Children explore Chinese culture with lion dance experiences

Chinese New Year provides a wonderful opportunity for children to explore Chinese culture. If you want to spark your kid’s interest in Chinese culture, look no further than Olympian City at West Kowloon in this festive season.

At Olympian City, the dynamic shopping mall is launching the ‘CNY Art & Culture Project’ campaign under their ‘Olympian Kids Imagineer’ program, which enables children to have a close encounter with Chinese culture and a hands-on experience in event planning.

The program, which began in 2019, invites children to serve as consultants on Olympian City’s major promotions, making it the first and only program of its kind in Hong Kong.
14 children, aged six to ten, were selected for the program through a formal selection process that involved an online application and in-person interview with the instructors. These children will be curating the “CNY Art & Culture Project” campaign.

Professional training programs

Under the guidance of professionals from diverse fields related to Chinese culture, these chosen kids are motivated to unleash their boundless inventiveness, and are able to cultivate teamwork, communication and social skills, self-confidence, and other positive qualities.

One of the highlights is the Kiddy Lion Dance Training Workshop led by Master Ha King Man, the fourth-generation leader of the renowned multi-award-winning Ha Kwok Cheung Dragon & Lion Dance troupe. During the workshops, the kids learned fundamental Lion Dance moves and acquired a deeper understanding of this centuries-old Chinese custom.
Additionally, the team participated in a Chinese Ink Painting and Lion Dance Costume Design Workshop, where they learned the process of costume design and collaborated with ink artist TK Chan to visualize their understanding of lion dance and the Chinese New Year through the art of Chinese ink painting.

They also attended an Artificial Intelligence Workshop, where they learned how to communicate with AI by writing prompts and creating drawings using an AI image generator. Led by Dr Siu Yan Ho from Hong Kong Baptist University, and Mr Ho Ka Ki from Buddhist Sum Heung Lam Memorial College, the workshop also covered the subtle relationship between food and culture.

Save the date for an auspicious New Year!

The Olympian Kids Imagineer team and the Ha Kwok Cheung Dragon & Lion Dance troupe will perform at the mall in a parade in the Lantern Festival on February 24 for a good cause, as all red envelopes and money collected will be donated to Heep Hong Society to help those in need and spread joy in the community.

To allow more children to experience the charm of lion dance, Olympian City offers lion dance workshops for Olympian Kids and S+ REWARDS members who redeem their loyalty points.