Cheng & Tsui - Bringing Asia to the World

Winners of Cheng & Tsui SuperStar Announced

Ginevra — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:38:16 +0000

The votes are in and we're excited to announce the winners of the first Cheng & Tsui SuperStar, our national karaoke contest for Japanese language students and teachers.

And the Winners Are:

In the Student Category:

1st Place goes to Alex Yin of Polytechnic High School in Long Beach, CA, singing "Kizuna".

2nd Place goes to the Students of Whitney High School in Cerritos, CA, singing "Gouin ni Mai Yeah~".

In the Teacher Category:

1st Place goes to Tomoko Graham of Noble and Greenough School in Dedham, MA, singing "Soran-bushi".

2nd Place goes to Caleb Rennings of Lincoln High School in San Francisco, CA, singing "Yoru no Uta".

First place superstars will walk away with a Nintendo Wii game console and the second place runners up will win an iPod 4GB Nano.

Thank you to all of our wonderful contestants, judges, and voters. You made this first contest a huge success. Stay tuned for our Chinese karaoke contest in Fall 2008 and of course our next Japanese contest in Spring 2009. And keep practicing because you could be our very next Cheng & Tsui SuperStar!

Ferris Wheel Authors Honored at Award Ceremony

Ginevra — Tue, 06 May 2008 19:03:52 +0000

On Friday, April 18th, 2008, Professor Kozue Uzawa and Ms. Amelia Fielden, authors of Ferris Wheel: 101 Modern and Contemporary Tanka, were presented with the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Translation Prize for modern literature at the Donald Keene Center in New York.

Professor Uzawa is a tanka poet and a former professor of Japanese language and culture, recently retired from the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. Her first collection of tanka was titled Kanada nite (In Canada). With Amelia Fielden, Professor Uzawa has co-translated As Things Are (100 tanka by Yūko Kawano), as well as the forthcoming Kaleidoscope: Selected Tanka of Terayama Shūji from Hokuseidō Press. Professor Uzawa is also an editor of Gusts, Canada’s first English tanka journal.

Ms. Fielden is an Australian translator and poet. Her other published translations include collections of contemporary tanka by Hatsue Kawamura, Kyoko Kuriki, Mariko Kitakubo, Machi Tawara, and Yūko Kawano, for the last of whom she is the official translator. Ms. Fielden has also published collections of original poetry and tanka, of which Baubles, Bangles & Beads is the fifth and most recent (May 2007). She is currently working with Professor Kozue Uzawa on translations from Yukitsuna Sasaki’s latest book, First Snow.

The Translation Prize has been awarded since 1979 through a grant from the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission. The Commission, established in 1975, is an independent federal agency that promotes scholarly, cultural, and public affairs activities between the United States and Japan, through the issuing of grant programs in areas such as Japanese studies in the United States, policy-oriented research, public affairs and education, the study of the United States, and the arts.

The prize for best translation of a classical work of literature was awarded to Professor Anthony H. Chambers for Tales of Moonlight and Rain, his translation of Akinari Ueda’s Ugetsu monogatari (Columbia University Press, 2006).

Interview with Alex Yin, Student Winner of Cheng & Tsui's National Karaoke Contest

Ginevra — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:16:17 +0000

We recently concluded our first ever, Cheng & Tsui SuperStar, a national karaoke contest for Japanese students and teachers. Many entered but only a few won. Alex Yin, a student from Polytechnic High School in Long Beach, CA was the grand prize winner in the student category with his music video for "Kizuna". We sat down with the newly chosen student superstar to learn a little more about his background, love for singing, and contest experience.

Cheng & Tsui: So Alex, how long have you been singing in Japanese? How did you get started?
Alex Yin: I just recently started singing Japanese songs in 2004, so that's about 4 years ago. Listening to Otsuka Ai is what got me into listening to Japanese music

C&T: How did you hear about the Cheng & Tsui SuperStar karaoke contest?
AY: I heard about the Cheng & Tsui Superstar Contest from my second year Japanese teacher Mr. Inui at Long Beach Poly High School.

C&T: Who are your favorite musical artisits and idols you derive inspiration from?
AY: I'm a really big fan of Otsuka Ai. Her song "Daisukidayo" was the song that inspired me to listen Japanese music. Then I found out about Kat-Tun, the boy band which inspired me to really sing.

C&T: Is singing something you’d like to do professionally in the future?
AY: Yes. I have a passion for singing and it's something I can see myself pursuing as a career in the near future.

C&T: What else do you do for fun besides singing and listening to J-Pop?
AY: Besides singing, [in] my spare time, I find myself playing the guitar. I also enjoy playing sports such as tennis and badminton. But the major thing I enjoy doing the most is exploring the Japanese culture and learning their language.

C&T: Do you have anything you would like to say to your fans who voted for you?
AY: I want to thank everyone who took their time to visit the Cheng & Tsui Superstar website. All the contestants were great but I would like to thank all of the people who voted and supported me.

C&T: Do you have any words of advice for future Cheng & Tsui SuperStar hopefuls?
AY: Don't be afraid to be yourself. If you enter the competition for fun, then enjoy the moments. If you enter to win, sing your heart out. Just remember to have fun and hopefully we'll see your videos at the next Cheng & Tsui Superstar Karaoke Contest!

Alex will join our panel of judges next year, when Cheng & Tsui SuperStar (Japanese edition) returns for a second season. We would also like to congratulate our student runner-up, the students of Whitney High School in Cerritos, CA and our SuperStar teacher, Tomoko Graham of Dedham, MA and the runner-up, Caleb Rennings of San Francisco, CA. Thank you to our judges and everyone who participated in the contest. To learn more about the contest, visit www.cheng-tsui.com/superstar. And stay tuned for our Cheng & Tsui SuperStar, Chinese edition starting later this summer.

Congratulations to the Raffle Prize Winners at the National Chinese Language Conference

Peng — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:08:23 +0000

Thank you to everyone who entered to win Cheng & Tsui raffle prizes at our booth during the National Chinese Language Conference in Washington DC, April 17th -19th.

Congratulations to the winners of our booth raffle:

Amanda Tian of Leesburg, VA who won, Flying with Chinese KA Student Book and KA Workbook

David Wu of Rowland Height, CA who won, Feilong, The China Game

Hui-lin Lin of Locust Valley, NY who won, The Way of Chinese Characters

Thank you again to everyone who entered.

Be sure to visit us at a conference near you for your chance to win a Cheng & Tsui raffle prize! View our Event calendar for more information.

Thank You for Visiting us at the National Chinese Language Conference in Washington DC

Peng — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:48:41 +0000

Thank you to everyone who stopped by Cheng & Tsui’s book display at the National Chinese Language Conference in Washington DC. We enjoyed connecting with old friends, meeting new faces, and discussing your Chinese language program needs.

Don’t forget our special conference discount for attendees expires May 31^st, 2008. Please refer to our discount order form or special catalog distributed at our booth for more information. Should you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us.

And, stay tuned to see if you were one of our lucky raffle winners! The announcement will be made shortly.

To learn about our upcoming book exhibits or events, please check our event calendar below. We look forward to seeing you again soon!