About Majiang Tea House
This cyber tea house is for Chinese culture ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’ to play together and to learn from each other.
Our mission is to create a vibrant and friendly meeting place for people to learn about contemporary Chinese language, literature and culture.
Our Majiang Dealer and Tea House Manager Dr. Yongyang (Catherine) Wang, before coming to Australia in 2001; was a teacher of Chinese in a secondary school in the beautiful Guizhou countryside and she also lectured at Guizhou Normal University in Chinese language and culture courses for students of non-Chinese background.
Yongyang is interested in the application of creative reading approaches (Intercultural Thematic Reading) to the teaching of Chinese culture and language. Her PhD thesis, exploring the possibilities of applying contemporary critical and cultural studies to the development of an innovative pedagogy for the Chinese language, is to be published by the Guizhou University Press in late 2008. Currently she is writing two books: ‘Chinese Literature in Western Eyes’ (commissioned by Guizhou University Press) and ‘An Introduction to Contemporary Theories and Practices of Teaching Culture in L2’ (commissioned by Beijing Language and Culture University Press).
After living in Australia for seven years, Catherine has become very partial to sparkling shiraz, parmesan cheese, Siena pan forte and Irish dancing. But Yongyang admits to strong cravings for Siwawa (丝娃娃), Zhe’er geng （折耳根）and Niurou fen（牛肉粉） (the most popular snacks / xiaochi in Guiyang)!
Seminars on ‘reading’ Contemporary China
Dr. Wang is working closely with Dr. Trevor Hay at the University of Melbourne running a series of workshops on ‘reading’ contemporary China, applying the Intercultural Thematic Reading Approach (ITRA) developed in Dr. Wang’s doctoral study. Below are some comments from recent workshop participants:
"The workshop is very interesting. Chinese/Australia role play was an excellent way to demonstrate differences. Interesting to see the difference in view points between Australian and Chinese participants in session." -- Michael
"I learned a lot of new things. I found the discussion of stereotypes and Chinese expressions/customs very interesting." -- Julie
"Topic was interesting and gave some insights into cultural issues." -- Ally
"Lots of interesting stuff about Chinese culture providing different perspectives of Chinese culture, especially a western perspective." -- Corey
Majiang Tea House is a registered Business Name in Victoria Australia (Registered No. B2082570W).
