Abingdonian 2017

21 www.abingdon.org.uk Summer Term Lent T m The song that was sung in the fifth act was a popular Jiangsu folk song called What a Beautiful Jasmine Flower . It originated in Jinniu Hu Lake, near the town of Nanjing in Jiangsu. The song represents love and happiness. The sixth act was another acrobatics act but slightly different to the first one. This act involved a Chinese man dressed as a frog and he was dancing and spinning himself around inside a hoop. The background tune was called Moonlight on Lotus Pond and the act involved a frog dancing merrily near the pond doing somersaults, rolling over, jumping, leaping and doing flips inside a giant iron hoop. The next few acts involved a funny horse race and another dance called Pole the Lotus . In the Horse Race performance, a piece of music was played on a two-stringed musical instrument. The music depicts a picture of cheerful crowds and galloping horses. The dance was rather funny because there were two lotus flower costumes dancing around the main lady actor, but the lotus flowers were actors as well, just curled up when inside the costume. The highlights from the Peking Opera were amazing. It was based around a young man returning from military camp to see his mother, but he wasn’t allowed. Eventually, with the help of his wife, he was finally able to return to his mother. The eleventh act was a man singing a solo of the song Enjoy a Happy Together , which depicts a long-lasting friendship. His voice was incredible and the vocals he produced projected all around the hall. The second last act was my favourite one of the whole evening. It was three men performing a Chinese traditional acrobatics and athletics act called Diabolo, more commonly known as Chinese yo-yoing. The ‘sport’ of Diaboloing has been around for more than two thousand years. The final act provided a dramatic end to the night. The female soloist and male soloists came together and sung a beautiful antiphonal duet of A Festive Carol . The song sings the praises of the rivers and mountains of the country, joyful festival and life. It also creates a happy atmosphere of people watching and observing the festival celebrations. The event was concluded by the Deputy Mayor of Reading, Councillor Rose Williams, delivering a speech and the Director of the Jiangsu Delegation sending warm greetings to everyone in attendance. That night was memorable. Thank you to Mrs Zhang and all the teachers who came along for providing this amazing trip for us. It will also be a valuable addition to our knowledge of Chinese Media and Culture, an element of our Chinese GCSE studies. Ben Shaw, 3AJM