On the afternoon of October 17th, the 7th National Cultural Exchange Festival (hereinafter referred to as "the Festival”) was held at the Nanhu Sports Ground where students and teachers could enjoy wonderful performances like Tibetan Butter Tea Show, Han Chinese Costume Show, Tujia folk song show of "New Dragon Boat Tune", hand-waving dance, and Kazakh Dombra performance.

The 7th National Cultural Exchange Festival is under way. Provided by Student Affairs Department of Party Committee

This year's "National Cultural Exchange Festival" is one of a series of activities for celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of SCMZU. Hosted by the Student Backbone Training Camp, the Festival aims at providing Party history education for students through the performance of stories that happened during the Long March, especially stories about the close relationship between the Red Army and the people. A total of 13 performances about people from Tibetan, Mongolian, Bai, Kazak, Dai, Han, Hui, Li, Yi, Tujia, Zhuang, Uygur and Miao ethnic groups related to the Long March and the Red Revolution were staged at the Festival.

“National Food Show” Photo by Liu Hong, Di Guangyuan and Yang Keyi

There were abundant activities at the Festival such as song and dance performances, food tasting, national culture introduction and fun games. The persons in charge of these activities and performances introduced the general situation of their ethnic groups, cuisine, traditional festivals, customs and other related knowledge to students. In addition, in order to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, a "Red Story Show" was staged at the Festival about the touching stories about how people from different ethnic groups carried forward the spirit of solidarity and militancy under the leadership of the Party to achieve prosperity and development.

“Red Story Show” Photo by Liu Shishi

At 13: 00 p.m., many students gathered at the Nanhu Sports Ground. When the opening dance "The Voice of the People” began, the audience burst into thunderous applause. The dancers wore red Tibetan robes decorated with gold thread, and incorporated the good wishes of "Auspiciousness” into their dance, and ended the show with the song "Singing Folk Songs to the Party". The whole audience were burning with ardor.

At 13: 45 pm, the Festival officially started and wonderful performances were staged including dragon and lion dance, tie-dye display, calligraphy show, specialties, musical instrument ensemble, etc. Some teachers and students tried on the national costumes, some enjoyed the specialties, some participated in Q & A game on national cultural knowledge, some danced with students in the exhibition area to the music. The atmosphere of the Festival was lively.

“Cultural Customs Display” Photo by Li Qianlin

Li Xiaobin, a sophomore from Hubei University of Technology, came to participate in the Festival to appreciate the cultural customs of various ethnic groups. She is a member of the National Culture Society of Hubei University of Technology. She was dazzled by the rich activities at the Festival. "The students in every exhibition area are very enthusiastic!" Wearing Tibetan braids and dressed in Tibetan costumes, she took photos with friends at the exhibition board. "There is milk pimples in the Mongolian exhibition area and the performance of 'biting hands for love' in the Miao exhibition area. They are very interesting!" Li Xiaobin said that she and other members of the National Culture Society were lucky to have the chance to participate in the Festival and that they had learnt a lot. She hoped to promote the construction and development of the National Culture Society by learning from the experience of holding the Festival.

With a burst of applause, the mini "Nadam Conference" in the Mongolian exhibition area reached a climax. Many students were extremely interested in watching the wrestling competition in the area. Yu Zhenpeng, a junior student from the Physical Education College, said, "It is wild and powerful. I enjoy watching the competition very much."

Xu Yanyan, a senior student from the School of Economics, was preparing to take a photo while holding a bowl of rice tofu. "It has fine and delicate taste. It is soft." She pointed to the ongoing "Door-blocking Spirit" performance in the Miao exhibition area. "Come and have some together."

Chen Danni, a junior student who is also from the School of Economics, showed the reporter the tie-dyeing product in her hands. In the Bai exhibition area, the students in charge of tie-dyeing activities were demonstrating the tie-dyeing process to the teachers and students. "We need to use cotton and linen cloth, curl and fold it, and wrap it tightly with string. If you want to make different patterns, you should put props in the cloth." The demonstrator pointed to the marbles at hand and said, "Dye with Banlangen dye solution. If you want to have better paint polishing effect, you need to seal it in the dye vat, or in the plastic bags. Finally, clean it with water and fix the color with fixing agent."

Teachers and students experiencing tie-dyeing and calligraphy. Photo by Di Guangyuan and Yang Keyi

"I haven't experienced tie-dyeing before. I think it is quite amazing after I watch how it is made today." Chen Danni said excitedly.

"Clap, clap, clap..." the rhythmic sound attracted students. This sound was made by the bamboo pole dance performance in the Li exhibition area. Lin Yuan, a sophomore from the School of Management, had a warm feeling hearing the sound. "In my hometown Hainan, such bamboo pole dance competitions are held every year. When we dance, we will lift the bamboo poles, twist our body and pass through the poles." As he spoke, Lin Yuan showed the Guinness World Certificate of "the largest bamboo pole dance" stored in his mobile phone, "I can still recall the grandeur of the competitions and how happy I was at those moments."

"This year marks the 70th anniversary of Tibet's peaceful liberation. The war of the peaceful liberation of Tibet started by the Jinsha River, and since then the National Flag has fluttered here." There was an impassioned narration in the Tibetan exhibition area where students were telling the story of "The 18th Army Crossing the Jinsha River" to tell teachers and students the story of the 18th Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army crossing the Jinsha River.

"Advance despite difficulties!" Wu Ting, a junior from the School of Literature, Journalism & Communication, was deeply impressed by this slogan. "I'm very lucky to be born in China. As university students, we should shoulder the mission to build China into a more powerful country!"

"The theme of this Festival is “large number of people work together and forge a community of shared destiny”, which implies that people of all ethnic groups and students of all ethnic groups have gone through the difficulties together and are all looking forward to a brighter future, and that they have forged a community sharing success or failure, honor or disgrace, life or death and common destiny. Li Chuanguo, Minister of Student Affairs, said: "From the first to the seventh session, the Festival has always aimed at promoting the exchanges between teachers and students of all ethnic groups, deepening the education of national unity and common progress, carrying forward the spirit of unity and struggle of all ethnic groups, and cultivating the awareness of Chinese national community among teachers and students of all ethnic groups."

Teachers and students watching the party, singing and dancing. Photo by Di Guangyuan

In the evening, the Festival reached a climax with the torch relay, a regular activity of the Festival. Students from all ethnic groups who participated in the performance in the daytime passed the torch in turn. In the end, 13 ethnic torchbearers lit the bonfire together, which implied that the spirit of national unity would never die down.

(Editor: Liu Hong   Source: Publicity Department of Party Committee)