The opening ceremony of the “Arab Art Festival” special performance. Xinhua News Agency
Arab friends are visiting Jingdezhen Porcelain. Image courtesy of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism
From December 19 to 20, the fifth “Arabic Art Festival” co-sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the PRC, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC, the People’s Government of Jiangxi Province and the Il Secretariat of the League of Arab States was held in Jingdezhen city, Jiangxi province. The theme of this year’s “Arab Art Festival” is “Silk Road Porcelain Soul, Art Enjoying Heaven”.Through a series of wonderful cultural activities, it will open up a new situation for cultural exchanges between Arab-Chinese people and cultures in the new era, and together look forward to the joint construction of the “Belt and Road” between China and the Arab countries. All the way”, the bright prospect of win-win cooperation.
Chinese and Arab artists sing the melody of friendship
On the evening of December 19, the opening ceremony of the 5th “Arabic Art Festival” was held at the Taoxichuan Grand Theater in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi. Chinese and Arab artists from many countries and regions connected the language through music and joined the dance, presenting a wonderful performance that integrated Chinese and Arab art classics and demonstrated the friendship between China and the Arab states.
At 20:00, accompanied by the sweet melody, more than 20 dancers from China Oriental Performing Arts Group and Xinjiang Art Theater danced in the air surrounded by silk belts and kicked off the show with the “Flying Rainbow” dance. Then, a song “Dear, You Are the Light in My Eyes”, widely sung in the Arab region, sang the colorful melody of Arab-Chinese friendship. The dance moves lead people through the magical desert and welcome visitors from afar into the pearl-bright oasis. The Yiyang melody of the Gan opera “A Dream in the Garden”, the dance “Long Song of Life” and the instrumental performance “Arabic Capriccio”… fully demonstrated the rich and splendid artistic treasure of China and the Arab states. “Towards the Future Together” sung by Iraqi and Chinese artists and featuring 23 Chinese and Arab university students, and “One World One Family” by multinational artists, sang the wish of the Chinese and Arab peoples to join hands to build a community with a shared future. The beautiful melody and dance poses intertwine in an ocean of joy, and the splendor of the art blossoms beautifully at this moment, pushing the performance to a climax.
perform together, from EgyptsingerMahmoud Hamud said that the Xinjiang dancers surprised him: “Whether it is musical instruments or ethnic dances, they are all brilliantly performed, and you can feel the profound connotation of Chinese culture conveyed by the gestures and gestures of the actors.”
Blue and white porcelain continues the history of Sino-Arab trade
On December 19th, as one of the important activities of the 5th “Arabic Art Festival”, the creative ceramic design exhibition “Silk Road Porcelain Source Harmonic Connection” was opened at the Changnanli Culture and Art Center in Jingdezhen. More than 300 pieces of masterpieces created by cross-border artists and designers from China and Arab and other countries were exhibited, three-dimensionally showing the achievements of Arab-Chinese friendship and civilization, and Arab friends who came at the exhibition they were amazed.
Jingdezhen is a well-known international capital of porcelain both at home and abroad, it is the main starting point city and an important source of goods for the Maritime Silk Road, and an important bridge to promote exchanges and mutual learning between the civilizations of the world. Jingdezhen porcelain is an important cultural symbol for the world to understand China and for China to become global. In recent years, Jingdezhen has been ranked as the excellent tourist city of China and the world capital of handicrafts and folk art, and has established friendly and cooperative relations with more than 180 cities in 72 countries around the world.
The friendship between China and the Arab states has a long history and will only get stronger as time goes on. Jingdezhen pottery is the historical record of the friendly spirit between China and the Arab states. As early as hundreds of years ago, the “Su Ma Li Qing” blue and white raw material from the Arabian peninsula came to Jingdezhen through thousands of mountains and rivers, and perfectly combined with Jingdezhen kaolin to bring forth the masterpiece in the history of ceramics – Blue and White Yuan, and later Blue and White Yuan He returned to the Arabian Peninsula along the way he had come and wrote an immortal history of Sino-Arab friendly exchanges.
During the art festival, in addition to the creative ceramic design exhibition “Silk Road Porcelain Origin and Light Connection”, the special exhibition “Royal Kiln World”, “Silk Road Treasures”, the ancient Chinese porcelain exhibition of export and other ceramic cultural exhibitions have attracted Chinese and foreign guests Dazzling and amazed again and again. Yu Zhihua, president of the Jingdezhen National Ceramics Copyright Exchange Center, said, “The fifth ‘Arabic Art Festival’ held in Jingdezhen is essentially the glory of ‘ceramics.’ The ceramic cultural exhibitions carrying forward the spirit of the Way of Silk have deepened the traditional friendship between China and the Arab states.” , enhanced the international influence of ceramic culture, and contributed to the establishment of Jingdezhen National Ceramic Culture Inheritance and Innovation Experimental Zone and the creation of a new platform for overseas cultural exchange.”
The artistic creation condenses the true love between China and Afghanistan
On the morning of December 20, the “Exhibition of Famous Arab Artists Visiting China and Collecting Styles” held at the Taoxichuan Kumo Art Museum in Jingdezhen was full of people. This exhibition brings together 80 paintings, 20 sculptures and 20 ceramic works created by Arab artists after gathering in China, as well as 30 ceramic works specially invited by Chinese artists for this exhibition.
Hajim Akler, an artist from Yemen, visited China in 2009 and drew a sketch at the West Lake in Hangzhou. His painting “One of the Women” depicts a foreign woman holding a traditional Chinese folding fan and observe the scene near West Lake. Moroccan artist Monet Dries Gibran created in Chengdu in 2018. He He participated in the exhibition with his he sculpture “Panda” to express the world’s impression of China and Chengdu. Algerian artist Abdukrim Faisal Hemadat came to China in 2019 to collect and create. He is good at calligraphy and painting and has mastered a variety of Arabic calligraphy techniques. His work “Phoenix and Letters” combines Arabic letters with Chinese Phoenix The combination reflects the fusion of the arts of the two countries.
It is understood that since 2009, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has launched “Famous Arab Artists Visit China to Collect and Create Activities”. Famous artists from Arab countries are invited to China every year. Over the past decade, more than 170 artists from 22 Arab countries have gathered in China, creating a total of 549 paintings, sculptures and ceramics. Some guests commented, “These works, which condense the artist’s true feelings and sweat, are all the crystallization of Arab-Chinese friendship in the field of art.”
Instill new vitality in cultural industry cooperation
On the afternoon of December 20, the Chinese-Arab Cultural Industry Forum, a major event of the 5th “Arabic Art Festival”, opened as scheduled in the release hall of the thousands of Jingdezhen Taoxichuan. More than 300 representatives from government agencies, academic circles and businesses from China and Arab countries participated in the forum through a combination of online and offline methods.
Delegates at the meeting focused on “China-Arabic Cultural Cooperation Opportunities and Pathways in New Formats” and “China-Arabic Traditional Craft Inheritance and Innovative Development” as the main topics, focusing on the digital cultural industry, the handicraft innovation, the cultural and creative park development and other fields, exchange of industrial status and sharing of successful cases, docking of cooperation intentions, waiting for the development trend, injecting new vitality and new momentum into the cooperation of cultural industry between China and the Arab states. Following the forum, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism also issued the “2022 Jingdezhen Sino-Arab Cultural Industry Initiative”.
Hu Heping, Minister of Culture and Tourism, told the forum that cultural industry cooperation is an important part of Arab-Chinese cultural exchanges and cooperation. Both China and Arab countries have a long history and splendid culture. Both of them are in an important stage of social and economic development. In the field of cultural industries, they share common development goals and great potential for cooperation. They have broad prospects and great potential. The two sides should strengthen the political docking, promote high-quality cooperation between China and the Arab states in highly compatible fields, and create new highlights for the economic development of both sides.
Noura bint Mohammad Al Khaabi, UAE Minister of Culture and Youth, believes that the cultural industry has become an important pillar for countries to achieve sustainable development and income diversification. It is hoped that the UAE and China will take this forum as an opportunity to lead the development of innovative industries and innovative talents on both sides and help promote an innovative economy and a higher level of sustainable development.
Ye Jianchun, Governor of Jiangxi Province, said that in the future, Jiangxi Province will further deepen exchanges and cooperation in various fields with countries around the world, including Arab countries, and continue to promote mutual learning between civilizations, mutual benefit in business and commerce, and interpersonal ties. (Reporter Zheng Na)
