Debra Li

debra_lidan@163.com

While on campus, every Chinese person has been required by their Chinese teacher to copy and recite classical prose and poetry written by great authors and poets from past eras.

A recitation gala, where renowned Chinese voice actors and local TV and radio emcees recited those beautifully written texts for the audience, was performed two nights on Friday and Saturday, bringing back good memories of our campus days.

With three screens on the stage, one provided animated paintings and videos to help audiences appreciate the texts, while two others displayed the text as well as its title and author.

Children performed an excerpt of Qu Yuan’s “Li Sao” (“The Sorrow of Parting”) at the recitation. The audience also listened to familiar prose such as Han Yu’s “Shi Shuo” (“On Teaching”) and poems including Bai Juyi’s “Pi Pa Xing” (“Pipa Song”).

Other texts chosen included Maxim Gorky’s “Song of the Stormy Petrel,” a translated piece taken from a Chinese textbook for middle school students, as well as poems by Arabic author Kahlil Gibran and poet Ai Qing, whose free verse influenced “new poetry” in China in the 20th century.

The recitation gala also included a segment paying tribute to late Chinese voice actor Liu Guangning, with local radio emcees reciting lines from imported old movies that had previously been spoken by Liu.

To mark the 40th anniversary of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, the recitation also included prose and song lyrics written about Shenzhen.

The gala was broadcast live at the plaza of Nantou Ancient Town in Nanshan District, an Easyread Books outlet in the Shenshan Special Cooperation Zone, and two Shenzhen Book City outlets in Longhua and Longgang districts.

An event of Shenzhen Reading Month (each November), the recitation gala has been held annually since 2000 to promote traditional Chinese culture. This year’s event was organized by FM 97.1 Flying Radio, a music radio channel run by Shenzhen Media Group.