Guangdong International Students Gala Held in SCUT Campus News - SCUT

On November 2nd, Charming Guangdong, Lifting My Dream: International Students Gala was held in South China University of Technology (SCUT). Nearly 1000 international students studying in Guangdong province came to celebrate and share their lives, studies, and joys in China.

 Senior government officials, foreign consulates in Guangzhou and representatives from universities in Guangzhou were present to the activity. International students from SCUT, Sun Yat-sen University, Jinan University, Southern Medical University, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies and Shenzhen University performed crosstalk, pipa (a Chinese traditional string musical instrument with a fretted fingerboard), yangko (a popular rural folk dance in China), Kung Fu and many other forms of art in the gala.

International students of Chinese origin use recitation to express love for their homeland.

Different from other students, international students of Chinese origin have a special feeling on returning to China. To hold the dream of finding roots of their ancestors, they choose to study here, taking this country as their eternal homeland.

 On the gala day, a group of them from SCUT presented “Chinese Homeland”, a recitation that was well accepted by the audiences and the judges. It won them the first prize among all the performances.

 In the show of Double Happiness, a Tanzanian girl that married to China cried out her affection to this land: “I love China, I love Silk Road, I love Kung Fu, I love China’s scholarship, and I am crazy about the cheerful square dance here!”

 Ge Lina, Li Shu and other five international students from Shenzhen University presented “Monkey King Subdues White Bone Demon Twice”, which is a recreated story based on Journey to the West, one of the four greatest traditional Chinese novels,

 In addition, “Ambush on All Sides”, a pipa solo from Sun Yat-sen University, “Emerging of Tough Girls”, a musical from Jinan University and “Yangko Dance of Northern Shaanxi” from Guangdong University of Foreign Studies brought great pleasure to the audiences.

Internatinal students performed various forms of arts, including Chinese crosstalk, pipa, yangko and kung fu.

The gala was organized by Guangdong Public Diplomacy Association, Guangdong People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and Guangdong Education Association for International Exchanges，and co-organized by SCUT, Sun Yat-sen University, Jinan University, Southern Medical University, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies and Shenzhen University in turn. 

Statistics shows nearly 28000 international students studied in Guangdong in 2014. As the main body of public diplomacy, they are of great significance in promoting cultural exchanges between China and other countries, as well as in enhancing the cultural soft power and international influence of China. 

In the future, universities in Guangdong will hold the International Students Gala every year. By inviting international students to talk about their experiences and reflections in Guangdong, the gala aims to help the students to better understand Lingnan culture and Chinese culture, and to show different style of students from various countries. 

Meanwhile, the activity also provides a platform for international students to experience the excellence of China Dream and the charm of Guangdong, making a brand new name card for the province.

Chinese version by School of International Education

Translated by Xu Peimu and Xu Fang, Edited by Xu Peimu

From the SCUT News Network