Egyptians showed enthusiasm for traditional Chinese culture as they enjoyed a combo performance of Beijing Opera, Chinese music and acrobatics on Monday night.
"Chinese art is wonderful and amazing," Cairo University student Ingy Adel told Xinhua at the end of the show, which kicked off a week of Chinese cultural activities in Egypt.
A strong team of selected Chinese artists from the realms of Beijing Opera, traditional Chinese music and acrobatics have been here to satisfy the Egyptian desire to learn more about China.
During the cultural event, the fourth in a series after ones in the United States, France and Germany, a Chinese cultural center will be inaugurated in Cairo, the first of its kind in the Arab world and Africa.
In the inaugural show, the China Beijing Opera Theater staged Farewell My Concubine, a love story based on an internationally acclaimed Chinese movie shot a decade ago.
Beijing Opera is considered a national treasure in China for its unique lyrics, recitation techniques, songs, dances, martial arts and acrobatics.
"I am very happy to be here to present the best of Chinese art to the Egyptians, and I hope that more and more Egyptians will understand and enjoy Beijing Opera," said Yu Kuizhi, a renowned Beijing Opera artist.
In a show of strength and skill, Chinese acrobats played with bowls, cups and badminton racquets in a variety of astonishing fashions.
"It is incredible. How could they do it like this?" asked SaberRabie, a reporter from the leading Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram, as he watched two girls making extraordinary contortions while holding piles of cups in their hands and on their feet.
Experiencing something new and special, the audience happily joined in a performance in Arabic by a Chinese singer of Basbussa (happiness), an old popular Egyptism song.
"It is true that anyone who drinks the water of the Nile would come back," said smiling Zhu Mingying, who first made her voice heard in Cairo 20 years ago.
"It is very exciting for me to be warmly received here again," the middle-aged singer said, voicing hope that her singing will play a role in promoting exchanges between the Chinese and Egyptian peoples.
From Cairo, the Chinese artists will travel to the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria.
(People's Daily October 29, 2002)
