The Confucius Institute celebrated the Chinese New Year

Submitted by Dmitry_Gorbachev on Mon, 02/26/2024 - 16:44

On February 22, 2024, a festive concert dedicated to the most beloved holiday of the Chinese people – the Lunar New Year, was held in the university hall.

The hall was filled with guests, including Belarussian and foreign students, listeners of the Confucius Institute, as well as residents of the Gomel city, who came to this festive event.

At the beginning of the festive program, the director of the Confucius Institute from the Belarussian side, Professor A.V. Rogachev and the Vice-Rector for Academic work Yu.V. Nikityuk, delivered a welcoming speech, congratulating Chinese students and Chinese language teachers on their national holiday.

The audience saw colorful congratulatory videos in Chinese prepared by Belarussian students and friends of the Confucius Institute, as well as a special video greeting for the Lunar New Year from the Rector of Francisk Skorina Gomel State University, S.A. Khahomov.

At the beginning of the festive program, the Chinese language teachers impressed the audience with a spectacular dragon dance using traditional Chinese attributes.

The university hall was then filled with a stunning vocal performance by Xu Ran, a graduate student of the Faculty of Psychology and Pedagogy, who sang the folk song. His performance was so impressive and talented that no one of the audience remained indifferent.

The modern Chinese dance performed by second-year students of the Faculty of Philology Alexandra Maksimenko, Daria Drozdova and Alexandra Mukhina amazed the audience with its grace and technical precision.

Guzheng, an ancient Chinese string instrument is an integral part of Chinese musical culture. Sun Xiao, a graduate student at the Faculty of Psychology and Pedagogy, demonstrated her superb ability to play the guzheng, earning well-deserved appreciation from the audience.

Olga Statsenko, a laureate of the World Chinese Language Bridge Competition, made a splendid impression with her performance of the song “Bright light” in Chinese. Singing a song in a foreign language requires not only language skills but also mastery in conveying emotions through music which was undoubtedly achieved by the young artist.

The demonstrative performances and dances by the long-time friends and partners of the Confucius Institute from the Gomel Regional Wushu Federation undoubtedly added brightness and uniqueness to the concert. Annually, with the support of the Confucius Institute, our university hosts interregional Wushu tournaments, during which participants showcase traditional Chinese martial arts encompassing various styles and disciplines.

The festive concert dedicated to the Chinese New Year featured numerous impressive performances of different genres such as an artistic gymnastics routine with Chinese motifs by Maria Sidorenko, a saxophone rendition of Michel Legrand’s music by Alexey Loy, Russian song “Valenki” in Chinese language performed by Varvara Shilova and the song “And the snow is falling” performed by Daria Dvorak.

During the intervals between the artists’ creative performances, captivating and educational presentations were delivered by students and schoolchildren studying the Chinese language, adding variety and interest to the program. All the present gained a wealth of positive emotions, new Knowledge and impressions of the Chines New Year.

Festive event which was organized by the Confucius Institute at the Francisk Skorina Gomel State University became a bright and memorable event for everyone in attendance. This evening filled the hearts of guests with joy and delight, providing them with a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in the atmosphere of the Chinese New Year and feel part of Eastern culture.

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