A team of television personalities and actresses from Da Ai television station arrived in Singapore from East Malaysia on 7th December after staging three promotional shows in Miri, Kuching, and Sibu in the state of Sarawak. On 8th December, they staged a show at the Kreta Ayer People’s Theatre, and drew a crowd of around 1,100.

The audience gave lavish applause to show their appreciation to the lineup.

Despite being illiterate, 57-year-old Chen Su Juan is determined to learn. While watching Master Cheng Yen's "Life Wisdom" program, the dedicate viewer would pause and jot down the words that she didn't recognize.

The sharing by real-life character Sister Pan Liao Yeh and actress/Tzu Chi commissioner Lee Ching-mei, who played Sister Pan’s mother-in-law in the drama, brought warmth and spirit to the night.

Singer/actress Francesca Kao (far right) and Yang Kuei-mei who played the characters of the Wei family stood side by side with the real sister-brother pair and drama producer Chen Hui-ling to share what they have learnt from the life story of the charitable family – a legacy left by the Wei’s eldest sister Wei Hsing-fen. The late Tzu Chi volunteer had  established Tzu Chi missions in Arlington, Texas and piously engaged in Tzu Chi’s international relief before she passed away at the age of 50.

Golden Horse’s best leading actress Yang Kuei-mei has a talent for singing too. The songbird performed the soothing “There’s Love in the World” with the sign language team.

Mdm Chen Mei Feng and her daughter being interviewed by Da Ai TV news manager and newscaster Susan Yeh during the show.

The personalities and actresses went on stage to thank the audience and wish that Da Ai TV can soon become an official channel in Singapore.

Thanks to a friend who introduced Da Ai TV to her when she was spiritually down, Mdm Chen Chang Ying now embraces a whole new outlook on life.

Sea of people at the Jing Si Publication stall after the show.

When the night ended, participants flocked to get autographs from the actors, actresses and personalities.

Following its last performance in September 2008, Tzu Chi Foundation Singapore Branch invited the team of television personalities and actresses from Da Ai Television Station to stage “A Night of Great Love” to promote the television channel for the second time in Singapore.

The team of 12, which includes Yang Kuei-mei ,Francesca Kao , Lee Ching-mei and real life characters of two recently screened Da Ai dramas: Wei Hsing-chuan, Wei Liang-shiuh and Pan Liao Yeh, as well as Da Ai drama producer and winner of “Best Producer” of the 2004 Golden Bell Award, Chen Hui-ling, arrived from East Malaysia on 7th December to give their final performance before returning to Taiwan. Despite the busy schedule, the crew made the most of their time in this last stop, giving two sessions of spiritual talks on the night before and after the actual show. 

Lighting the way with technology

8th December happened to fall on a working day. Nonetheless, the show drew a crowd of 1100, who began to arrive at the Kreta Ayer People’s Theatre two hours before the start of the show. Right before the entrance, the audiences were introduced to the products of Jing Si Publication. Various books, CDs and DVDs by Taiwan’s Tzu Chi Da Ai TV were presented at the stall for browsing and purchasing.

Unlike many other countries, Da Ai TV is not among the mainstream television channels. However, many local Tzu chi volunteers could still view the programs on DaAi TV through internet streaming. In order to get access to the various quality programs from the channel, many senior volunteer even took the effort to learn the new-age-technology from the younger generation, and furthermore recommend the programs to others. The well received programs include “Da Ai Drama”, “All About Health - A Date with Dr. Jian”, “Tzu Chi In-Depth News”, “Children of Our Planet” etc. Documentaries such as “Life Wisdom”, “Master’s Journey” even served the volunteers as the main and most direct source of receiving Master Cheng Yen’s teaching.

57-year-old volunteer Chen Su Juan was once an “IT-illiterate” and has limited recognition of Chinese characters, which poses as a barrier in receiving master’s teaching.  However, such barrier was no excuse to hinder Sister Chen Su Juan from pursuing Master’s wisdom. With the help and guidance from her son, she is now savvy in accessing the internet to watch Da Ai TV. Not only does Sister Chen now able to gain contact to Master’s teachings daily through Da Ai TV, she has also achieved to improve her Chinese language. As she has the habit of copying wisdom words or phrases off the channel, she is now able to recognize at least 90% of the Chinese characters.

The night’s program started off with a sign language song performance “Great Love Brightens Up the World” by the Unity sign language team. The atmosphere was embraced in warmth and affection when Tzu Chi commissioner/actress Lee Ching-mei sang the song of “The World Embrace in Love” with sign language performance by the sign language team. Da Ai station news manager and newscaster Susan Yeh is the emcee for the night. With her many years of media experience, the audience was introduced to the broad based and inspiring programs of Da Ai Television station.

The short clips featured in the lineup includes those from “Da Ai Drama”, “Life Wisdom”, “Da Ai News”, “Children of Our Planet”, “Contact Book of Blessings” etc.  Through these short videos, the audiences gained a better understanding of the program offered while witnessed a clear stream of media that started 11 years ago.

Da Ai TV a popular choice

After watching the Da Ai Children’s program “Contact Book of Blessings” on parent-child relationship, audience Chen Mei Feng who came with her daughter shared that she always refers to her daughter as tele-com (telephone, computer and telephone).  Whenever her daughter is on the phone with the computer on and watching the television program at the same time, she will angrily asked her to go and do her homework, which leads to tension between mother and daughter. After watching the program, both mother and daughter agreed that they should learn to communicate with each other more kindly.

In the show, the emcee also introduced two series of Da Ai Drama, whilst the real life characters of the drama series took to the stage to share their personal stories. The lessons from their lives stroke a chord with the audience and the DVDs of these two drama series were almost sold out after the show.

Audience Huang Li Ping got to know of Da Ai drama as she is a fan of Yang Kuei-mei. Albeit not a drama series lover, Ms Huang was attracted to the Da Ai drama Yang acted in, and after the first encounter, she now watches Da Ai TV regularly. She loves to watch Master Cheng Yen’s “Life Wisdom” which she finds very inspiring. She also introduces the online channel to her friends. Ms Huang expressed her regrets of not being able to watch the channel with her family through the normal television channel as in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Another audience, Chen Chang Ying who was in the transportation business, said that she was introduced to the TV station at a time when she felt miserable in life. “I tuned in to Master Cheng Yen's program every day. The Master’s teaching has changed my perception of life. It's really important to have love in this world and I find that life is very meaningful each day now.”

Although viewers in Singapore can only access the Da Ai channel online, it has nonetheless asserted its influence of good and kindness in local society.  “A night of Great Love” has played its part in the promotion of the spiritually invigorating program produced by the Da Ai TV. It is the hope of all that the station can soon become an official channel in Singapore.