On the night of October 30th, the 2019 Art Salon for Diplomatic Envoys to China, jointly organized by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism and the People’s Government of Beijing Dongcheng District, kicked off at the Beijing Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) City Wall Relics Park. Attendees included nearly 100 representatives of embassies to China, cultural centers in Beijing and tourism offices in Beijjng, and overseas students.
Chen Dong, Party secretary of Beijing’s Culture and Tourism Bureau, Song Yu, head of the Beijing Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau, Cao Pengcheng, deputy head of the Beijing Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau, and Li Xuemin, head of the Culture and Tourism Bureau of Beijing Dongcheng District, attended the event. Song Yu introduced Beijing’s integrated development of culture and tourism for foreign guests, expressing his wish for further reinforcing exchanges and cooperation in culture and tourism. During the event, the organizer promoted such Beijing’s cultural and tourism projects in English as the Chinese Zodiac Design Competition, the China-CEEC Culture and Art Carnival, the Latin American and Caribbean Culture and Art Carnival, the International Canal Art Week, as well as upcoming Beijing Overseas Cultural Exchange Center. Beijing’s new attempt was vividly demonstrated in building cultural and tourism brands and improving its image as a tourism destination against the backdrop of the integrated development of culture and tourism.
The venue, Beijing Ming Dynasty City Wall Relics Park, was firstly built in 1419 with a long history of 600 years. During the event, foreign guests watched dazzling cultural and art performances and experienced intangible cultural heritages represented by paper-cutting, knot-weaving, “Tayin” (woodblock printing) and Beijing velvet flower. Jiumu percussion band performed the song of Encourage China; Zhang Xinyue, an actor of the Jingju Theatre Company of Beijing, performed classic clips of The Drunken Concubine; Cao Kai, who is from China National Acrobatic Troupe, presented the show of combining tapping dance with ball bouncing; Haya Band staged the songs of Link and La-Li. Besides, people were amazed at the techniques of paper-cutting by Xu Yang, an inheritor of paper-cutting, who made the paper-cutting works for guests according to their portrait. Yi Xuelian, a Chinese knot artist, was weaving various Chinese knots including concentric knots, safe knots and reunion knots, and the guests were invited to sample it. Cai Zhigang, the sixth generation of velvet flower techniques, has left a deep impression for his wonderful skills. Wang Zexu, principle of the Attached Middle School to the Central Academy of Art and Design, guided the guests to create their own favorite pictures with the traditional skills of “Tayin”. The noodle chef was showcasing the skills of Chinese noodles to broadcast the charm of Chinese cuisine.
This art salon event features colourful activities. In the historical Beijing Ming Dynasty City Wall Relics Park, the guests had a close encounter with a marvellous and charming Chinese culture through performances and interactive experiences. When actively participating in the cultural activities, they were all looking forward to more future exchanges and cooperation in culture and tourism with Beijing.