Our annual potluck Christmas Party was held: Sunday, December 4, 2005, 5:30-9:00 p.m. at the Canadian Martyrs Church, 5900 Ingles St. There were over 100 people attended. Families from the “Family with Children from China" and a group of visiting students from China also attended this social event. We celebrated Christmas party with hot food and delicious desserts. Santa came with gifts to children. Our evening ended with everybody singing Christmas carols.

B) Chinese New Year Banquet

The CSNS and Hong Kong Canada Business Association hosted the Chinese New Year Banquet to welcome the year of The Dog on January 21, 2006 at the Casino Nova Scotia Hotel. This event was well attended and The Province of NS and the Halifax Regional Municipality were also represented.

Performances by our members include Lion Dance, Dragons Dance and four Chinese Multi-cultural Dances. The Dragon was purchased from China and arrived just in time for this event. The net proceed excluding the cost of the Dragon is approximately $7,000.

C) Drawing contest for 2006 year of the Dog picture

CSNS invited children of both CSNS and Chinese Language School to join the drawing contest for 2006 year of the Dog picture. The contest is open to three age groups. The Executive members had reviewed the drawings and the winners of the Drawing contest are Tran Ngo (age 8 and under), Linh Ngo (age 9 - 11), and Jun-Shang Sheng (age 12 and above).

The prizes have been presented to the winners and award certificates to all participants.

2. Report from the Board of Directors (March 2006)

The current Board of Directors consists of Paul Liu, Shawna Seto Moore, Oscar Wong and David Yung (Chair). Since the last annual general meeting, the Board met on November 19, 2005 and February 25, 2006. President Zhongmin Dong attended both meetings and Kam Chung representing the Capital Fund Committee attended the February meeting. Both of them presented their respective reports. The main topic of discussion during the two meetings was the joint efforts of the Society and the Chinese Benevolent Association of Nova Scotia in pursuing funding from the Chinese Benevolent Association of Canada to establish a Chinese cultural centre in the Halifax Regional Municipality area. The Board has received a copy of the funding proposal from the President for review. The fund is supposedly to be from a grant that the last Liberal government agreed to establish as a result of the redress of Chinese Head Tax. Another topic of discussion was the proposal of a survey from the Executive Committee. The survey is intended to gather information on Chinese communities in Nova Scotia and to enlarge and update the data base for future use. A similar survey was carried out in the early 1980’s. The Board also reviewed the status of the Society investments as administered by the Capital Fund Committee. Finally, the Board would like to express our sincere gratitude to the members of the Executive Committee and the Capital Fund Committee for their dedication and hard work on behalf of the Society.

3. Welcome New Members

We would like to welcome the following new members:

· Ferdinand, Susan Audrey & David

· Gao, Jun

· Wang, Xiao Zhu

· Yu, Wan Li

· Yao, Yuan

· Zhang, Yan

· Zou, Ting

4 Friday Gym Schedule

The Fairview Junior High School (FJHS) gym (155 Rosedale Avenue, Halifax) will be available for members of the Society on most Fridays during the school year. Our regular gym hours are from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm for the following days (the schedules are subject to cancellations on short notice from the School Board for special school events or snow days):

April 7, 21 and 28, 2006.

May 5, 12, 19 and 26, 2006.

June 2 and 9, 2006.

5. Announcements and Community News

A) A “thank you note “to Mr. Herbert Li. Mr. Li is one of our long time member, he and his company Dundee Private Investors Inc hosted a seminar on “Canadian Retirement Income System” on Feb 4th, at the Lecture Theatre in the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. The seminar was given by Mr. Brian Macmillan, a Social Security Specialist with the Government of Canada.

There were about 30 CSNS members attended and graciously appreciated Mr. Macmillan's information.

B) A “thank you note” to Mr. Allan and Vivian Wong for donating a Chinese lantern to the CSNS.

C) Dr. David Yung’s mother passed away in Hong Kong, our condolences to Dr. David and Kathy Yung for their lost.

D) On December 30^th. 2005 Bill Spurr’s article, "A very tastful year" in Halifax Herald, The Great Wall Restaurant earned the title for “The Restaurant of the Year”. Congratulations!

E) The Chinese Benevolent Association of N.S. will be holding their annual Bai San (清明拜山) and General Meeting followed by Dinner on Sunday May 21. 2006. Charter bus will depart from Fan's Restaurant at 10:30am. Participation by our CSNS members are welcome. For details please contact Ping Seto at 479-2461.

F) May 2006 is Asian Heritage Month. The Asian Heritage Month Planning Committee cordially invites you to an official opening ceremony on Monday, May 1, 2006, 5:30 pm, at Saint Mary’s University Theatre Auditorium, McNally Building, 923 Robie Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

6. Upcoming events

A) Line Dance practice will be resuming from this Friday evening! For benefit from both Line Dance and Tai-Qi, we are going to split the whole night into two time blocks: 8:00 - 9:00PM for line dance and 9:00 - 10:00 PM for Tai-Qi (we hope that could be a regular event for every Friday night thereafter as long as there is Gym

B) Mother’s Day Potluck will be held on Saturday, May 13^th from 5:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Canadian Martyrs Church, 5900 Ingles Street, Halifax. Please mark your calendar and celebrate Mother’s Day with us.

C) CSNS will participate in the upcoming Multicultural Festival on June 16-18th at Alderney Landing, Dartmouth. The CSNS will participate in setting up a food booth and a culture booth. Please contact any of the executives if you would volunteer in helping out.