The Confucius Institute at Wesleyan college held a Chinese artistic performance to celebrate the International Cherry Blossom Festival of Macon and was invited to perform at the closing ceremony of the event. As the first Chinese artistic performance in the history of the festival, the wonderful show was well received by the local people and the Confucius Institute was highly regarded by Jack Feire, the chairman of the organizing committee of the festival, as the other calling card of the city besides the festival.
The performance, hosted by Dr. Jiang Xiaoping, the director of the institute and Steve Farr, the vice president of Wesleyan College, started with a dance of a joyful celebration for harvests following a heavy snowfall.Highlights came after another with Chinese folk dances, ballads, Kongfu performance, traditional Chinese instrument performance and a traditional Chinese costume fashion show as well as classic Chinese songs sung by Professors from Wesleyan. The show ended in the chorus of "Edelweiss", with all audience rising and applauding to express their appreciation.
On March 29, the closing ceremony of "International Cherry Blossom Festival" was held on the lawn of Wesleyan College, attracting more than 600 visitors from all over the world. Folk dances of Chinese minority ethnic groups and modern dance were performed to show the diversity of Chinese dance by the Confucius Institute at the ceremony. The teachers and students also played the Guzheng and sang classic Chinese songs to display the charm of Chinese music.
It is known that Macon is famous for its cherry blossom in the U. S. During the festival, prestigious musicians and performance groups were invited to put on shows for tourists from the world and the Confucius Institute was the only one of the universities and colleges invited to perform for the festival this year.
Chinese