Love Songs on Night River collected in the List of High-quality Artistic Performance in China. — Photo by Han Jiang
THE verdant rice paddies amidst the clear waters and lush mountains, the games and carnivals of village festivals, and the diligent work, cozy living, singing, and dancing of rural men and women. After the Guangxi creative acrobatic drama ‘Rice Harvest of Baiyue’ became a household name in Malaysia, the word-of-mouth has continued to grow! In this cross-border cultural resonance and emotional sympathy, many Malaysian people have a “sweet desire” for the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
In recent years, Guangxi has been proactively promoting the culture to go global and promoting the connectivity among the people of China and Asean. Literary creations, folk dances, local operas, folk music, movies and animations, etc have successively ‘visited’ Asean.
The works of a number of Guangxi writers, such as Dong Xi, Fan Yiping, Huang Peihua, Li Yuere, Tian Er, and Zhu Shanpo, have been translated into Vietnamese, Malaysian, Thai, Cambodian, etc, and published in Asean countries. Meanwhile, the Federation of Literature and Writers’ Association of Guangxi have been positively promoting Asean literature into Guangxi, inviting Asean writers to Guangxi to give lectures on literature and engage in activities of collecting folk customs.
Five-colour glutinous rice, a special delicious food of the Zhuang people. — Photo by Yu Jing
“Asia countries share similar cultural genes, and it is easy to understand each other when the cultural genes are similar. And there is a natural affinity for reading each other’s literature,” said Dong Xi, chairman of Guangxi Writers’ Association and renowned Chinese writer.
He said China has favorable inherent conditions for literary exchanges with neighbouring countries, and that the stories of Asian writers can be “prioritised over European and American readers to produce an excellent chemical reaction” in the neighbouring countries.
Meanwhile, through the implementation of “Sino-Asean Literature Mutual Translation and Publication Project”, the construction of “Sino-Asean Copyright Trade Service Platform”, the establishment of “Jieli-Asean Children’s Book Alliance”, the Guangxi publishing industry is deepening international cooperation and exchange. Since 2012, Guangxi has exported over 4,200 types of book copyrights to foreign countries.
Since 2012, the cultural and artistic troupes of Guangxi have visited 27 countries in four continents, including the United States, Italy, South Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, India, etc and delivered nearly 60 performances. Excellent Guangxi plays such as the dance poem “Dong”, the dance drama “Kiln in a Thousand Colours”, and “Liu Sanjie”, the acrobatic drama “Hundred Bird Clothes”, and the puppet show “New Charm of Puppetry” have made a splash overseas.
Nowadays, cooperation between China and Asean in culture is oriented towards diversified development, involving a wide range of fields such as cultural tourism, film and television, as well as animation and cartooning. In recent years, Guangxi has launched a number of events in Asean countries to promote tourism, the brand of “Joyful Spring Festival”, etc, and has engaged in exchanges and cooperation with related Asean countries in the areas of excavation of archaeological sites, research on ethnic costumes, museums, creative cultural products, etc.
Meanwhile, Guangxi has also cooperated with the Chinese Cultural Centers in Singapore, Hanoi and Laos to actively launch global brand campaigns such as “China Tourism and Culture Week” and “Time Together across the World”. In forms of both online and offline, efforts have been made to disseminate the excellent traditional and ethnic cultures of China, especially Guangxi, to the local people, and to promote the distinctive cultural and tourism resources of Guangxi.
Zhuang Folk Costume Show. — Photo by Chen Guanyan
Besides the professional artistic fields, folk cultural exchanges are also flourishing. Guangxi has extensively launched cross-border celebrations, sports competitions, songs, and other folklore activities among the people living on the borders, and has created brand activities such as the Dongxing (China) – Moncay (Vietnam) Lantern Festival Football Friendship Match and the Chongzuo Huashan International Cultural and Tourism Festival on the third day of the third lunar month, which have played an active role in promoting the mutual understanding of civilizations and enhancing the connectivity among the people.
The domestic TV series “Daughter of the Mountain”, which was created based on the advanced deeds of Huang Wenxiu, a “Model of the Times”, focuses on Huang Wenxiu’s ordinary but great life, and has gained numerous fans in ASEAN by portraying the characters in-depth and reflecting the events in a realistic manner. This TV series translated and exported by Guangxi is a reflection of Guangxi’s promotion of film and television to go global.
Variety Show of Sino-Vietnamese (Pingxiang) Grand Gala for People in the Border Areas. — Photo by Chen Guanyan
Asean is the most important market for the export of audio-visual programmes in China. Currently, Guangxi has cooperated with Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other countries to establish international communication workstations, translation stations, contact stations, co-organised “Chinese Theatre”, “Chinese TV Series”, “Chinese Animation” and other programmes, and has translated and broadcasted a total of 168 films and TV dramas, with nearly 7,200 episodes. Among them, the translated TV series “Minning Town”, the movie “The Gilt of Life and Huang Wenxiu”, and the animated film “Legend of the Copper Drum” and “Magical Journey to Karst” have been widely broadcasted in many Asean countries.
Guangxi is a cutting-edge window of China’s openness and cooperation with Asean countries as well as an important gateway for the strategic connectivity of the “Belt and Road”, and it features a unique location advantage in foreign cultural exchanges and the promotion of exchanges and mutual understanding of civilisations.
(Pingxiang- Lang son) Football Invitational Tournament at China-Vietnam (Pingxiang, Guangxi) Border Tourism Festival in 2023. — Photo by Yu Jing
In the future, Guangxi will further leverage its location and resource superiority to strengthen cultural exchanges and cooperation with Asean countries, so that more overseas audiences can familiarize themselves with the culture and art of Guangxi. Meanwhile, Guangxi will also actively introduce more excellent overseas film and television programs and books to China for exhibition and publication, enabling Chinese audience to better understand and appreciate the excellent cultural and artistic achievements of the world as well.
“Efforts will be made to empower the foreign dissemination of Guangxi’s folk culture with digitalization, fully utilising social media, and various mobile platforms, and striving to innovate discourse expression and enhance narrative skills, so as to enable overseas people to learn more about Chinese culture,” said Chen Yijun, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Committee and Minister of Publicity Department of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
Visit of Foreign Media Group at Anthropology Museum of Guangxi to experience the diversified folk cultures. — Photo by Chen Guanyan
Chen said as a next step, Guangxi will adhere to the principle of “bringing in” and “going out”, and will vigorously publicise ethnic handicrafts such as brocade, ceramics, bamboo weaving, etc., national architectures such as Zhuang Dry-rail Architecture and Dong Wind and Rain Bridges, ethnic medicine, such as Zhuang medicine and Yao medicine, folk art such as folk literature, music and dance, as well as ethnic festivals such as the “March Third” Song Festival, the Frost’s Descent Festival and the Panwang Festival, so as to enable foreign people to deepen their knowledge and understanding of Chinese culture, and to promote Chinese civilisation to the world.
