On the evening of September 23, 2015 local time, the Errol Barrow Center for Creative Imagination (EBCCI) on the campus of the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill (UWI, Cave Hill), Barbados, was packed and permeated with an atmosphere of jubilance and harmony. The art performance sponsored by the Confucius Institute (CI) at UWI, Cave Hill, which was a part of the activities to mark the arrival of “the Global Confucius Institute Day”, was eagerly watched. The performers from the Culture Exchange Delegation of Anhui Province especially showcased their talents for the locals on the stage of the Errol Barrow Center. More than 250 attendees showed up at the event, including Ms. Wang Ke, the Chinese Ambassador to Barbados, Mr. WuXing, Vice Secretary of the People’s Government of Anhui Province, teachers and students of UWI, as well as citizens of the local community.
Chinese Co-Director, Prof. Song Qingbao, is delivering a speech
Director, Ms. Obida, the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Education at the Cave Hill campus of UWI, is addressing the audience
Mr. Ding Guangping, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Culture under the People's Government of Anhui Province, is speaking on the venue
The first speech was delivered by the Chinese Co-Director of the aforementioned CI, Prof. Song Qingbao. The topic of his speech was “What is a Confucius Institute? And What will the Confucius Institute Do?” In his address, Prof. Song gave a detailed account of the CI’s orientation and its main area of work. Then Director Obida expressed her thanks in her speech to the CI for its sincere efforts in arranging the art performance. She also spoke highly of the CI for its food donations to Dominica, which had been ravaged by tropical storm Erica. Mr. Ding Guangqing, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Culture under the People’s Government of Anhui Province, expressed his delight in visiting UWI on behalf of the Culture Exchange Delegation of Anhui Province, and mentioned his sincere hope that the activities to celebrate the forthcoming “Global Confucius Institute Day” would be concluded with a complete success.
Wonderful performances
The art performance was co-hosted by the Foreign Co-Director of the CI, Mr. Ché Leon C Corbin and an actress of the visiting Delegation, Ms. Yuan Yuan. Artists from that delegation staged live performances with a strong flavor of Chinese ethnic and regional cultural elements. The whole audience flooded the artists with waves of applause and cheers while they were staging wonderful performances such as acrobatics, magic, Tai Chi Boxing, the flower-drum lantern (Hua Gu Deng) and Huangmei opera, etc.
A Group photo
After the performance, Ms. Wang Ke donated food to Dominica on behalf of the Chinese Embassy. Besides showing their heartfelt appreciation for these contributions to the devastated Dominica, the audiences also expressed their admiration for the fantastic performances. They sincerely hoped that they could have another opportunity to immerse themselves in the unique and charming ambience of Oriental culture in the future.
Ambassador Ms. Wang Ke donated food to Dominica
