Cultural Calendar
Egypt’s Knights of the Orient dance troupe staged Egyptian Women, a dance drama, in Yinchuan, capital of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in northwest China, on March 27. The 7-year-old troupe’s mission is to promote Egypt’s traditional folk dances.
A fashion show themed on the traditional Chinese silk dress brought Chinese glamor, craftsmanship and history to Cairo on March 26. Models showcased traditional Chinese silk dresses as part of Silu Xinyun (the New Silk Road) series of cultural events, providing a vivid glimpse of the ancient Silk Road, the old trade route connecting China with Africa and Europe. The show also saw Chinese artists play the erhu, a two-stringed violin-like instrument, dance and do acrobatics before an appreciative Egyptian audience.
Hajji Noor Deen Mi Guangjiang, who comes from Shandong in east China, is the creator of a new school of fusion calligraphy. The 53-year-old learned Arabic calligraphy when he lived in Egypt as a young boy and later added Chinese elements to it. It’s come to be known as the Sini style of calligraphy, which is essentially the Arabic script written with distinctly Chinese flourishes. A cultural envoy between China and Egypt, his art brings Arabic culture to the Chinese.
On March 7, a collection of his art was shown at the Hajji Noor Deen Mi Guangjiang Arabic Calligraphy Fair in Peking University. The event was co-hosted by the university’s School of Foreign Languages and the Egyptian Embassy in China.
The Reda Folkloric Dancing Troupe performed at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing on February 24, providing glimpses into Egyptians’ life. Khalid Djalal, Director General of the Department of Cultural Industry, Egypt’s Ministry of Culture, said it was the troupe’s third visit to China.