The sixth annual Chinese Culture Festival returns to campus this week to celebrate the ancient culture through food, music and art — with a modern twist.
The event begins Monday from noon to 1 p.m. on the bookstore lawn and will transplant to the University Student Union Ballrooms for the remainder of the four-day celebration. The first day will include arts and crafts, musical shows and an evening banquet.
During the kick-off, students may pick up some scissors and take a stab at intricate paper-cutting, or play it safe with painting. Live music from classic wind and ancient stringed instruments by the Xinsilu Hulusi Art Troupe as well as performances by two distinguished Chinese dancing ensembles, will encompass the courtyard. Marking the end of the first day will be a free ceremony dinner at 5:30 p.m., which is already sold out.
The Cal State Long Beach Confucius Institute, a nonprofit that aims to promote, develop, and offer programs in the areas of Chinese language, culture, arts and tradition, organizes the annual celebration. Every year they pool together their resources and connections from home and abroad “to improve understanding between China and the U.S. through a variety of cultural and artistic exchanges,” according to their website.
The types of exchanges vary with each festival. In 2013 the focus was on food, where celebrity chef Martin Yan gave a fruit and vegetable carving performance and a blind noodle stretching demonstration. Previous years have centered on film, art exhibitions or musical performances. This year will combine a heavy emphasis on musical shows and guests lecturers.
Both Chinese and Chinese-American speakers will entertain and educate students on a range of topics including Chinese medicine and acupuncture, cinema, international trade policy, art integration and fashion.
Juxtaposing traditional topics of Chinese culture with contemporary provided the Confucius Institute committee with a new and interesting challenge.
“In our previous experience, we’ve found that [the Chinese Culture Festival] does not attract a lot of students. Some students, yes, but not [as many] as [would be] ideal. We were thinking this year we’d create different topics that gear towards different colleges and departments,” said Heidi Zhang, director of the Confucius Institute and international trainings program with the College of Continuing and Professional Education department.
Traditional clothing and costumes have long been featured in past festivals. This year, Zuo An Xiao, a popular fashion blogger from China will speak on her perspective of China’s modern fashion trends and design evolution. With more than three million followers on Chinese social media site Weibo, and a quarter of a million on Instagram her self-made career speaks to this millennial generation. Her lecture will take place Monday at 1:30 p.m. in the Alamitos Bay Room next to the USU Ballroom.
“She is the most famous fashion blogger in China, like a superstar,” Selina Tian, a staff member with the Confucius Institute said.
Foreign diplomat Haiyan Liu, of the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Los Angeles, will speak on current international trade policy between the U.S. and China. His lecture will in part shed light on China’s perspective of ongoing interactions with the Trump administration. Liu’s lecture will be Thursday at noon in the USU Ballroom.
Joining the lecturers on Wednesday at noon is film director Gu Jun. Her internationally acclaimed film “Dream Weavers” is an objective documentary entailing the laborious preparation and production of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She will be talking about the eight-year long process of getting the film on screen and also about “China’s contemporary documentary production,” Tian said. Gu Jun’s talk will be held in the USU ballroom.
For students unable to attend the lectures or performances, there will be a daily art exhibition featuring classic art and calligraphy, as well as a photo gallery with images of Qingdao, China’s sailing city.
The Confucius Institute website describes Qingdao as “a sister city of Long Beach for over 30 years, Qingdao is a scenic coastal city with unique geographic and architectural characteristics […] both rooted in tradition and influenced by Western culture through its position as a port city.”
Both are available for viewing on the walls in the USU Ballroom.
Most CSULB students won’t ever get to walk the Great Wall but students willing to climb the concrete slopes of upper campus to the USU will be welcomed with a small token of China’s heritage.