On the evening of January 20, the 2023 Spring Festival Gala Themed on “Spring Blossoms for a Better Life” jointly created by artists from China, India, Cambodia and Mongolia, was launched on the domestic and overseas platforms of China News, offering a diverse cultural feast of the Chinese Spring Festival to the global audience.
This activity is one of highlights in the 2023 “Celebrate the Spring Festival and Pray for Blessings around the World” Gala and the Spring Festival Cultural Exchanges among China, India, Cambodia and Mongolia sponsored by the Information Office and the Office of International Affairs of the People’s Government of Yunnan Province and organized by Yunnan Office of China News.
Tao Chun, the national first-class director, who also acts as the general director of this Gala, introduces that this activity has three major features: the brand-new artistic expression, which highlights Chinese traditional culture and Yunnan elements, and skillfully integrates the excellent culture and art of China, India, Cambodia and Mongolia.
Brand-new expression+fashion elements
At the gala, the vocal performance show The Spring Festival Is Coming in the Sound of “Bamboo Instruments” was staged in the bamboo forest in Yuxi, Yunnan. Jia Zhengfu (stage name: Luoluo Basi), an original ecological artist of Yunnan, joined hands with Yuxi Nie Er Bamboo Orchestra to play music and dance with bamboo, which indeed amazed the audience.
On the China-Laos railway train, the original rap song Take High-speed Railway to Appreciate Scenery of Sea jointly created by Jiang Mingchu, a famous lyric writer of Yunnan Province and Yue Shaopeng, a young composer of Yunnan Province, made a striking appearance, and the wonderful mix of Chinese style and rap presented a new chapter in China’s opening to the outside world.
“Different from the regular party, this filming is completed outside the studio, and a large number of programs are filmed in the real scenes, which can be said to be an attempt of a brand-new artistic expression.” Tao Chun introduced that the creative team also added a lot of fashionable and popular elements in the programs, such as rap, street dance, flash, etc., which made the gala more popular among young people.
Chinese traditional culture+rich Yunnan elements
In the dance Rabbits Welcome the Spring Festival, a group of cute little actors dressed as the image of the Jade Rabbit in China’s traditional culture, stepped on a cheerful beat and send the Spring Festival greetings to the Year of the Rabbit. Moreover, the performance Festively Singing and Dancing was a fusion of the Wa people’s “hair dance” and “wooden drum dance”, which showed the enthusiastic and unrestrained characters of the Wa girls and boys.
The programs such as Flowers and Youth, Harmonious Rainforest and Meet in Beautiful Yunnan also presented Chinese martial arts, Yunnan’s biodiversity and folk customs of different nationalities respectively.
Tao Chun said that the traditional Chinese cultural elements and a large number of splendid Yunnan elements presented made the gala an excellent opportunity for the world to know about Yunnan and China.
Integration of the culture and art of China, India, Cambodia and Mongolia
The enchanting and swaying Indian dance Oriental Charm explained the charming oriental style of India, a “Kingdom of Song and Dance”, and became one of the most popular programs on the gala.
In the Light of Friendship, a peacock dance created by China and Cambodia, “dancers dressed in peacock costumes” from China and Cambodia performed together on the stage, and vividly imitated the peacock’s demeanor, such as “walking in the forest”, “flapping wings” and “drinking water”.
Tao Chun said that programs such as Romance of Grassland and Smile of Angkor presented beautiful songs and dances from China, India, Cambodia and Mongolia, and programs such as Love for China, a song co-operated by Chinese and Cambodian actors, and flash shows of songs and dances from various countries integrated the artistic forms of various countries.
“I see a beautiful picture of China’s friendly exchanges and harmonious coexistence with neighboring countries at this gala.” Chinese audience Tang Siying said.
Overseas audience “Wanna” commented that the performance at the gala was very attractive, and the folk art of China, India, Cambodia and Mongolia was amazing.
It is worth mentioning that this gala was broadcast simultaneously on India’s Himalayan News Chronicle, Cambodia’s national TV and Mongolia’s Darkhan News.