There are just five days to go until the amazing annual Blossom Parade wends its way through Hastings city streets; and Hastings District councillor Kevin Watkins will need every one of those days.

In his sixth week of preparing his Amazing China Face Race float, he is almost at the finish line. “It’s going to be fantastic. It will be worth every minute spent on it”, he said yesterday [September 10].

His float celebrates this year’s Amazing China Face Race competition. The competition, designed to foster an understanding of China in Hastings students, is held every two to three years. It sees secondary students put all their sleuthing skills into action to “find the one face in a billion” in China. Clues help the students eliminate regions that are not home to the ‘Face’, with the final clues helping them to find the person, contact them for the key word, and call that into Mr Watkins to take the prize.

This year’s winner, Iona College’s Caitlin Thomas, will be aboard the float, just one day before she heads off to China on the trip that is her prize for taking out the competition.

Mr Watkins’ float boasts look-a-like marble steps that are so much a part of Chinese architecture, lotus blossoms and, of course, a massive photo of the Face: Li Jiazhentong. After the previous competition, the Face was able to be in Hastings for the Blossom Parade, however this time that was “sadly not possible”, said Mr Watkins.

“Li Jiazhentong is a dancer with a national Chinese cultural group and has commitments that mean she will not be able to visit our beautiful city until next year.”

In the meantime, the work goes on, fitting out a float worthy of the importance of the competition. “We have had some amazing support for the competition and everything around it including the float; not the least of which is a partnership with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China NZ.”

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