Inner Mongolia culture on display in Sydney school

By Liu Yufen (chinadaily.com.cn)

Updated: 2014-12-19

As a part of the Australia-Inner Mongolia Culture Week, the Inner Mongolia Ethnic Arts Theatre gave a performance for students and teachers in Sydney's Marsden High School on Dec 11.

The chorus of the Inner Mongolia Ethnic Arts Theatre presents an acappella performance in Marsden High School in Sydney on Dec 11.[Photo/people.com.cn]

During the performance, themed "Beautiful Grassland, My Hometown", the chorus sang classic Mongolian folk songs as well as the Christmas Song Sing Noel and Australian folk song Waltzing Matilda. The latter two songs were sung both in English and Chinese.

Three characteristics of Mongolian music, including Mongolian long tone, matouqin (horse-head fiddle) and Mongolian throat singing, were featured in the performance and won prolonged applause from the audience.

Performers play traditional Mongolian instruments during a performance in Sydney’s Marsden High School on Dec 11.[Photo/people.com.cn]

"It's an amazing performance. I could see the horses, grassland and Mongolian people. It reminds me of culture and history. I love this performance, because it’s a rare opportunity for the students to experience such a culture," said the headmaster of Marsden High School, Gus Vrolyk.

Zhao Li, head of the China Culture Center in Sydney, explained that the aim of the performance is to let more local youth have more opportunities to experience Chinese culture.

Students of Marsden High School greet the performance from the Inner Mongolia Ethnic Arts Theatre with applause. [Photo/people.com.cn]

"I've never heard of this kind of music before. I'm very interested in it and very happy to have such an experience. It's really a good chance to learn Chinese culture and language," according to a student in Marsden High School.

The Australia-Inner Mongolia Culture Week marks the conclusion of the year of cooperation between Sydney’s China Culture Center and the Culture Department of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. It aims to display the grassland to the people of Australia in a comprehensive way, through visual art, performances and intangible cultural heritage exhibitions.

The culture week was scheduled on Dec 12 and was hosted by the Ministry of Culture and the Inner Mongolia people’s government.

Edited by Michael Thai