A twenty (20) member team of Chinese martial and traditional performers capped their Confucius Institute Performance tour at the University of Cape Coast on Tuesday, October 31, 2017. The team took the Chinese cultural display tour around the globe under the theme: “CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE PERFORMANCE TOUR”. The group, in their African tour, first visited Benin, then South Africa and finally Ghana and had a total of five (5) separate performances; one in Benin, two in South Africa, and two in Ghana.
The group first performed at University of Ghana, Legon, on Monday, October 30, 2017 where they were hosted by the Confucius Institute at University of Ghana. The Tuesday’s performance at University of Cape Coast Main Auditorium was hosted by Confucius Institute at University of Cape Coast. The event marked the 5th and final of such memorable performances for the year by the group on the African soil.
The 20 member team hailed from four Chinese Institutions, namely: Songshan Shaolin Wushu College, Zhengzhou University, Henan University and Henan Normal University, and were led by Mr. Xu Hengzhen. The event saw a variety of Chinese art performances including Chinese Kungfu (Tai Chi), Traditional dance and Folk Music.
About Taiji:
Tai Chi (Taiji) is an internal Chinese martial art (Chinese: 武术; pinyin: wǔshù) practiced for both its defense training and its health benefits. The term Taiji refers to a philosophy of the forces of yin and yang, related to the moves. Though originally conceived as a martial art, it is also typically practiced for a variety of other personal reasons: competitive wrestling in the format of pushing hands (tui shou), demonstration competitions, and achieving greater longevity. As a result, a multitude of training forms exist, both traditional and modern, which correspond to those aims with differing emphasis. Some training forms of tàijíquán are especially known for being practiced with relatively slow movements.
The Event at UCC
The program was chaired by Prof. Peter Grant, Vice Dean of Faculty of Arts, University of Cape Coast, and assisted by other Senior members of UCC and Administrators of CIUCC including, Dr. Wilson, Director at Centre for African and International Studies, UCC, Mrs Judith Owusu-Peprah, Principal administrator of CIUCC, Mr. Robert M. Lewis, Assistant Administrator CIUCC, Mr. James Opoku-Darko, Chinese Lecturer at CIUCC, Mr. Huang Qinhai, Chinese Lecturer at CIUCC, Dr. Samuel Tetteh, Chemistry Department, UCC, Dr. Alexis Akanson, Registrar – College of Humanities and Legal Studies – UCC, among others.
There were also attendees from Perez University College led by Rev. Daniel Nii Aboagye, Director of Language Centre (Perez-UC), University Practice Senior High School led by Mr. Mintah and Mr. Albert Akotua, Mfantsipim SHS, led by Lovinna Yankson, Assistant Leader of Chinese Club, Cape Coast Technical University, and the University Basic School and their tutors.
Before the performance begun, Prof. P. K. T. Grant in a brief welcome address warmly welcomed and expressed gratitude to Hanban and the Confucius Institute Performance team for choosing UCC campus for this performance. Mr. Xu HENGZHEN, the leader of the performance team, on behalf of his team members expressed their delight for the warm reception offered them by the CIUCC and the University of Cape Coast.
The event, by far, has been one of the biggest programs held by CIUCC in 2017 and was graced by more than one thousand audience comprising mainly students from University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast Technical University and other sister institutions. It was indeed a memorable event to most of the audience as it accorded them the rare opportunity to witness a live performance of what they hitherto watched only in Chinese movies. To these students, they simply cannot wait for a second chance to have another such experience of Chinese cultural display.