Home>>China
Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, October 31, 2002

Chinese Arts Convey Friendship

On the evening of October 28, the play of the national anthems of China and Egypt in the Theatre of Cairo marked the beginning of the "China Culture Week". After successively addressing the opening ceremony, Chinese and Egyptian culture ministers and Chinese ambassador to Egypt sang the praises of the traditional friendship between China and Egypt.


PRINT DISCUSSION CHINESE SEND TO FRIEND



Chinese Culture Week in Egypt
On the evening of October 28, the play of the national anthems of China and Egypt in the Theatre of Cairo marked the beginning of the "China Culture Week". After successively addressing the opening ceremony, Chinese and Egyptian culture ministers and Chinese ambassador to Egypt sang the praises of the traditional friendship between China and Egypt.

The Central Nationalities Orchestra of China, the Peking Opera Troupe of China and the Acrobatic Troupe of China jointly gave performances at the evening party. The audiences were captivated by the superb performing skills of Chinese artists, which led to one climax after another. The evening party began with the program "Good News from Beijing Reaches Borderland Village", an ensemble of folk music, followed by flute solo "Herdsmen's New Song", Pipa (a 4-stringed Chinese lute) solo "Ambush on All Sides", Erhu (a two-stringed instrument) solo "The Galloping of Battle Steed" and Jinghu (Peking Opera fiddle) solo "In the Depth of Night". For the Egyptian audiences who seldom contact Chinese folk music, they were deeply moved by all the opera programs.

Peking Opera is obviously strange to the Arabs. The libretto translated into Arabic, in particular, had more or less lost its original charm, so some people doubted whether it could be accepted by the Egyptian audiences. During the performances, this reporter paid attention to the reaction in the hall of the theatre. Although many audiences often turned their eyes to the captions on the right side of the stage, The two items, passages of "The Wild Boar Forest" and "The General Bids Farewell to His Concubine," were acclaimed by the audiences.

Acrobatic and Magic were equally well-received programs. When the magician hooked up a live, darting carp from before the two culture ministers, the whole theatre burst into warm, cheerful applause, laughter and exclamation. The development of "facial change" from Sichuan opera into "apparel change" by acrobats, which was mingled with magic, enthralled the Egyptian audiences who praised: "That's great, really great!" When the small acrobatic programs such as jujitsu, and carrying wineglasses on the head while climbing a ladder, the hall became utterly quiet. After the performers successfully completed all difficult actions, the audiences had a sense of relief. An Egyptian friend sitting behind the reporter incessantly raised his thumb, saying "first-class, absolutely first-class feats!"

The evening party ended with the two Arabic songs "Basbusa" and "Happy Journey" sung by Zhu Mingying. When the Egyptian audiences heard the songs sung by a Chinese woman singer in local national language, which were familiar to them, they couldn't help "accompanying" Zhu with clapping.

The nearly two-hour performances ended imperceptibly, audiences in the theatre were reluctant to leave, they thanked the Chinese artists with long-time, warm applause for letting them spend a beautiful, unforgettable night.

The complete success of the first act of performances made a good start for the activity series of the "China Culture Week". Reports say that in order to celebrate the 46th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Egypt, Chinese Culture Minister Sun Jiazheng is leading a large government cultural delegation to visit Egypt, the "culture week" will make a concentrated display of the local customs and practices and the essence of the traditional culture of China. On October 28, Egyptian Prime Minister Ated Obeid met with Sun Jiazheng, after that, Sun told the reporter that China and Egypt are both ancient civilized countries in the world, and both possess glorious, time-honored cultures. How should these two ancient civilized countries march with time and advance toward modernization; and how should the ancient national cultures maintain their own characteristics and ideological and cultural independence in the surging tide of economic globalization mark the differences between this "China Culture Week" and previous similar activities.



By People's Daily Online




Questions?Comments? Click here
    Advanced






Chinese Culture Week Opens Window on China: Ambassador

Sino-Egyptian Cultural Links Beneficial to Both: Minister

Egyptians Enthusiastic about Chinese Culture





 


Taiwanese Lawmakers Propose Charter Flights to Chinese Mainland ( 11 Messages)

China's Spacemen Expected to Dart off the Earth in Three Years ( 11 Messages)

China May Outstrip US as World's Largest FDI Recipient: UNCTAD ( 52 Messages)

Facing AIDS, Silence is Death ( 4 Messages)

China Plans to Build Two Huge Hydropower Stations ( 3 Messages)



Copyright by People's Daily Online, all rights reserved