Old CUCCS (CUCUS) website

Some members of the CU Chinese Undergraduate Society (previously Chinese Culture Society) said they're interested in the club's history, so I'm re-posting some of the public material we had online in the early years.

(I originally ran a multi-format server for them using Apache Cocoon 1.5 on a Debian 2 GNU/Linux PC in my room at St John's; I've now simplified it into a single page. The logo had slightly too much space between the "n" and the "e" because I forgot to fix TeX's kerning when I captioned it. They also had a private chat forum on my server which the committee moderated, plus I archived the emails. It was registered as "Chinese Cultural Society" in line with older clubs' use of adjectives in their names, but I'd been publishing for the Computer Society and wasn't averse to attributive nouns.)

1998--2000 committees

• President: Helen Zhang, New Hall [now renamed Murray Edwards College---SSB]

  Lucy writes: Having Helen as a friend, is like having found oneself; having her as the president of our CCS, in the same way, is like having found what the whole meaning of the society is. The one thing that shone through Helen is her pure zeal and her earnestness in all she said or did. There were times when difficulties crop up, clues were lost as to ``what's the next step'', ``how do we keep it up'' etc., and we started to wonder what the point of all the mountain of work is about. But with Helen there, Despondence never settles in. With her fiery character, the most important quality in any president or leader, she instills life---and sparks---into the running of the society.

• Vice-President: Lucy Lian, New Hall

  Hiya, you may know me as the one who sends out annoying e-mails to clog up your inboxes?! Well last year I was your computing officer. This year I will also be organising the Mandarin and Cantonese classes (and teaching in the former most of the time) and all other forthcoming events. I will make sure that as many people hear about the society as possible, will be your first point of contact, and will fight (on your behalf) against Helen in every decision we make :-) You are all very welcome to come to the classes; being proficient in another language is useful and rewarding in more ways than one. You don't need to know everything about Chinese culture (I myself left China nearly a decade ago), and you don't have to be a linguist (being a Shakespeare fan doesn't make me one). All you need is interest and a determination that fluctuates less than the interest.

• Secretary: Jia Meng, New Hall
• Treasurer: Yo Yo Chan, New Hall
• Publicity Officer: Bao Qiang Xiao, St John's
• Complaints about this website should be sent to Silas S. Brown

Cantonese and Mandarin classes 1999/2000

The Cambridge University Chinese Culture Society has the aim of making Chinese language and culture accessible to all who are interested.

Classes introduction, written in 1999/2000:

These are classes run by Cambridge students, for other Cambridge students. The teachers are not paid. Classes cater for all levels of ability, and concentrate on useful everyday language rather than specialist terminology. They provide opportunity to learn/practise pronunciation, to practise reading, or writing. The classes should thus be suitable for complete beginners, for those who can speak but never learnt to read/write, or those who are already fluent in another dialect but want to be able to speak in Cantonese or Mandarin. Each class will cover a specific topic, to provide a structure to the learning. Dictionaries and audio resources will be available.

Cantonese is the language used in Hong Kong and the Canton region of China, and to a lesser degree in Malaysia and Singapore. Mandarin is the national language of China, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. Following the takeover of Hong Kong in 1997 and the takeover of Macau on December 20th 1999, Mandarin will become even more important as a world language.

Beginner Mandarin handouts

Handouts from 1999 (scanned images)

Handouts from April 2000 (scanned images)

Cantonese handouts

1999-10-30 (scanned image)

Cantonese, Lesson 2, 2001-02-04 by Li Zhong, Robinson college

Cantonese, Lesson 4, 2001-02-18

Committee established in February 2001

• President: Yuan (Chloe) Liu, New Hall
• Vice-President: Baoqiang Xiao, St John's
• Secretary: Yilin (Dillon) Zhang, King's
• Treasurer: Yuan Yuan (Amy) Zhang, New Hall
• Publicity Officer: Zheng (Jackie) Li, New Hall
• Information Director: Li (Ivan) Zhong, Robinson
• IT Consultant: Anna Zhao, Emmanuel
• Complaints about this website should be sent to Silas S. Brown

Cantonese and Mandarin handouts 2001/2002

Beginner Mandarin

The First Mandarin Lesson (2001-10-13)

Lesson 2 handout

Lessons 3 and 4 handout by Chloe Liu

Scanned images of handouts for Lessons 5 to 7

Intermediate Mandarin handouts 2002

Mandarin Intermediate Lesson 1 (2002-01-27)

Mandarin Intermediate Lesson 3 (2002-02-10)

Cantonese handouts

Cantonese, Lesson 1, 2001-10-14 by Li Zhong

Cantonese Lesson 2 (2001-10-21) by Benjamin Li

Cantonese Lesson 3 (2001-10-28) by Benjamin Li

In a taxi

唔該，去機場要幾錢呀? Excuse me, how much is it to go to the airport.

去機場呀，唔該。 Take me to the airport plz.

Cantonese Lesson 4 (2001-11-04) by Benjamin Li

Cookery Club

Each time, the guest chef will demonstrate the cooking techniques of specially chosen dishes and people who attend will have the chance of tasting them. Anyone can be the chef.

Cookery handout for 2^nd February 2002

Introduction to making Spring Rolls

• Invented in South China
• Have it as a Dim Sum when the Spring Begins so call it Spring Roll
• Not to talk about how to make the Spring Roll Pastry today - you may get it from any Chinese Supermarket in different Size
• Filling---various. Remember if you are not vegetarian and going to have some mince in it you better Fry the Mince first.
• Two Traditional Fillings:
  • Prawn spring roll: Material: Prawn; Fried egg, Spring Onion, Bamboo Root, Carrot---all cut into pieces; Bean Sprout; Vermi'chelli
  • Vegetarian spring roll: Material: (except Prawn from last one) Bamboo Root, Dried Mushroom, Carrot, Spring Onion---all cut into pieces; Bean Sprout; Vermicelli
• How to make the Filling
  • Bean Sprout: Boil it in the water; take out and add some salt while cooling down
  • Carrot: Cut it into fine pieces
  • Bamboo Root: Buy ready to eat bamboo root in can; Cut it into fine pieces
  • Dried mushroom: Before start cooking leave it in the cold water for 1 hour. Cut into fine pieces. Fried in a saucepan
  • Vermicelli: Also leave it in the cold water for an hour. Fired with Carrot and bamboo root. Add some salt in.
  • Prawn: Buy ready to eat prawn from the normal supermarkets. Don't actually need to do anything about it. We want it as fresh as possible.
  • Beat up the egg. Add a bit salt in. Scramble the egg in a saucepan. Cut the scrambled egg into pieces.
  • Prawn Filling Making: Mix up the cut Scrambled Egg, Prawn, Bean Sprout and fired Carrot, Bean Root, dried mushroom and Vermicelli together with sesame oil.
  • Vegetarian Filling Making: Mix up the above ingredient except the Prawn as above.
• How to make the Spring Roll?
  • Make some pa'nada by mixing flour and water together as the glue material
  • Place the pastry like this [at this point the original document had a blank space, and the instructor hand-drew the image after printing it; I don't have a scan]
  • Put the filling about 1/3 near the bottom angle like this [again a missing sketch]
  • Fold the angle inwards like this [again a missing sketch]
  • Start rolling over the filling like this [again a missing sketch]
  • Once you reach near the angle in the opposite side Fold the spared bits on both sides inwards like this [again a missing sketch]
  • Roll till make it like a little cylinder like this [again a missing sketch]
  • Use the flour glue to seal it
  • Pour a lot of oil in a frying wok
  • Leave the oil to be heat up for a few minutes (adjust the heat between mark 6-8)
  • Place the spring rolls carefully into the oil and fry
  • Take out till they look golden.
  The end.

Calligraphy Workshop

Chinese caligraphy is an ancient art respected and appreciated by both the Chinese and foreigners. Well-written caligraphy is as admired as Chinese painting itself. The Caligraphy Workshop is a chance to learn to write beautiful characters using real ink and brushes: all teaching materials are supplied, just turn up and join in. Soon you could be creating works worthy of display, to impress your friends with!

Committee established in 2002

• President: Yangyang Hou, Queens'
• Vice-President: Yuan Yuan (Amy) Zhang, New Hall
• Secretary: Yiling (Dillon) Zhang, King's
• Treasurer: Zheng (Jacqueline) Li, New Hall
• Publicity Officer: Emma Khoo, Magdalene
• Technology Officer: Colin Hoad, Peterhouse

Later developments

• In 2002/03 CCS decided to migrate away from the Web platform I'd been providing, on the grounds that it wasn't "flashy" enough. I briefly argued "W3C standards", then backed down when I realised I'd be preventing them from getting their own experience.
• One member wanted to introduce Confucianism, causing me to worry about the implications of turning CCS into a religious society. But the direction CCS actually took was toward more social events.
• CCS introduced membership fees and lesson fees from about 2003/04. The template-based consti­tution had always ment­ioned a member­ship fee, but this was originally set at zero; the committee and I covered minor expenses ourselves, and the only event fees were for the couple of college dinners they organised. But when they started larger-scale social events in hotels etc, which required up-front subsidy, they needed an account balance so they started charging for everything (except the October introductory meeting and the Spring AGM). This change might have helped push membership demographics away from the poorest students, which was a slight disappointment to the original founders although we had to admit more of the newer students seemed able to "afford" things at that time. Members signed up before 2002 were exempted from the membership fee but still had to pay for lessons etc.
  • Classes were continued until 2012, but successive committees began to see them merely as a source of income, and by 2012 CCS was generating much more money by recruiting summer-camp teachers for a company in China, so the Cambridge classes fell by the wayside. (They later switched to sponsorship from a career-coaching company.)
  • But the University Language Centre finally added a Mandarin course in mid-2008 (I'd been suggesting it for years); open courseware was added in 2015. (The Language Centre now charge for lessons, but some colleges will pay part or all of it if asked.)
  CCS's membership fee was set back to zero in October 2020, in response to the difficulty of holding in-person events during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• In 2003/04 CCS started an annual Chinese play. Some of the sets and costumes were loaned by Eastwind, an antique shop run by a Cantonese family in Mill Road between 2001 and 2016; after Eastwind closed, the students brought everything from China themselves.

  2003/04 --- Thunderstorm (雷雨 by 曹禺)
  2004/05 --- Longing (暗恋桃花源 by 赖声川)
  2005/06 --- The Dark Tales (聊斋新志 by 杜国威)
  2006/07 --- The Butterfly Lovers (梁山伯与祝英台, didn't say which adaptation)
  2007/08 --- Autumn Begins (立秋 by 姚宝瑄, 1910s 丰德/ICBC story)
  2008/09 --- The Water Bears (水熊, original play by CCS producer Yichao Yu)
  2009/10 --- Sunrise (日出 by 曹禺)
  2010/11 --- A Street with Vicious Talk (坏话一条街, playwright not announced)
  2011/12 --- based on Me & Me vs He & Him (我和我和他和他)
  2012/13 --- Somalian Pirates (索马里海盗, playwright not announced)
  2013/14 --- Rhinoceros in Love (恋爱的犀牛 by 廖一梅)
  2014/15 --- Mr. Donkey (驴得水, playwright not announced)
  2015/16 --- Our Assassin (我们的荆轲, playwright not announced)
  2016/17 --- The Robin Murders (知更鸟谋杀案, playwright not announced)
  and The Village (宝岛一村 by 赖声川 and 王伟忠)
  2017/18 --- Love Letters (收信快乐, playwright not announced)
  2018/19 --- Red Rose and White Rose (红玫瑰与白玫瑰 by 张爱玲) and The Visit by Friedrich Dürrenmatt (十亿的公道, translator not announced)
  2019/20 --- 青蛇 (Green Snake, presumably the 2013 田沁鑫 version, translated as "The Lamia in Love" by CCS), and Rotten In Vain (枉死城, playwright not announced)
  2021/22 --- And Then There Were None (无人生还) from the Agatha Christie novel (adaptation details not announced), prerecorded video
  2022/23 --- Fallen Flowers (student-written play with serious content warnings added by Corpus Playroom)
  2023/24 --- Secret Love in Utopia (暗恋桃花源 by 赖声川) and Thunderstorm (雷雨 by 曹禺)

• In 2005 CCS started a termly Chinese literature magazine called Yuan or Yan Wu Yan 言吾言 (I tried to obtain spare copies to archive, but they were all taken by current students).
  • Magazine production continued until 2015. It was then replaced by Yearbooks of leavers' information for 2015, 2016 and 2021.
  • Back in 1999 CCS had also helped to distribute the last issue of The Seres, which introduced me to the Xu Zhimo poem I retranslated. The Seres is available in the Rare Books Room of the University Library under code Cam.b.41.63.1- (not borrowable).
• In 2007 CCS put on their first music concert. One of the items was me and a committee member playing 高山青 etc on two flutes, but I forgot to tell their spotlight operator about my light sensitivity---so I kept trying to dodge and he kept following.
  • In 2008 CCS's concert became a pop singing contest, leaving instrumental music to the newly-formed CUCOS (the founding of which was probably my fault---sorry CCS).
    CCS continued to hold its "Scintillate" pop contest annually.
• In 2010 CCS started a "family system", assigning members to look after new arrivals as "substitute parents". This was originally coordinated via the CCS email list, but only for a couple of years. I think it moved to private year-specific WeChat groups when WeChat became a big thing in 2012.

This picture from 2018's OCamp adver­tising made the founders feel old: 82 students born when we set up CCS were already old enough to take over

They called CCS a "big family" for main­land under­grad­uates (as opposed to the "post­grad­uate" CSSA and the "non-main­land" ChiSoc etc)---this was form­al­ised in July 2020 when the committee decided to change the society's Chinese name to Cambridge University China Undergraduate Student Association (剑桥大学中国本科学生会) and the following February they re-registered with university authorities (having been de-registered due to a technicality) and used the English name "Cambridge University Chinese Undergraduate Society" (CUCUS), still internally abbreviated to CCS for continuity (and so they didn't have to change the logo which now included the letters "CCS"). They said they still wanted to promote culture, but the new name communicates to potential members and sponsors their increased role as a "hub" for Chinese undergraduates (although it's still open to others---all registered societies must be). In 2024 publicity they changed "Undergraduate" simply to "Students" (剑桥大学中国学生会) but "undergraduate" was kept in the registered name.

They still perform an annual play with English subtitles projected for non-Chinese, and it's usually possible to ask in advance for the script if you can't see projector screens, or if you'd like to try following the Mandarin in Wenlin or whatever.