2016 Spring Festival Gala in Latvia
Local time at 4:00pm on February 6th in 2016, 2016 Spring Festival Gala had been successfully held by Confucius Institute at University of Latvia and Chinese Latvian Association in Latvia. The Gala ,which aimed to celebrate Chinese traditional festival, attracted lots of Latvian people. It deepened friendship between Latvian and Chinese people and make more people learn more about Chinese culture. The whole Gala was held in lively, fun, warm and peaceful atmosphere.
At the beginning of Spring Festival Gala, the president of Chinese Latvian Association welcome every guest and introduced the development of local Chinese. Then the rector of University of Latvia made a statement and reckoned that Confucius Institute and Chinese teachers in Latvia played an important role in the promotion of Chinese teaching in Latvia. At last, H.E. Mr. Huang Yong, Ambassador of China to Latvia made a statement. He affirmed the efforts that the two governments and people made in exchanges, and believed that the relationship between China and Latvia would move to a new progress. In their speeches, the four guests simultaneously sent greetings to the Chinese community in Latvia and wished the Gala a success.
After speeches, the student representatives of each Chinese teaching programs and local Chinese representatives gave us rich and colorful performances, which showed Chinese traditional culture. At first, Latvian Wushu Association brought wonderful dragon and lion dances, which made the whole hall full of a deep sense of Chinese in flavor. Followed by this, a local Chinese representative sang a song “Jia zai dong bei” The student representatives of each Chinese teaching programs sang the song “Pengyou” with deeply feeling. Lauma Ēdelmane, the student in Confucius Institute, showed Chinese classical dance “Juan zhu lian”. The winners of “Chinese Bridge” sang the rap song “Nü shen bu shuo hua” lively. Teachers and students in Daugavpils University recited poetry “Sheng zha zi yuan xi”, which attracted frequent applause of the audience. The audiences said it were such wonderful performances that they felt surprised Latvian students could speak Chinese very well and learned more about Chinese culture. In the Gala, Latvian students showed the Latvian traditional dance “Huayang Shaonü”. In the end of Gala, Mr. Li Tao, the Counselor of China to Latvia, sang Peking Opera and drew a perfect end.
In the whole Gala, the performances were so wonderful that applause, laughter, cheers continued in the hall. The Gala lasted about two hours. After the Gala, the audience tasted delicious Chinese food and talk each other.
The Gala makes more progress about the number of participants and the content of performances, which is related to the efforts Chinese teachers, Confucius Institute and local Chinese make. It shows the enhance of comprehensive strength and soft power and our country’s deep influence again.
