November 2nd Egyptian local time, the Cultural Festival of China came to a close in Alexandria. The Egyptians, thumbs up, gasp in admiration at the superb skills of the performers of Chinese acrobatics and Peking opera.
Response was the warmest, to the acrobatic items in particular, at the last performance given at Alexandria's International Convention Center. The items 'Rolling Hoops', 'Juggling with Feet for Two Performers' and 'Jumping through Ground Hoops won a burst of warm applause. An Egyptian woman said to journalists with feeling that she had noticed that nearly half the performers on stage were females playing leading roles in quite a number of items. Being a woman herself, she is proud of them.
The popularity of acrobatics lies on the one hand in its easily accessible performing form, and on the other hand, in the fact that the Chinese acrobatics was recorded in the ancient Egyptian history, which add to people's interest in this form of performing art. It is reported that there has been found a written narrative as early as in 2000 AD of Chinese acrobatics, accompanied by a picture showing Spurting Fire from Muth. From the performance given today, the Egyptians have seen with their own eyes the magic shown by acrobatics. It is really great. commented Mustafa Kamanle, Vice Governor of Alexandria Province.
The cultural week given here this time has had an influence wider than ever before. Nie Guo'an, Chinese Cultural Attach¨¦ to Egypt, told journalists that the Egyptians praised the cultural week activities as 'a high-level art'. Wide coverage was given to these activities in local media in which Western cultural activities usually occupy a dominant position. Now these reports have helped to push forward the Chinese culture to Afro-Asian and Middle Eastern regions and even to Europe.
By Liang Qi
(Beijing Youth News)
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