Posted: 11 February 2008
Cultural artists celebrate Chinese New Year at UCD
Over 600 people attended a Chinese Gala Performance hosted by the UCD Confucius Institute for Ireland to celebrate the Chinese New Year 2008, the Year of the Rat, at O’Reilly Hall, Belfield, on 08 February 2008.
According to legend, in ancient times, Buddha requested all the animals to meet with him on Chinese New Year. Twelve animals came to meet with Buddha, and Buddha named a year after each of them. Buddha also proclaimed that those people born in each animal’s year would have some of the personality traits of that animal.
Red is the colour of the Chinese New Year celebrations - people wear red clothes, decorate with poems on red paper, and present children with "lucky money" in red coloured envelopes. In Chinese culture, red symbolises fire, which legend says can drive away bad luck.
Ms Liu Yi from the Sichuan Opera Troupe (background) who performed Chinese Dance (Shuixiu wu) and Mr Yang Hong from the Chengdu Opera Troupe who performed Face-changing (Bianlian) at the UCD Confucius Institute for Ireland, Chinese New Year Celebrations at University College Dublin on Friday 08 February 2008.
To open the gala performance at University College Dublin, a group of Year 1 students from Loreto High School, who have only recently started to learn Chinese, sang the well-known Chinese pop song ‘Tian mi mi’ (Sweet as honey). This was followed by Mr Yang Hong from the Chengdu Opera Troupe and winner of the UN Intangible Cultural Heritage Award, who performed ‘Face-changing,’ one of the oldest art-forms in Sichuan opera, where the artist changes his masks so fast during the performance that the audience is left baffled trying to figure out how the face masks are changed.
Next there was a Chinese Dance (Shuixiu wu) performance by Ms Liu Yi from the Sichuan Opera Troupe, followed by a Hand Shadow (Shou ying) performance by Mr Shao Jiangui from the Chengdu Opera Troupe. Then, Ms Hu Jiayue, a Sichuan Province Professional Acrobatics Competition gold medal winner, performed Acrobatics (Baixi), followed by Chinese Folk Songs by singer Wu Hua, and Kung-fu tea performed by Mr King Zeyong.
Yang Ming Zhong and Xing kui Shao from the Bailing Shadow Puppet Troupe who performed at the UCD Confucius Institute for Ireland, Chinese New Year Celebrations at O'Reilly Hall, Belfield, on Friday 08 February 2008.
The second half of the performance began with UCD BComm with Chinese students singing the Chinese pop song ‘Laoshu aid a mi’ (The rat loves to eat rice). After which came a performance by the Beijing Bailing Shadow Puppet Troupe. Shadow puppetry is one of the rare treasures of Chinese performing arts. This lesser known art form is dying out as China experiences rapid economic growth and cultural change. Shadow puppetry first appeared in Beijing around 500 years ago during the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644). The Beijing Bailing Shadow Puppet Troupe is the only remaining professional performing troupe today.
The appearance of artists from the Chengdu Opera Troupe was courtesy of the Chinese Irish Cultural Academy and the appearance of the Beijing Bailing Shadow Puppet Troupe was courtesy of China Arts UK.
"The UCD Confucius Institute for Ireland works with the Irish government, business, and academia to contribute to the growth and promotion of bilateral cooperation between Ireland and China in education, culture, commerce and many other domains," says Dr Liming Wang, Director of the UCD Confucius Institute for Ireland.
