Astrakhan pupils treated their Chinese friends to pancakes and danced with them
The Dialogue of Two Cultures event was held in Astrakhan A.P. Guzhvin Boarding School for Gifted Children (SGC) as a part of the Cross-Year of Education in Russia and China, announced by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. The project realized by the SGC and the Astrakhan State Conservatory introduces its participants to the traditions, philosophy, poetry and musical culture of two countries.
Chinese students of Astrakhan State Conservatory and SGC students together said goodbye to winter, remembering the New Year and Christmas holidays. Invited guests were students of Hero of Russia Azamat Tasimov Kilinchinskaya Secondary School. They shared their stories about making hand-made Christmas tree decorations. Then they and members of the Miras folk ensemble from Tatarskaya Bashmakovka village performed fiery Tatar dances. All the students became part of merry Maslenitsa dance.
Poems by Alexander Pushkin, Osip Mandelstam, Boris Pasternak, Eduard Asadov, Andrey Dementyev were read at the event. SGC student, the winner of regional stage of All-Russian Olympiad, read The Sail, by Mikhail Lermontov, in Chinese. Then she demonstrated and commented on photos that her Chinese friends sent.
Astrakhan State Conservatory student Se Yun Qing duly represented the Chinese musical culture at the event. Accompanied by Yaroslava Buryak, a student of Special Piano Department of the same Conservatory, he performed The Black Fog and The Great River Flows Eastward.
The friendly meeting ended with a tea party. The head of the table were pancakes decorated with Chinese characters.
“We are very glad to take part in this evening, had a conversation, knew a lot of new about Russian culture.” Chinese student Wang Cheni thanked the organizers of the meeting. “In mid-March we invite you to visit our conservatory”.
Photo: A.P.Guzhvin School for Gifted Children