有得有失’, 我们看事要看远点。

In life there are ups and downs, you can’t always count on the good things. On the long run, you might benefit from it. Just like a cup of thee, some are bitter and some are light. If you never tried the bitter thee, you wouldn’t be aware of how good the other cup tastes.

Shooting day 2 – @ Rotterdam

So here we are back in the Death room, as you can see the blood patterns are still unchanged. I had an incredible good night sleep. Packed in twice as good as yesterday to assure not to suffer like we did yesterday. A good night rest makes the difference! wow, I’m so energized!

Here are some pictures with the AK’s. Never thought I will shoot with an AK-47 Rifle, for the first time, it feels great!! and damn what a noise! It is a pity that David didn’t came with us, he had to prepare his sis birthday party for tonight! And we will be attending for sure! with the make up =P

On the set we had to take off our clothes in the T-shirt like in the summertime, but in fact we were  trembling from the cold!

13.00 – We’re done! This is really amazing! Good planning! Yesterday was like hell, and today it’s fun! And no death room anymore. We can go home =)

We went to Chinatown and bought some delicious cakes, especially the egg tarts, hmmmm yummie!

Shooting day 3 – @ Amsterdam

So this is our nice ride, and we’ve got a good Limo driver too. Let’s rock n roll!

Click here to check out the vlog

With agent Brandt (Fajah Lourens)

Shooting day 4 – 12.00 pm @ Rotterdam

Shooting day 4, I lost my 2 mates. This is the blood they left behind.

I’ll let them pay for this . .

Today I had a fight scene, well I wouldn’t say fight scene myself, it is more a fight shot. Wish it could last longer than it is. Too tired to type anymore, still need to drive back to Utrecht.

21.00 – Home.

This movie goes to the Cannes Film Festival and will be released in theaters hopefully by the end of this year.