By Heyu, a Minghui/Clearwisdom reporter

(Clearwisdom.net) In a town one hundred kilometers from Toronto lives a group of Chinese and Western friends who love traditional Chinese culture and who have made the Divine Performing Arts Chinese New Year Global Spectacular a tradition at Chinese New Year. They drive to Toronto every year to watch the performance and then go to Chinatown for a New Year's Eve dinner. These friends share the joy and wonderful feelings inspired by the show. They said that the day was absolutely the most wonderful and happiest day of the year. The reporter was invited to share their joy.

Although they have known about and looked forward to the show all year, this year's show was a big surprise. On the way to the restaurant in Chinatown, they excitedly talked about their impressions until they arrived at the dinner table. After ordering, they began to share as planned. This part was challenging. Each person was to tell his favorite part of the show and the reason for their choice.

According to Asian and European etiquette, seniors and ladies have priority. The discussion started with Veronica. Veronica, from Austria, is a cheerful and open woman who runs an interior design business. She and her husband Andrew, who is German and works in car body design, saw the show last year. Afterwards they were drawn to Chinese culture. She felt the kindness of Chinese people from the beautiful smiles of the performers. She felt very good about Chinese people and paid special attention to Chinese New Year. She not only brought her own children to watch the show this year, but also recommended the show to her friends and neighbors.

As soon as Veronica started, she violated the group's rule. "I loved the graceful dancing of the women and the exhilarating dance, 'Drummers of the Tang Court'! I also loved the background projections and costumes..." Remembering that she only had one choice, as an interior designer she had to bear the pain and pick one. Finally she chose the costumes. "The costumes are so special and beautiful," she said.

Sabrina is Veronica's daughter-in-law. She is a young Canadian woman with golden hair and green eyes. As she is a ballet dancer, the dancing in the show naturally was her favorite: "Chinese classical dance is so great and wonderful. The dances are so powerful and moving."

Asked what she thought about the difference between Chinese classical dance and ballet, Sabrina thought carefully and explained: "There are a lot of jumps in ballet, while Chinese classical dance has different techniques. Even walking is full of specific techniques; it's so gentle and elegant. The dancers move as if they glide on water. Their moves are so graceful, flowing and harmonious. I know that it's very difficult."

She said excitedly, "Every part of their bodies was dancing, including head, neck, shoulder, chest, waist, legs and hands. Even their hands were full of language, expressing something. I think Chinese classical dance is more difficult than ballet and there were more requirements in coordination, and it's very graceful."

She liked "The Ladies of the Manchu Court" the best. Manchu women were so elegant and graceful, yet danced joyfully when they were spirited. Sabrina said, "Even the audience wanted to dance with them. They were free of worry and very happy." Everyone agreed with her choice.

Next was Bowman, a young Caucasian man who speaks fluent Chinese. Bowman is currently studying for an MBA. He studied Chinese for over a year in China, and he has been to Beijing, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and Tibet. He lived with farmers at Xishuangbanna Dai-ethnic village, and he has traveled in Tibet. Because he had a special feeling for China, after he finished his Chinese studies he spent a lot of time maintaining a charity so that western society could learn about the current situation of HIV in China and help orphans of HIV victims in China.

Although Bowman saw the performance for the first time, he understood the hosts' introduction in Chinese and he had no problem understanding the performances. He was most interested in the meaning of the dances. "I liked the stories told by the dances. That scholar pursued fame and profit at the beginning, however, all these were lost quickly like a dream. This helped me enlighten to the understanding that there may be more important things in my life besides studying. I maybe don't need to spend so much time studying. I will graduate in August and I want to think carefully about what I will do in the future. One must have something to search for in life, although I don't know what that is yet."

In contrast to Bowman's seriousness, college student Feng'er is a spirited girl from south China. Her answer was: "All the dances were wonderful! If I need to choose one for my favorite, the Tibetan dance, "Snowy Mountain, White Lotus" is it. The costumes are so beautiful! Blue vests, white skirts, long sleeves, colorful aprons, beautiful hair decorations. They are so wonderful."

The reporter, who had visited Tibet many times, told them: "There is meaning in the five colors of the aprons. In Tibetan culture, blue represents sky, white represents clouds, red represents fire, yellow represents land and green represents flowing water. Tibetans are an ethnic group that lives harmoniously with nature and has a rich spiritual world. To the best of my knowledge, not only are the dance costumes in the show beautiful, they are also designed carefully according to the different dynasties and ethnic groups they represent."

Everyone was surprised at the care and attention to detail of the costumes, and they were moved by the all-embracing, broad, and profound traditional Chinese culture.

After enjoying an unforgettable Chinese New Year Global Spectacular, the friends enjoyed delicious Chinese food together. Time passed in a twinkling of an eye. When the feast was over they promised to do this again and are already looking forward to next year.

Posting date: 2/2/2008
Original article date: 2/2/2008
Category: News & Media Reports
Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/1/26/171101.html

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