ASU celebrates the "Confucius Institute Day" series of activities - Chinese Art Interactive Exhibition

ASU celebrates the "Confucius Institute Day" series of activities - Chinese Art Interactive Exhibition Accompanied by a golden mid-autumn rain, the summer in Arizona is moving at a brisk pace...

With a golden mid-autumn rain, Arizona's summer is gradually moving away with light steps. With the refreshing cool breeze, the gradually red leaves, and the fragrant fruits and vegetables, we ushered in the harvest of autumn and also ushered in the "10th Anniversary of the Confucius Institute". In order to allow Arizona people to experience the charm of Chinese dance and art first-hand, the Confucius Institute at Arizona State University successfully held a large-scale cultural feast at the Chandler Art Center on September 14, 2014, including an interactive Chinese art exhibition and the first "Golden Autumn" Chinese Dance Festival jointly organized with New Oriental Art School.

The Confucius Institute at Arizona State University launched an interactive exhibition of Chinese art at the Chandler Art Center on September 14, 2014

The music started to play in the art center hall, and the melodious and smooth tunes presented a vast and magnificent picture with thousands of miles of destiny, which suddenly brought everyone into the world of Chinese ink painting. Looking around, we can see booths displaying different Chinese art forms in an orderly manner in the hall: there is a bookmark booth, a zodiac booth, a Mid-Autumn lantern booth, a handmade drum booth, a Chinese painting demonstration booth, a Chinese folk music booth, a photography competition award-winning work display area, and an interesting traditional Chinese costumes and skills booth, displaying the unique charm of Chinese art from multiple angles. The audience can not only appreciate Chinese paintings and folk music, learn about Chinese art, folk customs and other knowledge, but also experience and practice Chinese handicrafts with their own hands.

In order to allow the audience to feel the "Chinese impression" and "Chinese elements" vividly and interestingly, the Confucius Institute specially produced a batch of beautifully designed bookmarks for this event. Some bookmarks have a Chinese character on it, along with the corresponding pinyin and English explanation, such as "letter" in Confucianism. Students can use a marker pen to trace the Chinese character on the bookmark, and learn how to read Chinese characters from the staff of the Confucius Institute; some children who have studied Chinese even more They used the knowledge learned in class to teach their parents Chinese on the spot; some bookmarks were a naive giant panda that only symbolized the friendship between China and the United States; some bookmarks were various types of magnificent Chinese ink paintings, and many viewers expressed their unique views on the paintings. After making your own unique bookmarks, the staff will also help you make small Chinese knots to make the bookmarks even better. Although there are only a few small bookmarks, each bookmark contains the Confucius Institute’s ardent expectations. It is hoped that every audience can become familiar with China through the “Chinese elements” on the bookmarks and stimulate more interest in China.

Participants designed and made their own unique bookmarks and Chinese knots

The twelve zodiac booth was undoubtedly one of the most attractive booths for children. It included a number of activities related to the twelve zodiac signs: coloring games, origami, handmade zodiac hats and handmade fans. With the help of parents and staff, children can find out their zodiac sign and paint their favorite color on the zodiac card. At the same time, they can also learn a lot about the characteristics of their zodiac sign. Origami is also one of the children's favorite activities. They gathered around the teacher in charge of origami and worked together to fold out colorful animals. Handmade hats are the boys’ favorite. They carefully selected their favorite zodiac patterns. When they put on the zodiac hats they designed, those innocent smiles shined in the hearts of everyone present. Little girls prefer handmade fans with various fan surfaces. They also choose their favorite fan surfaces, including elegant and quiet lotuses, exaggerated Peking Opera masks, lively and cute animals, etc., and then make them into a Chinese fan, which has a unique and elegant charm.

Staff are helping children make handmade fans

The Mid-Autumn Festival lantern booth and the handmade drum booth stood side by side and were surrounded by enthusiastic audiences. Through the display board and introduction by the staff, the audience can learn about the history, functions, types and other knowledge of lanterns. They also learned that because lanterns are a symbol of Chinese people’s happiness, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, there is a custom in China’s Jiangnan region of lighting lanterns to help with the moonlight. The Confucius Institute also specially produced a batch of lanterns for this purpose, so that the audience can feel the Chinese people’s spirit of family reunion. In addition to the traditional vermilion, these lanterns boldly use cute and charming ice cream tones such as pink, purple, pink, and bright yellow. The warm and tranquil colors have been well received by everyone. In addition, after the prototype of the lantern is completed, a delicate tassel and a small handle will be added to add to the elegance. Although the Confucius Institute was unable to move a real drum to the lobby of the art center, its small and exquisite handmade drum still showed the audience its elegance as a national musical instrument loved by people of all ethnic groups in China. Everyone was shocked by its more than 4,000 years of history. The staff also gave a little "spoiler" here. They told the audience that tonight's dance festival will have music accompanied by drums, which attracted the audience's attention and looked forward to the evening's dance party.

There were also crowds of people in front of the Chinese painting display stand and the folk music display stand. Under the guidance of the traditional Chinese painting teacher, the audience picked up their brushes one after another. Although they trembled slightly from time to time, they worked very hard to draw the first Chinese ink painting of jujube, panda and bamboo. With the encouragement of the folk music teacher, the audience carefully picked up the pipa, sat upright, and started playing it gently according to the teacher's instructions. Many people came into contact with Chinese musical instruments for the first time. They touched the guqin with joy and listened curiously to the timbre of silk and bamboo. In addition, the folk music teacher also conducted a mini class session: teaching the differences between Chinese and Western musical instruments.

The most lively booth at this event was the Chinese traditional costumes and skills booth. The audience was interested in picking up the Peking Opera masks and gesturing on their faces, asking the staff which character's mask it was. Does the color of the mask have any special meaning? More spectators were completely fascinated by the handkerchief dance. They picked up pieces of red handkerchiefs inlaid with silver sequins and tried to spin them vigorously with their fingers. However, either the handkerchiefs flew out after a while, or the handkerchiefs kept "hanging". The staff at the booth all had their own unique skills. They patiently taught the audience their unique secret skills, or practiced the handkerchief relay with the audience who had already mastered it. From time to time, bursts of laughter came from the booth. Some viewers were attracted by the traditional Chinese Tang suits and cheongsam on display. With the help of the staff, they changed into Chinese robes and happily took photos while holding panda dolls and silk umbrellas.

This large-scale Chinese art interactive exhibition will give people in Arizona an opportunity to understand Chinese culture up close. The audience came with curiosity and returned with joy. They expressed that they were very happy to participate in this Chinese art interactive exhibition, from which they learned a lot about China and became more interested in Chinese. They also hope to participate in more such activities in the future to learn more about China.

The success of this event is also inseparable from the strong support of the academic circles and communities in the Phoenix area, who sent volunteers to assist. These include 4 Hamilton High School students, 13 Chandler Basis students, 3 Sonoran Trail Junior High School students, 7 ASU students (4 from the Chinese Navigator Program), and 10 staff members from the ASU Confucius Institute. Special thanks also go to Ms. Su Zhiying and her four students who were in charge of the Chinese painting demonstration, and Mr. Cai Shangao who was in charge of the Chinese musical instrument demonstration.

Volunteers from several local high schools sent by the Arizona academic community and the community

After the exhibition, the Confucius Institute at Arizona State University also joined hands with the New Oriental Art School to hold a wonderful "Golden Autumn" Chinese Dance Festival. For detailed information, please pay attention to the relevant reports of New Oriental Art School.