Guangzhou University, Feb. 13, 2012:Over 300 Chinese and Italian guests gathered at Noventa Padovana Gymnasium in Padova, Italy, to celebrate the Chinese New Year at the occasion of “2012 Dragon Year Spring Festival Gala of Confucius School”.
The gala is organized by China National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (NOCFL), and co-hosted by Henan Provincial Department of Education and Confucius School of Padova University. Featured by the wonderful performance of Chinese folk music and Shaolin Martial Arts, as well as festive atmosphere, the gala is a complete success.
Unveiled by the well-known Chinese folk music, the singers and dancers fascinated both Italian and Chinese audience. Then came the long-awaited major performance of the gala: Shaolin Martial Arts, a renowned form of Chinese Kongfu. Right after they made their debut on the stage, the Shaolin Boys, practitioners of the Arts, presented the Shaolin shadowboxing both in northern style and southern style. All their kicking, gripping, binding and clashing won thunderous applause from the audience, not to mention their skillful play with swords, spears, rapiers, cudgels and many more traditional weapons. In the final performance, three Shaolin Masters presented their top secret that took everyone’s breath away: qigong. They could magically use qigong to break thick glass with a tiny needle, to smash a thick iron board and wood baton single-handedly, and to smash a stone with their head! After each of the exciting action, the stunned audience were cheering and clapping to pay tribute to the Masters and the Shaolin Martial Arts. In fact, the organizers were considerate enough to invite four Chinese folk musicians to play Pipa, Erhu, Dizi and other traditional Chinese music instruments, aiming to entertain and relieve the excited audience from the breath-holding Kongfu performance. After all, music can go beyond borders and reach out to people in different countries to know each other. So the Italian guests, including dozens of local primary school pupils and their parents, could have a better understanding of the Chinese culture by enjoying music and other arts. One of the parent exclaimed in Italian after she watched the performance with her son, “Molto bene.Molto affascinante!”, meaning “Very good! Really fascinating”.
(Photo: stunning performance of Shaolin Martial Arts )
A number of distinguished guests attend the gala, including Mr. Alessondro Bisato, mayor of Noventa Padovana. He gave a speech to extend his recognition and appreciation to the Confucius School of Padova University for promoting Chinese culture in Italy. After viewing the performance, he continued to exchange souvenirs with the leader of the performing team, Mr. Xu Henzheng, and with the dean of Confucius School, Prof. Xu Guanglie. The souvenirs included a T-shirt with a logo of Confucius School. The mayor was so excited that he took off his suit and put on the T-shirt, winning rounds of applause from the audience.
(Photo: Mr.Alessondro Bisato, mayor of Noventa Padovana, wore a T-shirt with a logo of Confucius School of Padova University.)
The gala attracted reporters from Italy Union Times, European Chinese News, Noventa Padovana TV Station, and European Chinese TV Station on the scene. Other organizations, such as Overseas Chinese Union in Venice Region and Overseas Chinese Club in Venice, sent their delegates to the gala. Some Chinese councilors in the city also graced the gala with their attendance.
Confucius School of Padova University has prepared for the gala since the end of last year. It conquered the difficulties of finance and venue together with the local Chinese community, thus winning huge success and high appraisal.
The gala is a project of “Three Tour Performance” held by NOCFL. The performing team invited 27 artists and practitioners in China Songshan Shaolin Martial Arts Vocational School, Henan University and Henan Normal University. They arrived in Italy this month and completed 4 performances in Milan, Turin, Bologna and Padovana.
Written by: Bai Xiaoli
Edited by: Ye Aiyun
Chinese