Swiss culture festival focuses on China

By Han Manman

Chinese art and culture will be highlighted at this year’s Switzerland culture festival starting September 16, according to the Swiss embassy.

The three-month festival “Culturescapes” aims to provide a panorama of China by featuring events such as live music, art exhibitions, film screenings and literature readings, said Terence Billeter, counselor of the Swiss embassy’s culture and media department.

Billeter said the festival includes 300 events and will be carried out in 18 cities in Switzerland and nearby countries Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein.

He said the festival, with an overarching theme of “traditional and modern,” will be divided into four parts: seeking roots, rethinking history, rebirth and across borders.

Xiang Xiaowei, assistant director-general of the Ministry of Culture said China will bring Yueju Opera’s The Butterfly Lovers and Kunqu Opera’s The Peony Pavilion to Switzerland.

Xiang said they didn’t select Peking Opera because Peking Opera has already enjoyed worldwide success, and the ministry wanted to promote some other prestigious but perhaps lesser-known opera troupes.

Xiang said they chose The Butterfly Lovers because it has historical significance. In April 1954, premier Zhou Enlai led a delegation to attend an international conference in Geneva, Switzerland – the first time New China participated in a major international conference.

During the Geneva Conference, the film version of The Butterfly Lovers was shown and was very popular. It helped many Westerners understand Chinese culture and how Chinese people thought.

Switzerland was one of the first Western countries to recognize the People’s Republic of China when it did so on January 17, 1950. This year marks the 60th anniversary of that occasion.

“Sixty years ago, in the context of the Cold War, this decision was bold and even visionary,” Billeter said, adding that some events at this year’s festival will commemorate this important anniversary.

Formal diplomatic relations were established on September 14th of the same year.
“Since then, and especially since the beginning of the reform and opening policy in China, bilateral relations between the two countries have intensified and diversified,” he said.

Culturescapes has become an important event on the Swiss cultural calendar ever since its first edition, highlighting the country Georgia, in 2003. The annual event reflects the variety and distinctiveness of heterogeneous cultural landscapes and provides a panorama of their art and cultural scenes.

The festival will focus on Israel next year.