by Sinna Zheng (Class of 2018)

On April 13, the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas hosted their annual Cherishing Youth Day celebration. This year’s theme was unity and harmony, with the program’s plot line centered around the coming together of the four elements of water, fire, earth, and air with their human sister.

the four elements (fire, earth, air, water)

short program

Early morning, schools started arriving at the gates to start off the day with activities and booths at the Girl School as well as a Short Program hosted by the Boy School. Booth activities included arts & crafts, where students created “element flags” for each of the four respective elements. In the calligraphy booth, the students learned how to write the word citizenship in chinese, and at the dance booth, students learned the Unity Dance that was to be later performed in the play.

 booth activities

the boy band

Air attacked Fire, framed by the Human, and started a schism which resulted in all the other forces joining the war.

orchestra/ensemble/violin trio

choir performance

Venerable Master tribute

Fire retaliated next, calling upon her most powerful dragon.

At this point, Human also made her move, to show that she was not to be taken lightly.

Duong sibling kata

Next, Earth attacked, calling upon the sounds of the Earth to shake the world.

Lastly, Water called upon the great oceans of the world in an attempt to stop the fight.

However, at this point, all the forces were beyond exhausted, with heavy losses on all sides.

The Human sister realized her mistake. From within, she found a strength that she never noticed before: she realized that she was not without her own force, because hers was the power to unite all the others. This power manifested into a mystical, Ying-Yang lion, a creature of balance which helped restore peace to all.

In the end, everyone came together happily, celebrating with the Unity Dance.

This year’s Cherishing Youth Day could not have been carried out without the help of the kitchen staff, teachers, and the cooperation within both school divisions. As we say, “Forces United, Stronger Together.”

Thank you to everyone for your help and support. We hope you all had as much fun watching as we did performing.  

Thank you to all the photographers!