Entrusted by the Confucius Institute Headquarters / Hanban, the 20-member delegation led by Mr. Zou Hongru, deputy party secretary of CSUST, conducted a 15-day tour of Chinese culture and art exchange activities themed “Enchanting China ? Charming Hunan” in five countries in Central and Eastern Europe from October 12 to 26 .
The tour performance forms an essential part of the “Three Touring Projects” (tour performance, tour lecturing, tour exhibition) initiated by Confucius Institute Headquarters / Hanban, which aims to promote the rich and diverse Chinese culture to the audience abroad through the form of performing arts. The Art Troupe consisted of CSUST teachers and students, of whom none are art majors. They made full use of their spare time to practice and rehearsal, completely out of love for and pursuit of art. Performance programs included ethnic dances, instrumental music, folk singing and Tai chi, to be specific, Miao ethnic minority dance “Leaf Sound”, Tibetan dance “Cradle on the Yak’s back”, Dai ethnic minority dance “Zanha”, Uygur dance “Unveil Your Wedding Cover”, ”Pretty Dan”, Pipa solo “Ambush from All Sides”, instrumental ensemble “Ju Hua Tai”, songs”The Sun that Never Sets on the Prairie”, “Beautiful Home “,” Kiss of the Motherland “and Tai chi performance.
In 15 days’ time, the delegation staged eight performances in five countries, namely the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, the University of Novi Sad, Serbia, the University of Belgrade, Serbia, the University of Montenegro, Montenegro, St. Cyril and Methodius University, Macedonia, and the University of Tirana, Albania. The performances attracted a wide variety of audiences, including local citizens, Chinese embassy staff, teachers and students of the Confucius Institute and the Chinese community. Wherever the performance was presented, a packed hall with friendly and enthusiastic audience could be expected. Each and every individual program provided the audience a bridge to know the colorful and diversified Chinese culture and offered them a chance to gain an intuitive and direct understanding of Chinese art and local culture of Hunan. The performances promoted cultural exchanges with local people, drew closer the bond between Chinese and local residents and gave full play to the role of college students as culture-promoters. The delegation successfully completed the mission of this tour performance, attracted widespread attention and won unanimous acclaim of both domestic and international media.
According to incomplete statistics, up to now, domestic media, such as Xinhua net, website of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of People's Republic of China, China Overseas net and foreign media in the above-mentioned five countries reported over 10 times about the event. Members from the delegation were invited by Montenegrin state television, Macedonia state television and commercial television Sitel and other media for live broadcast for six times.
