GCI Successfully Organized the Chinese Festival 2019

Gepubliseerd op 25.09.2019

On 21September 2019, the Groningen Confucius Institute (GCI) successfully organized the annual Chinese Festival held at the Hortus Botanicus gardens in Haren. Around 600 visitors attended throughout the day.

The main stage of the event

The grand event started with a wonderful lion dance performed by Wushu Society BaoTrieu. After this festive kick-off, Mr PingLuo, Education Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in the Netherlands, delivered an opening speech expressing his hope that the cooperation and dialogue on language education between the Netherlands and China may be further strengthened.

Mr PingLuo, Education Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in the Netherlands, giving his opening speech

During the course of the festival, participants enjoyed two rounds of performances. In the first session, Wei Jiang, a teacher at GCI, sang a Chinese song titled ‘The Legend of the White Snake’, which tells the love story of Xu Xian and BaiSuzhen,a white snake that turns into a woman.

After the song, Yujie Xiang performed theChinese Uyghur dance‘Lifting Your Veil’, which appealed to the audience, offering a glimpse into the ethnic and cultural diversity of China through dance. The last performance of the first session was another Chinese song called ‘Bridge of Fate’,sung by YanliRen and Yuzhu Wei, who both teach at GCI.

The lion dance byWushu Society BaoTrieu

Wei Jiang, a GCI teacher, singing the Chinese song ‘The Legend of the White Snake’

After the first round of performances, teachers from GCI and Wushu Society BaoTrieu conducted a range of workshops, including on Chinese calligraphy, face mask painting, making Chinese characters with Lego and beads, Chinese language for adults, lion dance and the basic techniques of Kung Fu. The participants were highly engaged in the workshops and experienced the charmof the Chinese language and culture.

The calligraphy workshop

Participants of the face mask painting workshop displaying their work

In the closing session, GCI teacher JingfanXie and her student Angelo Sarijoen performed the Guzheng and guitar duet ‘A Life of Fighting Is But a Dream’, which demonstrated the unique combination of the traditional Chinese instrument and the Western instrument. The Chinese fan dance performed by Zhou Zhou showed the beauty of this special form of Chinese folk dance.

The cross-talk show ‘Flappie’was hosted in a unique way by Chinese student Yubo Zhang, who spoke in Dutch, and Dutch student NolDuindam, who spoke in Chinese. After this, Patricia de Jong, a student at one of the GCI’s teaching points, Christelijk College Groevenbeek, performed a Chinese song,‘Love Exists’,demonstrating excellent Chinese pronunciation.

Yujie Xiang performing the Chinese Uyghur dance‘Lifting Your Veil

Patricia de Jong, a student from one of the GCI teaching point singing the Chinese song ‘Love Exists’

The final performance, abrilliant dragon dance by Wushu Society BaoTrieu, marked the perfect endingto the 2019 edition of the Chinese festival.

The Wushu/Kung Fu workshop

Each year, the Chinese festival organized by GCI has caught theattention of a large number of people. The festival’s specially conceived and carefully presented performances and workshops offer participantsan authentic taste of the Chinese language and Chinese culture – and an opportunity to deepen their understanding of both.