It is learned on September 1 from Zhijiang Dong Autonomous County that the 6th China Zhijiang International Peace and Culture Festival will open at 19:30 on September 4 at the Victory Square in the Zhijiang Peace Culture Park. About 4,000 Chinese and foreign guests and local residents are expected to attend.
Chinese and foreign friends gather in Zhijiang to jointly write a new chapter of peace
The event is hosted by the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee, the Hunan Provincial People’s Government, and the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, undertaken by the Publicity Department of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee, the Hunan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, the Hunan Provincial People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, the CPC Huaihua Municipal Committee and the Huaihua Municipal People’s Government, and executed by the Publicity Department of the CPC Huaihua Municipal Committee, the Office of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the CPC Huaihua Municipal Committee, the Huaihua Municipal Bureau of Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television and Sports, the CPC Zhijiang Dong Autonomous County Committee, and the Zhijiang Dong Autonomous County People’s Government.
About 100 specially invited guests, including representatives of domestic and international scholars and experts on peace culture, veterans of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and their family members, families of the Flying Tigers veterans, international students in China, and representatives of international peace cities, sister cities and business leaders, will attend this festival. They will come to Zhijiang to discuss pathways for peaceful development and to witness the deepening and broadening of the development of Zhijiang’s peace culture.
This year’s peace and culture festival features a rich program including a press briefing, meetings with foreign guests, a night tour, an opening ceremony, ethnic cultural performances, a forum on peace culture, and a signing ceremony of sister city agreements. The activities will allow visiting guests to experience the depth of Zhijiang’s peace culture from multiple perspectives, conveying the message of remembering history and cherishing peace to the world, while showcasing Zhijiang’s development momentum and the hospitality of the Dong people.
Technology empowerment: understanding peace through landmarks as well as time and space
Unlike the “flat” visual effects of traditional stages, this year’s opening ceremony and ethnic performances center on the Tahe Tower, Zhijiang’s peace landmark, and employ cutting-edge light and shadow technology and a drone show to create a three-dimensional performance space that blends the virtual and the real worlds.
The stage design contains subtle ingenuity: a fortress-like “Great Wall” will encircle the Tahe Tower, and a “full moon” will hang high in the sky, merging patriotic sentiments of safeguarding peace with a poetic, romantic atmosphere to create a unique aesthetic experience. The lighting ceremony titled “Appointment with Peace, Light up Zhijiang” will be a major highlight. Drones carrying illuminated spheres will ascend and mingle with the on-site lighting to form a three-dimensional tableau of a peace tower on the ground and a river of starlight in the sky.
The creative conception of the ethnic cultural performances emphasizes dialogues across time and space and the fusion of diverse art forms, sketching the development trajectory of peace culture: the large-scale musical poetic tableau “Pillar of Hunan” combines recitation with light and shadow effects to recreate the spiritual core of Hunan people who uphold faith and fulfill their missions; the musical drama “Flying Tigers · The World” restores the true history of the Flying Tigers fighting alongside the Chinese people, vividly interpreting friendship that transcends borders; and the cross-temporal scenario performance “Zhijiang, Born to Embrace the Sea” unfolds in three progressively linked chapters: Shen Congwen’s cultural ties with Zhijiang, the Longjin Bridge in the times of war, and Zhijiang’s outward development, thereby outlining the clear contours of Zhijiang’s peace culture.
Sino-foreign artistic dialogue: bring Zhijiang’s peace story to the world
It is learned that the international flavor presented in the ethnic performances is not a mere layering of elements; the theme song “Peace” is a typical example. The piece will be jointly performed by a pop singer from New Zealand and a young vocalist from the China National Opera & Dance Drama Theater, making the voice of peace a “sonic bridge” connecting the world.
Notably, the ethnic art performances will be staged by local performers, who are the ambassadors of Zhijiang’s peace culture. Students from Zhijiang No. 1 High School and children from the local dance school will present the dances “Gadi Youyou” and “Pulling Glutinous Rice Cake”, while the Dong grand song ensemble and the lusheng (a traditional Chinese wind instrument) performance troupe will deliver native vocal and instrumental performances to express their love for the homeland and reverence for peace.
(Translated by Yang Hong)