2024 Han Character Festival

Origin

The Han Character Festival brings together cultural exploration, fun, and creativity. As the coolness of late autumn settles in, join us for a warm and joyful gathering with family and friends!

This year, we have an exciting lineup for you:

Lecture: Teacher Wu Mengxuan, an expert in artificial intelligence and natural language processing, will share insights into the application and development of Chinese conversational robots.

Film Screening: Enjoy the Cloud Gate Dance Theater’s "Cursive", where dancers use their bodies to capture the fluidity and energy of Chinese calligraphy.
In addition to these highlights, we’ve prepared a variety of interactive stalls for a hands-on cultural experience:

Lantern Crafting: Strengthen parent-child bonds by working together to create beautiful lanterns that engage both hands and minds.

Pinball Game: Test your luck and see what exciting prizes await!

Chinese Character Evolution Display: Discover the fascinating evolution of Chinese characters through simple, engaging visuals.

Character Card Creation: Unleash your creativity by connecting Chinese characters and designing your own cards.

Calligraphy Station: Experience the elegance of calligraphy by copying traditional copybooks and feeling the rhythm of each stroke.

Book Stall: Enrich your mind with our book collection, available for both advance reservations and on-the-spot borrowing.

Vaccine Injections: Protect you and your loved ones.

Plus, savor complimentary Taiwanese cakes and black tea throughout the event.

All activities will be conducted in both Chinese and English, so friends from around the world are welcome to join us for an afternoon of culture, learning, and fun.

If you haven’t registered yet, sign up soon to secure your spot! We look forward to seeing you on October 26th!

Taiwan Online Library warmly invites you.

Lecture Introduction: Applications and Future Directions of AI upon the Chinese Language

Speaker Introduction:Tony Wu

I formerly studied in the PhD program and taught as a lecturer at the University of Minnesota School of Statistics. I have a strong background in Statistics and Mathematics, with extensive experience in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Neural Networks, and Natural Language Processing. My research has focused on Bayesian machine learning and the development and application of Large Language Models, and I have contributed to various projects and participated in competitions in Statistics, Mathematics, and programming. I have received numerous awards and honors for my work and achievements, demonstrating my commitment to advancing knowledge and innovation. As part of my duties as a lecturer, I also provided statistical consultation to solve complex problems in various projects. I am passionate about sharing insights into cutting-edge AI technologies.

Content Overview

In recent years, the ability of AI programs to communicate with humans using natural language has improved tremendously. With advancements in neural network architectures and increased computational power, programmers no longer need to hard-code a fixed set of responses into programs. Instead, using the concept of "embedding," tens of thousands of words in a language are mapped to vectors of several hundred dimensions, called embeddings, which are then refined based on surrounding context. These advancements enable AI systems to perform a variety of tasks, such as sentiment analysis, prediction, information retrieval, and language translation, and more. In my talk, I will provide an in-depth introduction to how embeddings work, explore common large language model architectures, demonstrate practical applications, and offer insights into the latest developments in generative AI, particularly in the realm of Chinese language processing.

Film Introduction: Cloud Gate Dance Theater "Cursive"

Cloud Gate Dance Theater "Cursive"

The Cursive Trilogy is a series of three dance works created by Taiwan's contemporary choreographer and founding artistic director of Cloud Gate Dance Theater, Lin Hwai-min. Inspired by Chinese calligraphy, Lin created the pieces "Cursive" (2001), "Pine Smoke" (2003), and "Wild Cursive" (2005) at different times. In September 2009, the trilogy was performed in succession in Taipei. While choreographing the trilogy, Lin incorporated the dancers' practices in calligraphy, meditation, internal martial arts, and Tai Chi over time. This resulted in the creation of "Cursive," "Pine Smoke," and "Wild Cursive." The dances express the inner strength of the dancers, embodying the different artistic dimensions of Chinese calligraphy. Lin first introduced the trilogy's opening piece, Cursive, in 2001, where dance movements reflect the forms and spirit of Chinese calligraphy.

Video Preview

The New York Times:

Cursive affirmed the glory of beauty itself. The production was the opening attraction of this summer's annual American Dance Festival, and the festivities could not have gotten off to a lovelier start… Theatrical magic…Just as skilled calligraphers can make their brushes seem to dance on a page, so the stage became a page for the dancers… the entire stage became a gigantic scroll. Multitudes of calligraphic signs flooded the floor, the stage walls and even the proscenium arch. Calligraphic designs also flashed on the dancers' bodies as they moved. Dancing and calligraphy merged here into a single art of motion. But Cursive was more than a display of technological wizardry. The dance steps were varied and impressive. There were slow meditative bendings and stretching as well as moments when arms seemed to be writing words in the air with jagged or flowing gestures. Dancers also heartily ran and tumbled. At other times they skimmed with the utmost lightness and delicacy. Throughout Cursive the dancers gave the impression that they were luxuriating in the sheer joy of movement. Dance and calligraphy proclaimed messages throughout the work. Yet a knowledge of foreign languages was not necessary to understand them.

Chicago Sun-Times

The 19 dancers of the Cloud Gate company possess a control and articulation that verge on the superhuman. These are performers who can make stillness every bit as eloquent as animation. In fact, they have the power to change your metabolism.

Agenda

1:00 PM Guest arrival and check-in
1:30 PM Event begins with introduction
1:35 PM Lecture starts
2:20 PM Lecture ends, booth activities begin
2:30 PM Film screening starts, booth activities continue
3:35 PM Film ends
4:30 PM Event ends

Booths Introduction

Calligraphy

By practicing different brushstrokes and copying from calligraphy models, you can feel the rhythm and flow of the characters!

Book Stand

Come to rich your life by reading books related to Taiwan.
Please visit http:tolib.org/about for our book-lending policies.
Book reservation: http:tolib.org/book

Find and Draw Character

Scan the QR code we’ve prepared for you using your phone to access our website. Enter the Chinese character you want to learn about (you can use Google Translate to look it up and copy-paste it). The website will show you the ancient versions of the character, such as Oracle Bone Script, Bronze Script, or Seal Script. Choose one version, draw it on the sticky note we’ve provided, write an English explanation on the back of the sticky note, and stick it on the display board we’ve prepared. Let everyone guess which character you drew!

Lantern

Come assemble Chinese zodiac lanterns with us! It is a great opportunity to improve the relationship between parents and kids.

Vaccine Injections

The 2024-2025 COVID-19 and flu vaccines are being offered for free, and it is safe to receive both vaccines at the same time, as approved by the CDC. Members will be asked for health insurance, although those without it can still receive the COVID-19 and flu vaccines for free. A $25 Target gift card will be offered to adult friends aged 18 and over who receive a COVID-19 vaccine (not applicable to flu vaccines). Vaccination age requirement: at least 6 months old.

Pinball Machine

Try your luck and see if you can win one of the prizes we've carefully prepared!

Character Card Creation

Connect Chinese characters, get creative, and make your own character cards!

Chinese Character Evolution Display

Using simple and fun illustrations to vividly show the evolution of Chinese characters!

Snack Introduction

Date/Time: 10 / 26, Sat, 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM

Location: Full Meeting Room ABC,6125 Shingle Creek Pkwy, Brooklyn Center, MN 55430 (Map)

Please feel free to contact us for questions by

Email：librarian@tolib.org

Host

Taiwan Online Library

Taiwan Online Library (TOLIB) is a non-profit arts and culture organization based in the Twin Cities, whose aim is to promote Taiwanese art and culture through books, events, and summer programs for Twin Cities youth.

Annually, our organization hosts 2-4 events per year, where members of the public can check-out and return books related to the Taiwanese cultures, arts, and the history of Taiwan. TOLIB began hosting its first event in December 2009, with a tea-ceremony event. Since then, we have aimed to promote various aspects of Taiwanese culture through movie showings, Q & A’s with professional actors, instrumental ensembles, character festivals, and summer programs teaching art skill sets.

Book-lending policies:: http://tolib.org/about
Held events: http://tolib.org/heldevents

Team

Ryan Hsieh

Hi everyone! This is Ryan Hsieh. I recently graduated from the University of Minnesota with a Master's degree in Business Analytics. I love playing sports and am also a fan of Ironman. I look forward to seeing you at the festival.

Joyce

Joyce graduated from the Soochow University in Taiwan. She, is a musicial graduate student at University of Minnesota. She enjoys reading,Netflix and classical music.

Chun-Ju (Victoria) Tsou

Victoria is a chemistry PhD student at the University of Minnesota. She enjoys jogging, hiking and playing guitar.

Tony Wu

Tony Wu's bobby are jogging,puzzle.

Ya-Feng (Jay) Wen

Ya-Feng (Jay) Wen graduated from the University of University of Minnesota. He is currently working at Gilead Sciences as a Clinical Pharmacologist. He enjoys reading, such as martial arts, reasoning, popular science. He also enjoys camping and traveling.

Mei Chi Su

Mei Chi Su graduated from the University of Minnesota. She enjoys exposing herself in various cultures to understand and experience the living styles in different countries. She likes traveling, live music and movies.

Eric Pan

Hi, I'm Eric. I just graduated from University of Minnesota MSBA program this year, now pursuing Data Analytics roles. I love badminton and all kinds of movies and TV series!

Eric Lin

Pin-Kuan

Supporters

Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Chicago

Taiwan is one of the most prosperous, democratic, and politically mature countries in the world. Taiwan values the principles of democracy, free speech, human rights, religious freedom, humanitarianism, and market economics, which are hallmarks of the United States of America. The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Chicago will continue its efforts to expand and strengthen the economic, cultural, and other ties to the U.S. Midwest, to enhance mutual cooperation and security between Taiwan and the United States far into the 21st century. Not only do these relations and efforts serve the goals and interests of both of our peoples, but also the greater cause of stability, security, peace, and economic development in the Asia-Pacific region.

Overseas Community Affairs Council

The Culture Center of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Chicago is located on 55 E. 63rd St., Westmont, IL, 60559. The Center provides various products and services in meeting the needs of the Taiwanese community, such as renting meeting rooms, lending books, providing material for learning Chinese, and so on.

Taiwan Center for Mandarin Learning - Minnesota

Ronald M. Hubbs Center, 1030 University Ave W. St Paul, MN 55104

Connexions International (CXI)

In the 1970's volunteers began tutoring international students, scholars, and their families in English. This volunteer initiative grew into what is now Connexions International. In 2006, CXI was incorporated as a non-profit organization and its mission is to serve international students, scholars, and their families through English classes, conversation partners activities, cultural and social events, sightseeing, and workshops that teach quilting, painting and other skills. Relying on volunteers who are interested in meeting people from other cultures, Connexions' vision is to see God's grace transforming the world through the people we serve.