Chinese language social media reminiscent of Xiaohongshu and Douyin have been that includes a drones present and flash mob efficiency themed on love tales at West Lake final week, which had been a part of the celebration of the fifth anniversary of friendship-city ties between Hangzhou and the Italian metropolis of Verona.
Italian vocalists Maria Chiara Forte and Stefano Stella cooperated with the school from Zhejiang Conservatory of Music to carry out the traditional “O Sole Mio” and well-liked Chinese language Songs. The drones fashioned the Verona Area within the air. Constructed within the 1st century, it is without doubt one of the best-preserved historic buildings of its type. The drones then steadily reworked into portraits of Romeo and Juliet.
Shakespeare’s love story “Romeo and Juliet” befell in Verona, which is a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage metropolis due to its inventive heritage and historic buildings. The Juliet Home Museum is housed in a medieval constructing in Verona, welcoming guests from all over the world.
Hangzhou’s West Lake can also be on the UNESCO heritage checklist. Within the story “The Butterfly Lovers,” which is commonly described as China’s “Romeo and Juliet,” the 2 fundamental characters, Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, meet in Hangzhou’s Wansong Academy and have become classmates.
One other historic love story “Legend of the White Snake” was additionally set in Hangzhou. It tells of a younger scholar who falls in love with a 1,000-year-old white snake that has reworked into an exquisite girl. Nevertheless, a monk says it’s towards nature’s legal guidelines for people and spirits to fall in love. Then the snake is imprisoned for eternity within the Leifeng Pagoda.
These legends have impressed a number of Chinese language films and TV collection and are nonetheless broadcast sometimes. Each Hangzhou and Verona characteristic enduring love tales, which have constructed a cultural change bridge between the 2 cities.
In 2019, then Verona Mayor Federico Sboarina led a delegation to go to a collection of points of interest in Hangzhou and signed the settlement of friendship-city ties with Hangzhou, which heralded a brand new chapter for each cities.
A cultural change heart was established on the Wansong Academy beneath the cooperation of the Verona and Hangzhou governments. It has linked Italy and China and boosted change actions over the previous 5 years, together with heritage safety, cultural tourism, and financial and commerce exhibitions.
The academy, believed so far again so far as the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), has helped unfold Confucianism and is thought for its lessons by eminent students.
This yr marks the twentieth anniversary of the institution of complete strategic partnership between China and Italy. In November, Chinese language President Xi Jinping welcomed Italian President Sergio Mattarella in Beijing, and Hangzhou Mayor Yao Gaoyuan and Verona Mayor Damiano Tommasi signed the collaboration protocol.
Hangzhou’s ties with Italy date again centuries. Within the thirteenth century, throughout China’s Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), the younger Marco Polo launched into his life-defining journey to the East. His recorded experiences opened up a window for the West to know China, which to some extent modified the world. The Venetian service provider and traveler additionally left behind an in depth chronicle of his experiences in Hangzhou throughout that time period. His description of Hangzhou as “the best and most splendid metropolis on this planet” reportedly deepened Westerners’ craving for the East.
Within the seventeenth century, Italian missionary Martino Martini arrived in Hangzhou for pastoral actions and constructed a church. His work Novus Atlas Sinensis offered essentially the most complete and scientifically correct map of China on the time, sparking Western curiosity in Chinese language tradition and marking an excellent chapter in Hangzhou’s historical past of worldwide exchanges.
At current, two Italian exhibitions are underway in Hangzhou, particularly “Visible Traps: Slide in between Atoms” on the Zhejiang Artwork Museum via February 13, exhibiting cutting-edge artworks from Sandro Sanna and Donato Piccolo; and “The Good Path: Hangzhou, Marco Polo’s Metropolis of Heaven,” held within the gallery of the China Academy of Artwork via January 10.