From January 31 to February 8, a group of 12 headed by Ding Lin and Wang Shuai, faculty members of BDA Department of Chinese Classical Dance, participated in the 10th and 13th “Happy Chinese New Year” cultural temple event in Estonia and Finland respectively. The event was jointly sponsored by Chinese Embassy in Estonia, Chinese Embassy in Finland, People’s Government of Beijing Municipality, Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, Cultural Bureau of the City of Tallinn, and Culture and Leisure Bureau of the City of Helsinki, and organized by Beijing Overseas Cultural Exchanges Center, Culture Center Caisa of the Culture and Leisure Bureau of Helsinki, and Finland-China Society.

The group gave a total of five performances in Tallinn, Estonia and Helsinki, Finland, including “Qin Warriors”, “The Slender Young Ladies in the Area Chu”, “The Romance under an Umbrella”, “Ode to the Lotus Flower”, and “Happy Chinese New Year”, sending new year greetings along with performers from other art troupes to international audiences and overseas Chinese.

The “Happy Chinese New Year” event is highly valued by the local government. The mayors of Tallinn and Helsinki as well as the Chinese ambassadors to Estonia and Finland attended and spoke at the event. The performances in the two cities attracted over 50,000 local audiences and overseas Chinese, and were greeted with high acclaim and warm applause. Chairman of the Council of Tallinn Mihhail Kõlvart said that the celebration that has lasted for ten years has already become Tallinn citizens’ own festival, and Mayor of Helsinki Jan Vapaavuori said that as Chinese New Year celebrations become ever more appealing, they have now become an indispensable festival in Helsinki during winter times.
 

The event forges a bridge of cultural communication between China and Estonia and Finland, and also represents an important experience for our students. Three of the performances took place outdoors. Our students completed the performances with great professional excellency against cold weather, winning wide acclaim from relevant organizers of the event.
 

(Department of Chinese Classical Dance)
(Editor / Du Peng)