Chinese Consulate holds 'Spring Festival' in Kolkata

In the run-up to the Chinese New Year, cultural troupes from the neighbouring country put up a splendid display of dance, music, ancient magic art and acrobatics at the 'Spring Festival' held here.
Chinese Liuzhou Arts Theatre of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Guangxi Acrobatic Group and Guilin Drama Creative Research Institute of Guangxi presented an over two-hour long show yesterday night.
Consul General Ma Zhanwu said he was happy to see the response of the Indian audience, consisting high school students and others, as the musicians, magicians, dancers and acrobats performed on stage which proved art has its own language.

"Also, during the acrobatic performance, an image of lotus came in the background. And lotus is the national flower of India. The image was put up with a purpose, to show our deep rooted ties," he said.
The Consul said there is a lot of common interest shared between Indians and the Chinese, one of which is the love for music, literature and films.
The Chinese New Year 2018 falls on February 16.

Zhanwu said the Chinese consulate would be organising the Dragon Boat festival and Mid-autumn festival in the city to showcase multifaceted Chinese culture and heritage as part of boosting bilateral ties.

The consulate is also planning to host a Chinese food festival, he said.
"We are thinking about organising a Chinese food festival. In Kolkata there is no need to promote Chinese food which is already quite popular here. But we are going to promote further exchanges through the food route. We will do something in coming days," he said.
Referring to the 80-year old Department of Chinese language and Culture at Cheena Bhavan in Visva Bharati and China's deep-rooted ties with the department set up by Tagore, Zhanwu said, many students of the Chinese language department at Cheena Bhavan visit China for higher studies.