Colombo, February 26 (newsin.asia): People of Sri Lanka’s capital city of Colombo were treated to a Chinese Cultural Festival from February 16 to 24, which gave them glimpses of China’s rich and variegated culture in cooking, paper art, calligraphy, fashion, dance and music. The posh Colombo City Center was the venue of the extravaganza.
On the opening day, China’s Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Cheng Xueyuan, took the stage to send a “blessing” to the locals and told the audience about China’s “blessing” culture.
Through the nine days, expert cooks displayed the method of making a variety of mouth-watering Chinese dishes including the popular dish the “dumpling”. Dumpling consists of pieces of dough wrapped around fillings of meat, fish or veggies, which had either been baked, boiled or fried.
Pretty Chinese girls resident in Sri Lanka, deftly flipped their hands to soften the dough for the dumplings. Then they neatly wrapped different fillings into the dumplings and invited the audience to have a go at the dish. “Hmmm…delicious!” the audience exclaimed, to nobody’s surprise.
There were skilled artists who displayed paper art, calligraphy and landscape painting. Chinese calligraphers patiently displayed their artistic skill so that everybody could see the intricate work.
Painters showed how to paint the Chinese plum and flowers like chrysanthemum, lotus, and peony, on the traditional Chinese fan.
Musicians played the Guzheng, a stringed instrument which is plucked with the fingers like the Santoor or Sitar.
Also on display was Cheongsam, a typical, traditional, feminine body-hugging dress with distinctive Chinese features characteristic of the Manchu Imperial era. Cheongsam was a fashion statement among the elite of the commercial city of Shanghai in the 1920s and 1930s.
Every day, various aspects of Chinese culture were exhibited to the delight of locals and tourists from all over the world.
On February 24, the closing day, there was an enchanting Cheongsam Show “South of Jiangnan” to the accompaniment of tuneful Chinese music. The audience couldn’t help clapping and cheering as actors, wearing colorful Chinese cheongsams, and holding floral umbrellas emblazoned with traditional Chinese patterns and fans, gracefully stepped on to the stage for the performance.
The Chinese Lantern Festival and the Sri Lankan Buddhist “Navam Moon Festival” had taken place at the same time. The Chinese culture week uses these occasions to showcase Chinese culture in Sri Lanka and bring joy to the people of the island as well as the overseas Chinese.
The Chinese Cultural Week was organized by the local overseas Chinese community with support from the Chinese Embassy, the China Cultural Center, the Association of Overseas Chinese, the China Help Center and other institutions.
(The above report is based on a story in the Chinese news agency Xinhua written by Tang Lu and Zhu Riiqing)
