Chinese Students and Scholars Association

in Tampere

(CSSA-Tampere ry)

Activity Report

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Forewords

The Chinese Students and Scholars Association in Tampere (CSSA Tampere ry) is a non-profit

association that has been serving all the Chinese students and scholars in the Tampere region since 2005.

Since the establishment of the association, the development of the association complies with the

developmental goal of the city of Tampere. In the past decade, the CSSA Tampere ry made a great

contribution to the social integration of the Chinese students and scholars to the local Finnish society. In

recent years, particularly in the past one year, together with the increasing number of Chinese students

in Finland, the employment of these young talented Chinese graduates has become a key issue. Therefore,

to enhance the employability of the Chinese students and graduates in Tampere region has become one

of our core missions. Hereby, the achievement of CSSA Tampere ry in 2017 is summarized as follows

in both quantitative and qualitative perspective.

Quantitative Aspect

● The number of members (all Chinese students and scholars in Tampere): 270

● The number of active participants: 150

● The number of events organized in Tampere: 24

● The number of participants annually: 1,500

Qualitative Aspect

Our orientation and mission all reflect the developmental goals of the Tampere city government,

including:

● to help the new students and scholars from China to integrate into the local Chinese communities

● to facilitate these Chinese students and scholars to connect and integrate into the Finnish society

● to enhance the employability of the Chinese students and scholars in Finland, and increase their

opportunities towards employment

● to promote the reputation of the Chinese students and scholars in Finland, increase their social status

and improve the public image of all Chinese people in Finland

As seen, the goal of CSSA Tampere ry has been closely complying with that of the Tampere City in

terms of the social integration of the Chinese immigrants and the employability of the Chinese students

and scholars in Tampere region. With all those missions taken into account, the CSSA Tampere also

aims to enrich the cultural diversity and the social tolerance in Tampere city. In the past year, we fulfilled

our goals as mentioned above by organizing activities regularly and vigorously. The activities and events

we organized include:

Activities towards Social Integration Enhancement

● Chinese-Finnish Bakery Pikkujoulu

● ‘Guangzhou Night’ cultural performance

● New students orientation event

● Students flea market

● Chinese national day & Tampere day: a tour of Tampere

● Exchange students farewell party: Sauna, BBQ, and ice-swimming

● Celebration of Chinese New Year: Dumpling-making gathering

● Halloween Fun

● Chinese-Finnish Tampere Basketball Game

● Suomi 100 event: visit the Presidential Palace of Finland

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● Suomi 100 event: greet and visit Chinese Warship: Hefei Warship

● Suomi 100 event: greet and welcome President Xi Jinping of China to visit Finland

● Tampere Talk show – Cars

Activities to Employability and Career Opportunities

● Chinese-English Interpretation and Translation Training Program

● Student Volunteer Service in International events

● Student Tutors for new scholars in Tampere

● “Promote Your CV” workshop

● Chinese Student & Scholar Talent Pool Network

Evaluation

To evaluate the outcomes of the activities, we collected the participants’ feedbacks in each event. Last

December, we also conducted a survey covering all the students and scholars regarding their feedbacks

on our association and their expectation towards our future events.

Based on the collected feedbacks, our activities are well received by the participants, with the following

impact achieved:

● Created opportunities to enhance the employment of students

● Enhanced the young people’s employability

● Enhanced the social recognition of Chinese students and scholars in Tampere

● Enhanced Chinese students’ understanding of Finnish society and culture, and thus facilitating their

integration into Finnish society

● Meanwhile promoted Chinese culture in Finnish society

● Helped new students and scholars to familiarize Tampere, and adjust their life in Finland

● Provided handy learning skills and knowledge for students

● Enriched students’ and scholars’ life

● Enriched the cultural variety in Tampere

1. Introduction

1.1. Our members: Chinese Students and Scholars in Tampere

The target group of CSSA-Tampere ry is all the Chinese students and scholars who are currently studying

or working in the Tampere region. By 2017, the total number of our registered members is 270, including

176 enrolled students, 41 scholars and 43 graduates working in various domains.

We collected data from the international office of the three higher education institutions in Tampere, i.e.,

University of Tampere (UTA), Tampere University of Technology (TUT) and Tampere University of

Applied Sciences (TAMK). The total number of the bachelor and master students from China studying

in these higher education institutions is 176, including 100 from UTA, 50 from TUT, and 26 from

TAMK. The number of scholars, including visiting scholars, university researchers and doctoral students

working in the three institutions is 41, including 14 in UTA, 26 in TUT, and 1 in TAMK. The number of

Chinese scholars in Tampere has increased within the past year, which, from our perspective results from

the increasing influence of the Finnish education in China.

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On the other hand, many Chinese students who have graduated from Finnish institutions choose to start

their career in Tampere. According to a calculation, there are 43 Chinese graduates, mostly from the

three higher education institutions in Tampere, are currently working in the Tampere region.

Enrolled students, student graduates, and scholars are all our target group and registered members. The

main goal of our association is to address their needs in all aspects concerned.

1.2. About Us and Our Missions

The CSSA-Tampere ry is a legally registered non-profit association in Tampere, Finland. We aim to

connect the Chinese students and scholars in Tampere, address their needs, help them integrate into the

Finnish society, and enhance the Finnish society's understanding towards the Chinese students and

scholars, and the Chinese culture. We have been working closely with the Chinese embassy in Finland,

the City of Tampere, the higher education institutions in Tampere (including University of Tampere,

Tampere University of Technology, Tampere University of Applied Sciences), schools in Tampere, and

other associations in Finland.

Our missions include:

● to help the new students and scholars from China to integrate into the local community of Chinese

students and scholars

● to facilitate the Chinese students and scholars to connect and integrate into local Finnish society

● to enhance the employability of the Chinese students and scholars in Finland, and increase

opportunities for employment

● to enhance the reputation of the Chinese students and scholars in Finland, increase their social status

and improve the public image of the Chinese community in Finland

Our vision of CSSA-Tampere ry is to develop into an influential organization for the Chinese students

and Scholars in Finland, particularly in the Tampere region.

1.3. Organization Structure

The CSSA-Tampere ry is managed by the managerial board, with the whole organization constituted by

six sectors, which were established based on their functional differentiation. Each sector is led by the

head of the sector and managed by the sector and members autonomously following the regulations of

the Association. Currently, there are 24 active actors and core members of the association organization

committee.

1.4. Sectors of Association

Chair Gaoming Zheng

Board Member Lishan Wu, Qianting Liu, Shuo Yang, Qinwei Wang,

Yu Zou, Dingding Cai, Yanni Liu, Chenyu Wei

Sector of Promotion

and Dissemination

Head Qianting Liu

Deputy Head Chenyu Wei

Memebrs Renfei Zhou, Jingyi Bai, Yuyan Chen

Sector of Events and

Organization

Head Yanni Liu

Consultant Lishan Wu

Memebrs Yangbo Liu, Jiaqi Guo, Yu Gang

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Sector of Finances Head Qinwei Wang

Memebrs Yi Cai, Wei Qian

Sector of Public

relations

Head Shuo Yang

Memebrs Xiaozhou Li, Ziyi Jiang, Hongyu Wen

Sector of Cultures,

Arts, and Sports

Head Yu Zou

Memebrs Yi Zhou, Mengyu Liu, Ruijia Zha

Sector of Studies and

Training Affairs

Head Dingding Cai

Memebrs Qin He, Yanlin Qian, Lingyu Zhu

Figure 1. Some of the Board Members

Figure 2. The Majority of Association Members

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1.5. Our Publicity and Promotion Platforms

Currently, we CSSA Tampere ry has established multiple publicity and promotion channels to reach

our target group, including our website, various social media platforms, e.g., WeChat group, Facebook

and Weibo, a special column in Chinese forum in Finland, and YouTube channel.

CSSA Tampere Website

Our official website was designed and published in 2017. In the website, we have different columns to

address the students’ and scholars’ different needs, such as FQA, news, events, employment

opportunities, Tampere Chinese talent repository, etc. We also created a special area for students to share

their blogs about their life in Finland, such as tracing the northern-lights, ice-fishing, and so on. All the

contents are presented in three languages, i.e., Finnish, English, and Chinese. By the end of 2017, the

number of viewers of the website has reached 8,700.

The total cost of the website development and maintenance in 2017 is €477,49.

Figure 3. Screenshots of CSSA Tampere Official Website

CSSA Tampere WeChat Group

WeChat is the most commonly used instant messaging App in China. Thus, we created a talk group in

this App enabling all students and scholars to keep in touch conveniently. By now, 232 Chinese students

and scholars have joined the group. It is, by far, the most prevailing communication platform to connect

all Chinese students and scholars. Besides, we also created a smaller group of Chinese scholars in

Tampere so that the scholars shall have a better connection concerning academic matters.

CSSA Tampere QQ Group

QQ is also a popular social media platform in China. We also have a QQ group for the Chinese students

in this platform, particularly new students.

CSSA Tampere Weibo

Weibo is like a Chinese Twitter. On this platform, not only the students and scholars in Finland but also

the people in China who are interested in Finland can follow our association and our events. Many

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incoming students find it very helpful to get familiar with Tampere and Finland before they come. In

2017, the number of followers of our Chinese Twitter account reached nearly 1000.

Figure 4. Screenshot for CSSA Tampere WeChat Group & Weibo

CSSA Tampere Facebook

As Facebook is the most popular social media platform in the world, we also have our account to share

all our coming events and the news of our activities. Through this platform, we allow not only the Chinese

but also the Finns and other international friends to get to know our association and join our events.

CSSA Tampere YouTube Channel

We also have our own YouTube account to share the videos of our events for promotion. Thus, people

who are unable to join could have a look. Moreover, it is also a good place to preserve our memories. By

2017, we already uploaded 12 videos of our events.

CSSA Tampere LinkedIn Account

To enhance the vision and perspectives of our members and connect ourselves to the employment market,

we also created a LinkedIn account for CSSA Tampere in 2017. We are the first Chinese students and

scholars’ association in Finland to register on LinkedIn.

CSSA Tampere Special Column in Chinese.fi

Chinese.fi is the first Chinese online forum in Finland. Being the most early established and most

influential Chinese students and scholars’ association in Finland, we were invited by the website creator

when they opened the forum. By now we have 6,441 views of our special column.

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Figure 5. Screenshots for CSSA Tampere Facebook and YouTube Channel

Figure 6. Screenshots for CSSA Tampere LinkedIn & Chinese.fi Column

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2. Our activities in 2017

In 2017, we organized seventeen events for the public, mainly targeting Chinese students and scholars in

Tampere, and four team-building events for the internal development of the association, targeting for

organization committee members in our association. We also had regular board meeting four times in the

year to discuss on the development of the association and the organization of events. In what follows, we

describe the organized events in detail and try to show our readers a vivid picture of our activities in the

last year.

2.1. Activities for the Integration into the Local Community

FQA special column for new students and scholars (before coming or newly-arrival)

Number of views: 677

With increasingly more new students and scholars coming to Tampere, we recognized the needs to

provide handy information and suggestions to help them prepare their trip, adapt to the new environment

and get to know about Tampere. We collect the most frequent asked questions from students in Tampere

and find out answers for them. After that, we created ‘Newcomers Q&A’ section in the CSSA Tampere

website, and disseminated the information among students and scholars. In the ‘Newcomers Q&A’ we

provide suggestions for the new students, concerning registration, accommodation, bus card, shopping,

etc. We also provide information on how to live a better life in Tampere, e.g., where to buy and sell

second-hand goods, how to categorize and deal with garbage, where to buy Asian food and ingredients,

and so on.

The ‘Newcomers Q&A’ section received lots of appraising since it was first published, and it is also the

most frequent visited webpage on our website by far with 677 views. Many students and scholars gave

us feedbacks that they found the information on the webpage is very useful and handy. Even some

scholars who have been living in Tampere for long, they found the information in the section is systematic

and some new knowledge they have never known before.

And we are keeping updated the information by adding more frequently asked questions and answers

based on students’ and scholars’ feedbacks and requests.

New students orientation and old students flea market

Time: August 26, 2017

Venue: TUT

Event cost: €11,53

Number of event participants: 100

Every year, August is the most exciting moment for us, because we will welcome the new students and

scholars to join us in Tampere, with potential new members joining our association. In the autumn of

2017, 89 (including exchange students) new students and four new visiting scholars arrived in Tampere

to start their study and research here. We organized an orientation meeting for them at the end of August.

The old students and scholars were also invited to meet with the new members and share their

experiences.

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In the meeting, we first introduced our association to the new members, as well as our organization

committee and managerial board members. We also reviewed our events and activities in 2017 and shared

our experiences in Tampere. After that, it was the moment for the new students to break the ice and

introduce themselves. Many new members were very humorous and shared their stories about why

coming to Finland. The kind laughter and greetings from the group, especially old members, comforted

their nerves of being new in town. After the ice-breaking self-introduction, we provided coffee catering

for them to enjoy.

When the coffee was served, another group of old students was getting ready in the campus square to

sell their goods to new students. We organized the flea market for the old students and scholars to sell

their unnecessary ownings to the new students. Even though it was raining a bit on that day, new members

were very excited about the flea market, because they can get some necessary stuff from their old

members on a low price. The old members were happy too, as they can get rid of some unnecessary stuff,

have more space at home, and meanwhile can earn some pocket money. There was even a small ‘auction’

on the day for a rice cooker.

Through the orientation meeting and flea market, we tried to help new members to get familiar with the

Association and to get connected with the local Chinese community. It is the key step to engage new

students and scholars from China to the local society of Tampere, which we always take it as one of the

most important events of the year.

Figure7. Introducing CSSA Tampere ry to new students and scholars

Figure 8. Flea market

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Figure 9. Part of participants' group picture in TUT campus

Chinese national day & Tampere day

Time: October 1, 2017

Venue: Tampere

Cost: €105,1

Number of participants: 50

October 1st is the Independence day of China also the birthday of the city Tampere. It may be coincident,

but it is also what Chinese people believed as ‘Yuan’ (fatuous connection). So October 1st is a meaningful

day for all Chinese people in Tampere.

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Figure 10. Tampere Day Event

Since 2016, we have organized a one-day tour for Chinese students and scholars to learn about Tampere

on such special day, Tampere Day and Chinese Independence Day. The event received wildly good

comments in 2016, particularly from new students who have just arrived in the autumn and cannot wait

to see more about Tampere.

This year, we aligned with the program designed by the city of Tampere for the Tampere Day, and again

developed one-day tour program of Tampere for Chinese students and scholars. This time, we invited a

Chinese student who has been living in Tampere for long to be our tour guide to introduce Tampere and

share with the students his living story in Tampere as well. Museums, Pynnikki Tower, main street are

the must-see in Tampere, and we plan a most efficient trip for the participants to have them all in one

day. We also invited participants to try Mini golf together, and the most delicious donuts in the world, of

course. It was a busy day tour, but also a fruitful one.

We believe loving starts from knowing. When we planned this event, we hoped to provide an opportunity

for Chinese students and scholars to get to know more about the city, not only its appearance, but also

its history, its culture, and the people’s stories in the city. And we believe, the more people get to know

about Tampere, the more they will love it as we do. In the end, they will also become us who are willing

to promote Tampere to the world. In the end, we all become an ‘ambassador’ of Tampere.

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The event was also highly spoken by the Embassy of China, as it is ‘localized’ in Finland but also

‘national’ for Chinese to get together on the Chinese National Independence Day. As such, the event got

fully sponsored by the Embassy of China this year, which is a recognition of our work to the Chinese

community in Tampere.

Exchange students farewell party

Time: April 22, 2017

Venue: Tampere lakeside

Cost: €426,35

Number of participants: 60

Every year in April, we organize a farewell party for exchange students. We invited exchange students

and future graduates to join us in the BBQ party near the lake, and also enjoy the sauna and ice-swimming

together. This year, about 60 students participated in the event together with us. In the farewell party, we

also prepared postcard for students to write to themselves in one year, and posted the postcards to the

exchange students last year. It is the first time for some students to try Finnish sauna and ice swimming,

which was indeed an impressive experience for them.

Although it is not a long time for the exchange students staying in Tampere, Tampere's life has already

become a part of their good memory. We sincerely hope they have a better future and will come backand

visit us in Tampere again one day.

Figure 11. Exchange Student Farewell BBQ Party

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2.2. Activities to Connect with Finnish People

Chinese-Finnish Bakery Pikkujoulu

Time: November 26, 2017

Venue: Mummon Kammari

Cost: co-funded by Valli

Number of participants: 20

‘Honour the aged of other families as we honor our own; care for the children of other families as we

care for our own.’ The ancient Chinese saying, as well as the embedded strong family values, have been

realized by Chinese young people again! This time, it was not taking place in China, but in Finland!

On November 26, 2017, coordinated by the Finnish Union for Senior Service (Valli), the Chinese

Students and Scholars Association Tampere (CSSA-Tampere) cooperated with the Tampere local

senior service organization and center, including Amurin Teon Tupa Ry, and Mummon Kammari,

together and organized a successful Bakery Pikkujoulu. The event aimed to enhance mutual

understanding between Chinese young people and Finnish seniors, and also to prepare ginger cookies

(the traditional Christmas food in Finland) for 100 senior people in Finland, as to support the spirit of

Finland’s 100 years’ independence!

The whole event was carried out in a lively and happy atmosphere. Chinese young students worked

together with Finnish seniors and learned how to make the ginger cookies and traditional Christmas

drinking, glogi. In between, the local senior people performed Christmas carols for all the participants.

It is so true that the stage, both in performance and in the society, should always not only be given to

young people, but to all people of all ages. In the end, inspired by the Christmas spirit and the

performance, young Chinese students also joined in, and all the participants sang together!

The event received very positive feedbacks afterward from both Finnish and Chinese sides, not only

among the participants but also in wider public in the social media, e.g., twitter, facebook of all the

organizers. The event was reported in the Demokraatti Newspaper on December 14, 2017.

We believe ‘honoring the senior’ is an essence of Chinese traditional culture, which should be promoted

among young people these days. Through this event, we also learned more about Finnish aged culture.

By honoring is not sympathizing or simple caring, but instead, is to respect the knowledge of the senior,

to learn from them, and try to communicate and engage with them to do something meaningful together!

It is also what we CSSA, as a young people’s organization will always endeavor to achieve in the future.

Figure 12. Chinese-Finnish Bakery Pikkujoulu

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Guangzhou Night

Time: September 4, 2017

Venue: Tampere

Cost: co-funded by the City of Tampere

Figure 13. Guangzhou Night

In the evening of September 4th, 2017, Cultural Delegation of Guangzhou city from China, the sister

city of Tampere, was invited to visit Tampere and gave a marvelous performance of Chinese music.

CSSA Tampere, cooperated with the City of Tampere, organized Chinese students and scholars to

watch the performance. Orchestral performances, Cantonese jazz, Chinese Pipa performances, Tai Chi

Dance, etc. all kinds of performance were very interesting and impressive.

Finland's Moomin dance, Cantonese opera, integration of Tai Chi and modern dance, which make us

absorb into the performance, especially for the Chinese from Guangdong, hearing the familiar accent at

the moment even make them tears down.

Thanks to Tampere city government and staff in this event organization and communication, we learn

more with the Great Wall Exchange Association members and members to work together to organize

registration and on-site coordination, making this event successfully held.

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The inheritance and development of Chinese culture require the joint efforts of each of us so that we can

cooperate more with local communities and municipalities to better serve Chinese students and scholars

in Tampere!

2.3. Activities for the Employability Enhancement

“Improve Your CV” workshop

Time: January 21, 2017

Venue: Tampere

Cost: co-funded by Sino-Talent Finland

Number of participants: 30

Figure 14. "Improve Your CV" Workshop

On the afternoon of January 21, CSSA-Tampere organized students and scholars in Tampere to attend

the Seminar on “Promote Your CV,” in cooperation with the Association of Sino-Talent Finland.

In this workshop, students were able to learn about Finnish employment market, as well as skills to get

employed in the market. More importantly, the lecturer also showed students how to improve their CVs

with some concrete examples and cases. In the end, all the participants shared their experiences in job-

hunting in Finland.

As employment has always been the main concerns of students, who is the future employees in the

market, this workshop came right into students’ need. As CSSA-Tampere share the same goal with the

municipal government of Tampere to enhance the employability of young people in Finland, and we

started with providing useful training for young people.

“English-Chinese Intercultural Interpretation and Translation Skills” Training Programme

Time: August 11, 12, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 2017

Venue: TAMK, UTA, TAKK

Cost: €2458,18

Number of participants: 20

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There has been a clear increase of communication and cooperation between Finland and China. As

Chinese in Finland, this is always the most thrilling news in our life. However, we also notice there is a

lack of competent interpreter in the area of Finnish-Chinese cooperation. Professional interpretation is

the key to successful communication between Finland and China. A successful interpreter in the area of

Chinese-Finnish interpretation not only needs to be skillful in language but more important also to know

about both Finnish and Chinese culture and connect their communication. Students and scholars who

come from China and are studying and working in Tampere are the perfect ‘communication facilitator,’

and what they need is the professional skills of interpretation. Furthermore, we also notice there is an

increasing need for Chinese-English interpreters in the market in the area of educational export, tourism,

and business in Finland.

By acknowledging these needs, we CSSA Tampere ry, in cooperation with one of the three top Chinese-

English interpreters in Finland, Dr. Li Zhang, organized the “English-Chinese Intercultural Interpretation

and Translation Skills” Training Programme for students in the summer in 2017. The aim is to enhance

students’ intercultural interpretation and translation skills and to build up a talent pool of Chinese students

in English-Chinese interpretation and translation.

The training program is also a joint force of Education Sector of Chinese Embassy in Finland, the City

of Tampere, Sino-Finnish Education Research Centre, Tampere University of Applied Sciences and

University of Tampere. It is a part of “Global Tampere Education” series activities coordinated by the

City of Tampere, as well as a part of “This is Finnish Education” series activities coordinated by the

Sino-Finnish Education Research Center.

Altogether 17 participants, included 13 students from Tampere, two students from Jyvaskyla, one student

from Helsinki, and one scholar from Tampere enrolled in the training programme, and all of them passed

the exams and completed the courses successfully. All successful graduates received the completion

certificated signed by the vice mayor of the City of Tampere, which is quite an inspiration for students’

work and recognition of their achievement.

Inspired by the educational philosophy of ‘learning by doing,’ the whole training programme consisted

of two parts, 28 hours’ lecture, and 10 hours’ practical training. All participants were satisfied with the

learning outcomes. For some students, it was the first time for them to get to know about interpretation,

and they fell in love with it after the lectures. But the lecturer, Dr. Zhang also suggested it will take lots

of efforts for everyone to practice and become a professional interpreter. Only enthusiasm may not be

enough. But she also said this is the most talented student group she has ever taught.

One of the purposes of the training program is to develop the English-Chinese interpretation talent pool,

increase the visibility of the talents, and eventually enhance their employability and employment

opportunities. During the training programme, two participants were appreciated by our co-organizers

and sponsors and got employed at the end, which was great news for us too.

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Figure 15. Chinese-English Interpretation Training Program

“Start your company in Finland” Workshop

In response to the increased interests in starting a business and becoming entrepreneurs in Finland, we

planned the ‘Start your company in Finland’ Workshop in November 2017. Unfortunately, the only

invited lecturer had an accident on the way to Tampere, and we had to cancel the workshop and re-

scheduled in the spring of 2018. It was a disappointment for all 40 registered participants, and we

apologized for the inconvenience. However, it also means we have more to expect in the spring of 2018.

Cost of preparation: €47,56

Student Volunteer, Student Tutor

Number of student volunteers and tutors: 17

Many students are volunteering to help the society and willing to enrich their experiences. But what they

need are opportunities and platform. In 2017, we cooperated with University of Tampere and organized

students to join in international conferences and workshops as volunteers. Altogether 17 students have

been working as volunteers in 4 different international conferences. Students told us it is a precious

opportunity for them to join in international events and get to know people from different countries. And

they also felt their life more meaning when they can contribute to the society and get engaged with the

local institution.

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Figure 16. Students Volunteers in international conference

Meanwhile, as more and more visiting scholars coming to Tampere, but so far universities haven’t

realized the change and need to help visiting scholars. In cooperation with Sino-Finnish Education

Research Center, we recruited student tutors to help visiting scholars from China to adapt to Tampere

when they first arrive. Both scholars and students were happy to be paired, as scholars get instant help

when they first arrive in Tampere and can get familiar with the environment quickly, and meanwhile,

students can also use their knowledge of living in Tampere and help the others, and they were happy to

be helpful.

All in all, we CSSA-Tampere always try to make sure the students’ efforts got appreciated and valued.

So we always negotiated with co-organizer to provide the best benefits for students. Students volunteers

and tutors all get recognition certificates, small gifts, and various cultural experiences. And we also

encourage co-organizers to thank the volunteers in the during or after the event.

2.4. Activities for Social Status Enhancement

Chinese talents pool network in Tampere

Number of participants: 40

Nowadays more and more Chinese students graduated from Finnish educational system, and some of

them chose to stay and work in Tampere. Meanwhile, with the increase of cooperation between Finland

and China in different areas, there is an increasing need for talents who can understand both Chinese and

Finnish society. However, on the hand, the visibility of Chinese students and scholars is rather low in

Finland by far, which also limited the possibility for employment of Chinese talents in Finland.

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To address these needs, we, CSSA Tampere, began the project of Chinese talents pool network in

Tampere in 2017. The project is still ongoing and will finish by the end of 2018. By far, we have

developed the talents pool of Chinese-English interpreters in Finland. In the future, sub-pool of

technology talent, entrepreneurs, when a pool of scholars will be developed as well.

Figure 17. Chinese Talents Pool

2.5. Activities for Cultural Promotion

Classic event – Chinese New Year: dumpling-making gathering

Time: January 15, 2017

Venue: Hervanta

cost: €316,33

Number of participants: 67

Chinese lunar new year is the most important day in China. On the day, friends and family are supposed

to gather together, and making and eating dumplings is also a tradition.

Figure 18. Chinese New Year: Dumpling Making Event

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On January 15th, 2017, CSSA Tampere organized a dumpling-making gathering for students and

scholars from China to celebrate the traditional Chinese New Year together. Finnish friends who were

interested in Chinese culture were also welcomed to join in the event.

On that day, despite the cold weather in Finnish winter, 67 Chinese students and scholars, as well as our

local Finnish friends gathered up for this cheerful event. Together, we chopped vegetables and meat,

shuffled the fillings, kneaded the dough, made and shared the dumplings.After the dumpling dinner, we

also organized a Finnish-Chinese cultural pop quiz competition to promote the cultural communication

among our participants. In the end, winners were awarded special Finnish and Chinese small gifts, like

Finnish bear, and Chinese hot pot.

This event is usually the first event organized by CSSA Tampere in the year. It not only comforted the

students who miss their home on such occasions but also promoted our Chinese culture in Finland and

improved the knowledge of Finland for Chinese participants. It also enhanced our friendship with our

local Finnish friends, which is, without doubt, a delightful success to start the coming year of the rooster.

Halloween Fun

Time: November 7, 2017

Venue: Space Bowling

Cost: €350,17

Participants: 40

Winter is coming. The lone wolf dies, but the pack survives. During the cold Halloween weekend of

2017, CSSA Tampere stood together and had some fun with some bowling, billiard, and board games at

Space Bowling & Billiards Tampere. The experienced gave patient tutorials to the rookies and also

competed with one another for the ultimate glory of the first ever CSSA bowling championship. Amongst

the participants, Yu Zou, the captain of the Sports-culture-art Sector, and Dingding Cai, the leader of the

Study and Training Sector, shared the champion title. Their outstanding performance won the favor of

all admiring audience. On the other hand, billiards and board games were all about friendship and fun.

Mahjong was and has always been our favorite board game. Either winning or losing, there is always

laughter around the mahjong table. Social games connect people and promote friendship. That’s exactly

what we did.

Figure 19. Halloween Party

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Finland independence 100 years – visit the Presidential Palace

Time: May 12, 2017

Venue: Helsinki

Cost: personal expense

Participants: 20

The year 2017 is the 100-year-anniversary for the independence of Finland. For the time spent, long or

short, in this country, we all have been deeply impressed by its perseverance, inclusiveness, creativity,

and modesty. As living here, we are, more than ever, willing to know more about this country and every

detail about her. On May 12th, 2017, we then had the opportunity to know more about the place where

the president works, the Presidential Palace of Finland. Many Chinese students from Tampere region

participated in this visiting event in Helsinki. Inside the palace, we followed the lead of the palace staff

and communicated with them closely. The palace is elegant in a low-key fashion and has been very well

maintained for nearly 180 years. It is a perfect embodiment of the Finnish national character.

Figure 20. Presidential Palace Visit

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Visit Hefei Warship

Time: August 1, 2017

Venue: Helsinki

Cost: €19,48

Number of participants: 30

August 1 is the Day of Military Foundation in China. On August 1, 2017, as a greeting gift to Finland

for its 100 years’ Independence Anniversary, Chinese Hefei warship from China visited Finland on its

global circle. As many Chinese students were excited about the news, we CSSA Tampere organized

students to greet and visit the Warship together. In the end, 30 students joined in the events. Through the

events, students got to know more about the Hefei warship and also the friendly relation between Finland

and China.

Figure 21. Visit Hefei Warship

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Welcome President Xi Jinping of China to visit Finland

Time: April 4, 2017

Venue: Helsinki

Cost: co-funded by Chinese embassy

Participants: 17

On April 4 to 6, 2017, Chinese President Xi Jinping and the First Lady Peng Liyuan paid a stated visit to

Finland, to greet and send the best wishes of Chinese for Finland’s 100 years’ independence. It was great

news for all Chinese in Finland. Invited by the Chinese embassy, on April 4, our CSSA-Tampere

organized 17 students and scholars to Helsinki to welcome the president and first lady’s arrival. 2017 is

a critical year for Chinese-Finnish relation, with many advancements in all kinds of areas. And the most

exciting thing for us is that two pandas will come to Finland. Though we couldn’t meet the President and

First Lady, students and scholars were happy and proud of being a part of the greeting group. As students

abroad, the happiest thing is their own countries have a good relationship with the country where they

are. We believe the friendship between Finland and China with being deepened and strengthened with

all our efforts.

Figure 22. Welcome President Xi Jinping

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Tampere Talk Show -- Cars

Time: March 25, 2017

Venue: Tampere

Cost: €16,58

Participants: 40

As more and more students and scholars coming to Tampere, choosing second-hand cars and applying

for driving licenses in Finland have become a heated topic in the Chinese community. On March 22nd,

2017, we invited two speakers Yilin Qian and Yijun Fan to share with us their experiences.

The two speakers’ stories-sharing is very informative and useful. After the presentations, participants

and speakers had a lively discussion on details and also about maintenance of cars.

Trying to help Chinese students and scholars to live a better life in Tampere is always our goal and also

our pleasure when we advanced in the path of goal achieving.

Figure 23. Tampere Talk Show – Cars

Tampere Basketball Game

Time: May 6, 2017

Venue: Tampere

Cost: €253,8

Participants: 20

Sport is also a very important part of people’s life. On May 6, 2017, CSSA-Tampere held a small

basketball competition in Tampere. Four teams staged a demolition match. Participants include local

Chinese students and scholars from Tampere, as well as our Finnish and international friends. In the

competition, everyone tried their best to score and enjoy basketball. Even though there is only one

winner, in the end, everybody was happy because of the sport.

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By organizing basketball competition, we hoped to enrich students and scholars’ life in Tampere, and

also encourage them to do more sport and promote the sporting spirit among all Chinese in Tampere.

Figure 24. Tampere Chinese Basketball 3-on-3

2.6. Activities of Organization Development

Hotpot greeting meeting

Time: October 15, 2017

Venue: Tampere

Cost: €126,18

Number of participants: 24

It’s a routine for us to welcome new committee members to join the organization committee every year.

This year, we decided to greet them with the Chinese famous hot pot.

On October 15th, 2017, we organized this special hot-pot teambuilding event internally. It is the first

team building after we get new members since the new semester. At first new members are quite shy and

not talked very much. So we sat together and let everyone introduce themselves first. We chatted around

the hotpot, trying to know each other better. After a while, when new members are getting familiar with

our old members and also the association organization, they began to share their opinions about the future

activities of CSSA Tampere. With this team building, a lot of interesting and meaningful ideas came up.

We believe that with the new members joining us, we will be more inspired to devote ourselves to design

more diverse and meaningful activities for Chinese students and scholars in Tampere.

Team-building: Boating

Time: August 29, 2017

Venue: Tampere

Cost: €34,66

Number of participants: 24

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In summer, after organizing all kinds of events for the public in the first half a year, it is time for us to

have the internal gathering of the association. In 2017, we organized a new team building event to

strengthen our committee members’ teamwork spirit and association commitment. Democratically

decided by all committee members; we decided to go boating!

Figure 25. Hotpot Party

Enjoying the lake in the cozy Finnish summer was a relaxation for all members after a half a year’s hard

work. After that, we divided our members into two group for a small boat contest. And the reward for

the winner was the appraise of the other team. And also by cooperating in boating together, we try to

train and enhance the teamwork skills among members.

We believe decent work comes from the strong team. Teamwork and commitment are always the most

important character to make an association strong. Hence, the team building activities are very important

for the sustainable development of our association.

Figure 26. Team-building Boating

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Pre-Christmas

Time: December 3, 2017

Venue: TUT

Cost: €152,72

Participants: 24

On December 3rd, 2017, members of CSSA Tampere organized an internal pre-Christmas party to

welcome the upcoming Christmas. The theme of this party is Pikkujoulu plus Hollywood: Dream

Factory. At our event, the room was creatively decorated. The Christmas tree was erected, so as

Christmas lights. The photo wall attracted everyone to take lots of pictures in front of it. Our food team

also prepared dessert table for us, with five different kinds of desserts. Then we drank Glögi and made

star pastry. We also exchanged Christmas gifts during Pikkujoulu, so everyone got their secrete

angle/satan in the coming year. It was indeed a very delightful evening.

Through this Pre-Christmas, we each department members got to know each other better. And all the

deserts and drinks in this event were made by ourselves. During the dessert making process, members

cooperated with each other, while enjoying, it also enhanced our teamwork.

Figure 27. Pre-Christmas Party

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Figure 28. Christmas Greeting from CSSA Tampere

Within or cross-sector team-building activities

As we mentioned previously, each sector in the association has the autonomy to run its sector under the

guidance of the Association goals, and organize internal team building activities by themselves. The

Association supports 10 euro per member per year for the sector development and teambuilding.

In 2017, the cost of sector team-building is: €90

Meetings of managerial board of CSSA Tampere

Regular meetings of managerial board members are the key to keep good communication and effective

cooperation among members of the Association. In 2017, we had a quarterly managerial meeting once

per season. In the meetings, we discussed the development of the Association and decided on the events

planning and organization. In the appendix, please find the meeting memo with our board members’

signature. Usually, during the meeting, we provided coffee and snacks for members. Or light meals were

provided to board members after the meeting.

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Meeting Time Venue Cost First board member

meeting January 18, 2017

UTA personal

expense

Second board member

meeting

March 17, 2017

Ravintola

Itsudemo €97,2

Third board member

meeting August 6, 2017

TUT €72,5

Fourth board member

meeting September 20, 2017

Living

Room

€124,5

Figure 29. CSSA Tampere Board Meeting

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3. Reflection

The year 2017 is a critical year for our CSSA Tampere ry. In this year, we adjusted our strategic goals to

align with the current needs of young people, particularly the Chinese students and scholars in Tampere.

Following these goals, we carried out more diverse activities to address the needs of the students and

scholars in Tampere. Through our joint effort, we achieved our expectations fruitfully within the journey

fulfilling our missions not only towards the developmental goals of the city but also towards the wide

recognition from the students and scholars in Tampere. We were also highly recognized and praised by

the Chinese Embassy in Finland for our efforts in helping Chinese students and scholars in Tampere area

throughout the year.

However, it was also a challenging year despite the glory we received. Due to the transition of the

managerial board, we missed the deadline for the municipal funding application in 2017. The city’s

financial support has been significant for the development of our association for years. Due to the lack

of funding, many of our ideas, such as the opening of WeChat official account for CSSA Tampere, Fin-

inspired Chinese Scholar Talk, Chinese Talents Pool, etc. were put on hold or carried out slowly, although

we struggled and managed to diversify our funding incomes and accomplished the majority eventually.

Therefore, in early 2018, we started preparing for the funding application more carefully than ever,

believing that we could achieve far greater in the coming year with the funding.

Coming to the transition of the new year, we thoroughly reflect on what we have achieved and learn from

what we have failed. More importantly, we always look to the future, the big picture that we could

achieve with more of our diligence and passion. It always fills us with excitement and inspiration. Being

the Chinese living in Finland, when witnessing the rapid development of China and Finland as well as

the advancing cooperation between both countries, we are always thankful and even more determined.

We are the proud icon of our great nation and people in Finland, and also the humble messengers and

linkages of the cultures. Together with the increasing communications between the two countries, we are

fully aware of our responsibility and obligations and always ready to serve. Within this golden era of

ours, we are more than happy to contribute to the deepening communication and cooperation between

the two countries for the even brighter future of ours.

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Appendixes:

1. Managerial board meeting memo on January 18, 2017

2. Managerial board meeting memo on March 13, 2017

3. Managerial board meeting memo on August 6, 2017

4. Managerial board meeting memo on September 20, 2017