09-26-2007

Joy Shared with People from All Over the World Getting Together in Suzhou:

The Grant Opening of the 7th China International Folk Art Festival 

The Rostrum of the Opening Ceremony    From Website of China Federation of Literary and Art Circles   Photographed by Meng Xiangning

Hu Zhenmin, Secretary of the Party Committee and Executive Vice Chairman of CFLAC, extended his address at the opening ceremony.

From Website of China Federation of Literary and Art Circles   Photographed by Meng Xiangning

On the evening of September 25, 2007, the 7th China International Folk Art Festival, jointly sponsored by China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and Jiangsu Provincial Government, and held by Suzhou Municipal Government, Jiangsu Provincial Department of Culture and Jiangsu Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles, opened its curtains by the beautiful Jinji Lake in Suzhou. Over 460 artists from 22 countries got together and brought Suzhou citizens colorful foreign folk arts. Suzhou, on the evening of the Mid-Autumn Day, sang with the world and danced with people from 5 continents and became a place where multiple cultures converged and artists from different countries got together, which made the moon rounder and brighter in Suzhou.

The opening ceremony of this art festival was held in the International Exhibition Center of Suzhou Industrial Park. In the passionate music, the representative artists from 22 countries stood on the stage in turns and they exclaimed “Hello, Chinese friends!”.

Among the guests were Hu Zhenmin, Secretary of the Party Committee and Executive Vice Chairman of CFLAC and President of this art festival, Liang Baohua, Governor of Jiangsu Province and President of this art festival, Feng Yuan, member of the Party and Vice Chairman of CFLAC and Vice President of this art festival, Sun Zhijun, member of the standing committee and Minister of Publicity Department  of Jiangsu Provincial Government, and Zhang Taolin, Vice Governor of Jiangsu Province. People attending the ceremony also included guests and leaders from the Publicity Department of CCCPC, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, CFLAC, Jiangsu Provincial Department of Culture, Jiangsu Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles and related departments of Suzhou City, representatives of international art organizations as well as officials from related countries’ embassies in China, such as Cuban Embassy, German Embassy, Hungarian Embassy, Lithuanian Embassy, Sri Lankan Embassy, and Tanzanian Embassy.

Chen Zhili, the State Councilor, and Gu Xiulian, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, sent letters of congratulations to the opening of the art festival.

Hu Zhenmin extended his address at the opening ceremony and declared the opening of the art festival. He stated that art was not only language that transcended country borders but also the link for heart communication and the bridge for transmitting friendship. It is due to the competitive blossoming of diverse colorful flowers that the nature looks like beautiful and harmonious. It is due to the colorful and unique folk arts of different countries that the whole world is full of boundless vitality. He further said, “my dear friends from different countries and nations participating in the art festival, when you display your own excellent folk arts to Chinese audience, you also touch closely and get better understanding of the age-old and excellent Chinese culture and folk art; when you send your friendship to Chinese people, you could also feel Chinese people’s hospitality and kindness.

Liang Baohua also extended speech at the opening ceremony. He said, “it is extremely meaningful that the 7th China International Folk Art Festival opens in the beautiful historical city Suzhou. First of all, on behalf of Jiangsu Provincial Government, I would like to send warm congratulations and my warm welcome to all the guests and artists at present. Excellent folk art contains a nation’s wit and its unique spiritual value and presents the nation’s vitality and creativity, thus it is the treasure of all human beings. The excellent performances of artists from 22 countries will offer us a chance not only to appreciate the unique charm of folk arts of other nations but also to see the brilliance of different nations. We believe that through our mutual effort this art festival will definitely become a gala of folk arts and a festival of friendly communication and make active contributions to enhancing international art communication, promoting the development of cultural diversity and strengthening the friendship between people of different countries.

Wang Rong, Member of the standing committee of Jiangsu Provincial Government and Secretary of Suzhou Municipal Government, presided over the opening ceremony.

After the opening ceremony, a large-scale art performance, which combined folk characteristics and world fashion together, was offered to the audience. The whole performance took the multi-spatial, multi-perspective, multi-performing district and multi-category artistic ways, adopted such Suzhou typical elements as flower windows, pavilions and bridges, and used the techniques of video and multi-media. The whole performance not only presented the colorful folk arts of different nations but also fully displayed Suzhou’s deep cultural accumulation.

During the two-hour performance, art troupes of different countries displayed their unique and distinctive folk arts. The performance was opened in the melodious songs of the State Academic Siberian Russian Folk Choir. Afterwards, the folk dance Csardas---Oriental Tango performed by the Honved Dance Company of Hungary was passionate and unrestrained and distinctive in rhythm, which recounted a Hungarian love story with the nation’s unique dance language; performers of the SAULE Folk Music Ensemble of Lithuania made use of the most common utensils, such as pans and shovels, and played a melodious March of Utensils of Daily Use; girls of Park Jai-Hee Saeam Dance Company of Korea, through fans’opening, closing and turning, created a variety of figures of flowers, and the folk dance Flower Fan Dance displayed the interior beauty of Korean Culture; Mary Schneider, the Australian “Queen of Yodelling”, sang the well-known overture of classical operas with Yodelling way of singing and brought the audience a new artistic feeling; the Sisi Tambala Art Troupe of Tanzania melted indigenous music into the contemporary pop music and presented to people the legends of Clay Figure Captop; the Cretan Iliakis Nikolaos Folk Art Ensemble of Greece brought to Chinese audience a song Ode to Sports, which praises sports and Olympic spirit and was created jointly by Cretan artists; in addition, American hip-hop dance, Japanese classical dance, Peru men quartet, Hula-Hula Dance of Cook Islands, Italian panpipes, Sri Lanka Ves Dance……these programs all received warm applauses from the audience. At last, the performance came to a close with Peony Pavilion---Thoughts on Dreams which combined Kunqu opera and dance together and was performed by Suzhou Art Troupe.

Suzhou has a long history and since ancient times it has been a place where men of letters got together. With bridges and rivers, pink walls and dark tiles, Suzhou has numerous historical cultural heritages and is praised as Heaven on Earth and Oriental Venice. In the following days, from September 26th to September 30th, art troupes of different countries will form eight groups and give performances. They will adopt the way of combination of theater and square performance and combination of stage and improvisational performance and give a tour of 32 performances in 7 squares in Pingjiang district, Canglang district and Wuzhong district of Suzhou and 6 historical towns, such as Tongli, Jinxi, Qiandeng, etc., which will display to the most extent the art festival’s characteristic of being from people and highlight the atmosphere of festivals. Meanwhile, in order to promote the folk art communication, many excellent Suzhou folk art troupes will also give performances and compete with foreign art troupes on the same stage, which will make Chinese culture and foreign cultures contrast against each other on the stage of the art festival.

It is reported that the award-giving ceremony of the art festival---“Zhouzhuang in Four Seasons Share Joy with the World” will be held on the evening of September 30th on the overwater stage in Zhouzhuang.

Besides the main venue in Suzhou, from October 2nd to 6th, 10 excellent foreign art troupes will go to Beijing and give performances in Haidian Theater, PKU Centennial Lecture Hall, China Grand Theater so as to make more Chinese people enjoy the huge charm of world cultures.