Chinese youth troupe wows Cebuanos with songs, martial arts numbers

CEBUANOS were treated to a showcase of Chinese folk dances and songs as well as martial arts and acrobatics as performed by Chinese youths at the White Gold House in Cebu City last Wednesday evening.

The Chinese Cultural Land-Talented Juvenile Troupe stopped by Cebu as part of their friendship tour of Asian countries that included the Philippines. The featured performers were aged 10 to 21 years old.

“For the group, it’s kind of a learning progress to know about the cultures of other countries and we are versatile enough to get together for this performance,” said 18-year-old Nancy Cai, one of the veterans of the troupe.

At a young age, she was a recipient of hosting awards including the Xiamen “Wai Tu Cup”Golden Microphone TV Host Competition.

“We want this show to promote the friendship and understanding between this two countries (China and the Philippines),” she said. Cai considered the troupe’s visit to Cebu as “educational.”

“The people here are very fluent in speaking English. They are also very friendly and they are very helpful,” Cai said. The troupe opened their program with a song entitled “We Are Friends.”

A Minnan dialect song and a ballad was sung by 11-year-old Xu Yue, the “Star Champion of the Year” awardee of the Fujian TV children’s channel followed by a solo song and dance number by 15-year-old Guo Dawel.

Guo, image spokesperson of the CCTV children’s channel, performed his unique “dolphin” vocal number.

At 12 years old, Guo held his first solo concert and was once invited by Russian TV to do his “dolphin” vocal performance. They were followed by acrobats Wang Yijian, 16, Li Xiaoyan, 14, and Huang Ling, 16, who performed their numbers to the song “Warm Spring.”

A musical instrumental was later performed by 19-year-old Wang Tingyue followed by a martial arts exhibition by 11-year-old Sun Zijian, who’s known as “China’s Youngest King of Sword.”

The crowd also watched 13-year-old Cao Kefan’s mask changing performance and the troupe’s youngest member, 10-year-old Niu Jiaxin who performed “The Drunken Beauty”, a Beijing opera piece.

Deputy Director General Zhou Hong said the show was aimed at “strengthening cultural ties” between the Chinese and Filipino youths.

“If we can carry this on to the future, our young people will make friends, then the friendship between our countries will endure,” he added.