Spring Festival Observed Worldwide

Celebrations spring up in major cities around the globe to share Chinese culture with all

As a traditionally cultural event, this year's "Happy Chinese New Year, Charming Beijing" saw groups from the capital offer performances, cultural fairs, exhibitions and training activities in 35 countries and regions, including the United States, Germany and France.

A major part of the "Happy Chinese New Year" series, the diverse activities initiated by the Beijing groups brought the joy of Spring Festival to overseas spectators and promoted the city's history, culture and folk customs, said the events' organizers.

The Ministry of Culture has hosted Spring Festival-themed activities overseas since 2001 to promote China's rich cultural heritage around the world. In 2009, the series was named "Happy Chinese New Year" in the hope that Spring Festival would connect people worldwide.

Of the Beijing performing and cultural groups on overseas tours, one came to the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills in the US for the third time to stage a gala evening and exhibitions of pictures and handicrafts on Jan 21, attracting more than 1,800 spectators.

Among those in attendance at the opening ceremony were Beverly Hills Mayor John Mirisch, Liu Jian, China's consul general in Los Angeles, and local guests from the education, tourism, culture and press industries.

Xin Jiang, deputy general manager at Beijing Performance & Arts Group, said the variety show consisted of representative Chinese acrobatics, folk music, Peking Opera and dances. The performers came from the China National Acrobatic Troupe, Beijing Dance Drama & Opera, Beijing Chinese Orchestra and a Beijing-based Peking Opera troupe.

At the show, a modern dance named Beijing Impression presented the stylish atmosphere of Beijing as an international metropolis. A performance integrating rock and folk music offered a special taste to the US audience.

The picture exhibition provided more than 50 photos, promoting traditional Spring Festival customs such as pasting festival scrolls, setting off firecrackers and having Lunar New Year's Eve dinner with family members.

Some of the pictures also showed Beijing residents taking part in winter sports in anticipation of the 2022 Winter Olympics, which will take place in Beijing and Zhang Jiakou, a city in neighboring Hebei province.

Intangible cultural heritage exhibitions have been a feature of the "Charming Beijing" events, featuring such art forms as paper-cutting and Chinese calligraphy.

Zhang Fengqin, an inheritor of papercutting, and calligrapher Guo Baoqing showcased their techniques at the exhibition and presented their works to spectators to share with them the Spring Festival atmosphere of Beijing.

Mary de Hoyos, a local resident, said that it was the third time she had seen the performances and displays, and that she enjoys new surprises and more understanding every time, as Chinese culture is vast and profound.

As this year's event ended, she was already looking forward to next year's, she said.

On Jan 25, spectators in Madrid waited in a long line for performances from China, including Peking Opera, dances and acrobatics. Some of the audience said that, despite language barriers and cultural differences, they could feel the happy and auspicious Spring Festival atmosphere conveyed by the shows.

Scenes at a fair hosted in Helsinki, Finland, on Jan 27 were just like those in Beijing. Red lanterns and tents could be seen along a business street in downtown Helsinki, creating a festive Lunar New Year atmosphere.

There were paper-cutting works, New Year paintings and straw-plaited articles in the tents for local residents. One of the visitors said that she knew 2017 to be the Chinese Year of Rooster, and that she was born in the Year of the Pig.

She said she is learning Chinese and interested in China, hoping to someday visit the country.

Chen Li, Chinese ambassador to Finland, said: "The street was a very quiet area in Helsinki, but the 'Happy Chinese New Year' has made it become busy and that is Chinese culture's charm."

The lively sounds of suona, a Chinese double-reed woodwind instrument, attracted the fair's visitors to a stage at one end of the street, where a Beijing folk arts troupe performed a Jingxi Taiping drum dance, among the first national intangible cultural heritage items in China.

In Toronto, Canada, the Beijing Symphony Orchestra staged a concert on Feb 9, which attracted more than 3,000 spectators. The concert, led by noted Chinese conductor Tang Muhai, started with Canadian and Chinese anthems, indicating the profound friendship between the two countries' people.

Chinese violinist Ning Feng and the orchestra cooperated to perform the only violin concerto of Johannes Brahms, a German composer, which echoes idyllic pastoral and Hungarian folk music.

Meng Haidong, deputy president at the orchestra, gave an interview with an influential television station in Toronto on the same day and talked about the orchestra's performances in North America during the "Happy Chinese New Year" event.

A party was hosted after the concert, where Canadian representatives from different fields praised the orchestra's performances and said they hope the orchestra will frequently visit Toronto to hold concerts.

songmengxing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 02/16/2017 page7)