Imagery through AXHU cultural community lens

Imagery through AXHU cultural community lens

International Office, Anhui Xinhua University

Apr 28, 2023 

On Apr 14, 2023, the 2^nd Campus Arts Tour (of Ancient Chinese Costumes) is launched by AXHU School of Culture and Communication. A thriving vigor of springtime filling the space, the thematic presentation titled “yún-cháng-huá-zhòu云裳华胄; guó-fēng-yǎ-yùn国风雅韵” in Chinese version—an aesthetic experience of Chinese traditional clothing and dressing up with a celebration of national intelligence and elegance—is surfacing by the side of AXHU’s Ruqin Lake, by which to expand the grand Chinese traditional knowledge and inherit its historically derivative essence, help current students pursue a deeper understanding of ancient Chinese apparels and exquisite accessories as well, and thereof enrich their academic careers on campus .    

The in-person attendees included DI Jian-wei, Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) AXHU Committee, also resident Supervisor to AXHU (of Anhui Provincial Education Department); YUAN Tong-yun, director of the Traditional Clothing Culture Committee (of the Research Center for Anhui Provincial History and Culture); SHAO Ling, Assistant President of AXHU, also board member of the CPC AXHU committee; other AXHU departmental administrators with the University Office, Students’ Affairs Department, Chinese Communist Youth League (CCYL) AXHU committee, Finance Department, etc., and many of the faculty, staff and students from the School of Culture and Communication. Also present was WU Si-yu, a third-year undergraduate of Broadcasting and Anchoring (class of 2024), serving as the compere of this activity.

As initially expected, within an ambiance of melody swift and sweet, Dunhuang Flying Apsaras (fēi-tiān飞天)-styled dancing takes on there. The performance by a troupe of student-dancers wearing the Chinese traditional silk gown as thin as cicada’s wings is reproducing a pastoral picture featuring Picturesque Views of China jiāng-nán江南. And then School’s Dean HONG Yu remarks at the opening ceremony, “This initiative aims to make more and more college people to pass on a selection of “Culturally Genetic Codes,” to accurately transcribe and profoundly decode them for the next generation or global peers, to increase our culture confidence by both the close reading of national “treasures” and the immersive experiences of what such glamour and impact of Chinese traditional culture are bringing with us in AXHU community and beyond.  

To showcase huá-xià 华夏 (ancient name for China) Civilization by illustrating the characteristics of Chinese people’s courtesy, leniency and benevolence and communicating a feel of iconic romance from those colors, patterns and formulations of traditional Chinese costumes and ornaments existing in the archaic period, the performers have suited up in kinds of China ethnic costumes, including the Han Chinese clothing, mandarin gown (also named as cheongsam), dressing of Miao people (of China’s ethnic minority) and more, all of which shed a light on the different geographic and humanistic subjects through the ages. Decorating with the cloud-like brocades, snow-white silk fabrics and bright-coloured satin texture, every dancer’s movements and postures are absolutely interpreting and materializing the nature of oriental aesthetics on the stage. In some ways, what the audience are now enjoying will be no other than an offer of “Visual Feast”. In an instant, a scene play (integrating with a game of “guessing lantern riddles”) comes to life as if all the members here are doing a “time travel” back into a thousand-year-old castle, where to witness its then-prosperous presence and local residents’ dressing style, cultivated manners or everyday things. Particularly, Yue-Ren song (during the Spring and Autumn 春秋 period, 770—476 BC), which is widely recognized as the first creation of poem-rendering in China, is passionately performed by a faculty member named SHEN Lu-yuan, who is conveying the life-long pursuit of peace, love and well-being of, by and for all the people in any time and place. In the end, a group picture is snapshot on spot to memorialize a specially unforgettable moment of 2023.

Successfully, this event mirrors not only a mix of historical breakthroughs and revivals of finery arts, but also a linkage between scientific transformation and archaic fashions in the contemporary society, through which the students, faculty and staff over the course of higher learning or career development can deepen their sensory perceptions of what and how the community-wide mindset and attitude will be shaped in the face of cultural evolution and challenges and inclusively appreciate the unlimited charms reflecting Chinese traditional culture, so as to educate a large quantity of high-level applied talents characterizing with Moral, Intelligence, Wellness, Esthetic, Confidence, Diligence and much more in the 21^st century.