Foreword

Henan TV continues its special Chinese Festival Series Programme to interpret the Chinese traditional culture. The programmes from 2023 Henan TV Spring Festival Gala and Adventure of the Lantern Festival to take the audience to travel time and space into song and dance, opera and music, as well as the hustle and the bustle, tasting the Chinese traditional festivals and experiencing the those unchanged spirits and sentiments beyond time.

Heading Strong into a New Year – the 2023 Henan TV Spring Festival Gala based on the root of the Chinese culture and supported by AR visual technology has become a unique cultural form programme. Representative programmes like Auspicious and Blessed, Phoenix Dances in the Heavens, Encounter Henan selected by China Cultural Centre in Sydney use modern visual techniques combining traditional culture and popular trends to create a new cultural form, demonstrating the thought and spiritual expression of eastern aesthetics and better showcasing the beauty and core values of the Chinese Spring Festival Culture.

Splendor of Ancient China: Adventures of the Lantern Festival 2023 featuring the unchanging festive rituals of the Lantern Festival as the core narrative theme, builds up a folklore scene of the Lantern Festival in different eras, showcasing the hustle and the bustle. China Cultural Centre in Sydney selects three representative programmes, The Grand Show Is On, Chinese Mythology – Goddess Nvwa Mending the Sky, and the Auspicious Crane Returns. The joyful Grand Show Is On kicks off the gala presenting the various practices of the opera troupe. The dance performance of Chinese Mythology – Goddess Nvwa Mending the Sky interprets the legend of Nvwa making humans and mending the sky with splendid audio-visual images. The dance performance of the Auspicious Crane Returns reveal the integration of scenery and dance with the interconversion of dancer and crane.

The development of technology today has given traditional culture a  new delightful look. The Australian audiences can deeply experience the majestic power of the Chinese traditional culture and the stunning visual effects empowering by technology in this fusion of tradition and modernity.

The dance programme is from 2023 Henan TV Spring Festival Gala. In the programme, a dancer and a digitalized phoenix-like AI dancer are dancing together, one real and one virtual, presenting a beautiful ‘divine scene’. Breaking through dimensional barriers, the programme innovatively showcases the eastern aesthetics and the phoenix worship by empowering traditional imagery with technology. In ancient Chinese legends, phoenix as a fictional image is king of the birds and represents the Chinese people’s worship of divine beasts that has been passed down through the ages. Phoenixes flying together symbolize happy family and auspicious harmony. The programme centered around the phoenix’s rebirth and supported by virtual reality technology of the metaverse avatars is telling the story of the symbiotic relationship between humans and phoenixes.

In a stunning scene of blooming flowers, the flower fairies play a variety of Chinese traditional instruments such as flute, pipa, guzheng and erhu to showcase the Chinese traditional auspicious culture. The power of technology lies in making imagination a reality. The fairy land of  Penglai from the Classic of Mountains and Seas with the assistance of modern visual technology, is presented virtually, suspending above the sea of clouds with lush forests and abundant fruits as well as the ancient legendary auspicious beasts roaming among them. The flower petals turning into dancers with the playing of music symbolize the life and growth in nature.

The song by Mr. Li Yugang depicts China’s magnificent Mountains and rivers and the beautiful landscapes in Henan. The programme abandons the traditional stage layout and creates new platform concept from a broader perspective with virtual technology and live settings, breaking the traditional concept of space. The singer stands in a small boat floating on a lotus pond, with mountains and flying eaves in the distance under the moonlight. In next second, with the song running into the second section, the setting changes into an ancient city with towering pagoda and rising Kongming lanterns. As the singer changes his voice, the setting changes once again to vast mountain terraces. Finally, the real scenes of historical and cultural landscapes such as the Simuwu Cauldron, the Tai Chi diagram of Taoism, the Shaolin Temple, and the Longmen Grottoes are presented one after another. As the lyrics say, “Painting a scroll of the prosperous world and enjoying the Eastern imagery.” The program highlights the profound historical and cultural heritages of Henan as the birthplace of Chinese civilization with a combination of virtual and real settings.

In the Chinese Festival Series, Henan Tv has never left traditional opera behind. 2023 Adventure of the Lantern Festival once again attempts innovative expression of traditional opera. The Grand Show filmed in the ancient town of Dangkou in Wuxi City presents the hardcore skills in operas through the combination of plots and special effects and fusion of rock and traditional music. Zhang Xiaoying, soundtrack singer of the movie Full River Red, is also invited to perform in the programme. In the ancient courtyard of the town, scenes of simulated opera class teachings are presented one after another, featuring various skills such as acrobatic fighting, stilt walking, long sleeves waving and somersault, accompanied by background music played by Jinghu and Fuliancheng opera troupe’s recital, creating a vivid picture of various opera skills. Finally, the stunning visual impact of the traditional opera is further strengthened through digital presentation of traditional splash-ink art.

Lustrous lanterns are everywhere in the night of the Lantern Festival. The dancing programme interprets the legends of Nvwa creating Humans and mending the sky, which has been an magnificent ancient fantasy since Han Dynasty and is also a tribute to the striving spirit of the Chinese nation at the beginning of new year. Nvwa, the ancient Chinese goddess of creation, is the ancestor of the Chinese nation and the patron saint blessing the land and the people. According to the legend, Nvwa created humans by molding yellow mud in her own image, and established human society and introduced marriage protocol. Later, when a catastrophe occurred, the sky collapsed and the earth sunk, she melted multicoloured stones to mend the sky and cut off the legs of a giant turtle to support the four corners of the earth, leaving behind the myth of Nvwa mending the sky. Nvwa is not only a heroine who mended the sky and created humans but also a goddess of nature who created everything. She created at least 70 things every day with her mighty power. She is also called Mother of the Earth and has been widely and long worshiped as Goddess of Creation and Mother Goddess by the people.

Zhaoqing is the start of auspiciousness. In Chinese, “zhao” means “start”, and “qing” means “auspiciousness. Shot in Zhaoqing, the programme presents a grand Chinese traditional dance, which is interwoven with beautiful scenery and conveying the wish for good fortune. The production team continues the expression form combining real-world filming and technological applications to present a visual aesthetic experience unique to the Lantern Festival. The dance is inspired by master Mi Fu’s painting Pavilion of Rising Clouds and featured with the auspicious crane. The animal is given life by Mi Fu’s painting and flies over mountains and rivers and turns into a handsome scholar dancing in Zhaoqing. While the crane scholar waves his sleeves and looks back, the scene behind him changes. “The auspicious crane transcends time and perches on the roof of an ancestral courtyard in the Lantern Festival. In the meantime, following the traditions inherited from ancestors, the modern people gather together to toast this festive day for reunion with bright lanterns and lion dances.

Phoenix Dances in the Heavens

The dance programme is from 2023 Henan TV Spring Festival Gala. In the programme, a dancer and a digitalized phoenix-like AI dancer are dancing together, one real and one virtual, presenting a beautiful ‘divine scene’. Breaking through dimensional barriers, the programme innovatively showcases the eastern aesthetics and the phoenix worship by empowering traditional imagery with technology. In ancient Chinese legends, phoenix as a fictional image is king of the birds and represents the Chinese people’s worship of divine beasts that has been passed down through the ages. Phoenixes flying together symbolize happy family and auspicious harmony. The programme centered around the phoenix’s rebirth and supported by virtual reality technology of the metaverse avatars is telling the story of the symbiotic relationship between humans and phoenixes.

Auspicious and Blessed

In a stunning scene of blooming flowers, the flower fairies play a variety of Chinese traditional instruments such as flute, pipa, guzheng and erhu to showcase the Chinese traditional auspicious culture. The power of technology lies in making imagination a reality. The fairy land of  Penglai from the Classic of Mountains and Seas with the assistance of modern visual technology, is presented virtually, suspending above the sea of clouds with lush forests and abundant fruits as well as the ancient legendary auspicious beasts roaming among them. The flower petals turning into dancers with the playing of music symbolize the life and growth in nature.

Encounter Henan

The song by Mr. Li Yugang depicts China’s magnificent Mountains and rivers and the beautiful landscapes in Henan. The programme abandons the traditional stage layout and creates new platform concept from a broader perspective with virtual technology and live settings, breaking the traditional concept of space. The singer stands in a small boat floating on a lotus pond, with mountains and flying eaves in the distance under the moonlight. In next second, with the song running into the second section, the setting changes into an ancient city with towering pagoda and rising Kongming lanterns. As the singer changes his voice, the setting changes once again to vast mountain terraces. Finally, the real scenes of historical and cultural landscapes such as the Simuwu Cauldron, the Tai Chi diagram of Taoism, the Shaolin Temple, and the Longmen Grottoes are presented one after another. As the lyrics say, “Painting a scroll of the prosperous world and enjoying the Eastern imagery.” The program highlights the profound historical and cultural heritage of Henan as the birthplace of Chinese civilization with a combination of virtual and real settings.

The Grand Show Is On

In the Chinese Festival Series, Henan Tv has never left traditional opera behind. 2023 Adventure of the Lantern Festival once again attempts innovative expression of traditional opera. The Grand Show filmed in the ancient town of Dangkou in Wuxi City presents the hardcore skills in operas through the combination of plots and special effects and fusion of rock and traditional music. Zhang Xiaoying, soundtrack singer of the movie Full River Red, is also invited to perform in the programme. In the ancient courtyard of the town, scenes of simulated opera class teachings are presented one after another, featuring various skills such as acrobatic fighting, stilt walking, long sleeves waving and somersault, accompanied by background music played by Jinghu and Fuliancheng opera troupe’s recital, creating a vivid picture of various opera skills. Finally, the stunning visual impact of the traditional opera is further strengthened through digital presentation of traditional splash-ink art.

Chinese Mythology-Goddess Nvwa Mending the Sky

Lustrous lanterns are everywhere in the night of the Lantern Festival. The dancing programme interprets the legends of Nvwa creating Humans and mending the sky, which has been an magnificent ancient fantasy since Han Dynasty and is also a tribute to the striving spirit of the Chinese nation at the beginning of new year. Nvwa, the ancient Chinese goddess of creation, is the ancestor of the Chinese nation and the patron saint blessing the land and the people. According to the legend, Nvwa created humans by molding yellow mud in her own image, and established human society and introduced marriage protocol. Later, when a catastrophe occurred, the sky collapsed and the earth sunk, she melted multicoloured stones to mend the sky and cut off the legs of a giant turtle to support the four corners of the earth, leaving behind the myth of Nvwa mending the sky. Nvwa is not only a heroine who mended the sky and created humans but also a goddess of nature who created everything. She created at least 70 things every day with her mighty power. She is also called Mother of the Earth and has been widely and long worshiped as Goddess of Creation and Mother Goddess by the people.

The Auspicious Crane Returns

Zhaoqing is the start of auspiciousness. In Chinese,“zhao” means “start”, and “qing” means “auspiciousness. Shot in Zhaoqing, the programme presents a grand Chinese traditional dance, which is interwoven with beautiful scenery and conveying the wish for good fortune. The production team continues the expression form combining real-world filming and technological applications to present a visual aesthetic experience unique to the Lantern Festival. The dance is inspired by master Mi Fu’s painting Pavilion of Rising Clouds and featured with the auspicious crane. The animal is given life by Mi Fu’s painting and flies over mountains and rivers and turns into a handsome scholar dancing in Zhaoqing. While the crane scholar waves his sleeves and looks back, the scene behind him changes. “The auspicious crane transcends time and perches on the roof of an ancestral courtyard in the Lantern Festival. In the meantime, following the traditions inherited from ancestors, the modern people gather together to toast this festive day for reunion with bright lanterns and lion dances.

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