China and Qatar launch a series of cultural events

The China-Qatar Cultural Year 2016 is launched in Doha on Sunday. The yearlong event will feature artists and performing troupes from both countries, including Taiwan conductor Chuang Tung-chieh (left) and the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra (right). [Photo provided to China Daily]

A series of events will be held in China and Qatar through the year to mark the China-Qatar Cultural Year 2016, the Ministry of Culture and the Qatari embassy in Beijing recently announced.

Chinese and Qatari artists performed in an opening ceremony on Sunday in Doha, the capital of Qatar, followed by 17 cultural events from China and 10 from the Middle Eastern country. Music, dance, films, exhibitions, literature and food will lace the yearlong program.

What About the Art? Contemporary Art from China, an exhibition to showcase the works of more than a dozen Chinese artists and curated by the New York-based artist Cai Guoqiang, will be held at Doha's QM Gallery Al Riwaq from March 12 to Aug 12.

Another display－Silks from the Silk Road－will be presented at Doha's QM Gallery Katara on March 23.

Sultan Mansouri, the Qatari ambassador to China, says in return his country will bring Pearls, an exhibition on Qatar's rich history of the precious material, to Beijing's National Museum of China in July.

London and Istanbul witnessed the same display earlier.

Yu Jianhong, vice-president of the Beijing Film Academy, says a part of Yi Lu Kuang Biao (Racing Ahead), a film being produced by his institute, will be shot in Doha in the spring. Directed by Chen Bin and written by scriptwriter Yue Xiaojun, the comedy will focus on a group of Chinese people's adventures in Doha, with focus on camel racing, a top sport in Qatar.

In addition, the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra will debut in China in October. Under the baton of well-known Taiwan conductor Chuang Tung-chieh, the orchestra will play Arabic music, featuring works including Marcel Khalife's Symphony of Return, Jean Charles Gandrille's Violin Concerto and Houtaf Khoury's Angel of Light Piano Concerto.

Cai Shang, general executive manager of Hermark Culture, a Beijing-based company that is managing and promoting Qatar Philharmonic's China tour, says his company is also interested in taking the Suzhou Ballet Troupe to Qatar.

Photographers from both countries will hold exhibitions on landscapes and the cultural experiences of people.

The China-Qatar Cultural Year 2016 emerged from agreements signed by President Xi Jinping and Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani in November 2014. The leaders then announced the two countries' plans to build a strategic partnership and promote mutual cooperation.

Qatar and China established diplomatic relations in 1988.

"It was an important hub on the ancient Silk Road and is also a key country in realizing the Belt and Road Initiative. We hope such cultural events will help further exchanges and promote greater understanding between the two countries," Lu Yanfei, an official of China's Ministry of Culture, told reporters in Beijing on Jan 15.

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