Port Festival by Video

Beilun is currently hosting the 3rd annual Port Festival of Beilun. The festival, as I understand it, is supposed to celebrate the deepest port in China, and how it has opened Beilun up to many cultures an international awareness. Last Monday we were asked to attend the "opening ceremonies". As foreigners, they wanted us front and center, raised up where the press could take good pictures and video of us that was broadcast on national tv. Not only that, but we were also featured in a video, which you will see below.

I really enjoyed the show and the idea of celebrating how Beilun's port has opened up this village to the ways of other cultures in the world. I felt that the spirit of the festival was to celebrate the international relations that are formed when we trade freely. So you can imagine that I became very frustrated when I was asked to sit in the front row, but the officials wouldn't let my guest sit with me. Shelley works in the library at AIAN, and so she was also able to get a ticket, but she was told that she couldn't sit with me as they wanted only foreign faces in the front row. I ended up giving up my seat, but we still definitely got a good view :)

First, we arrived a little early for the pre show. We didn't really know what to expect at the opening ceremonies, but this definitely wasn't it:

 

 

Several dances from the world were performed including an Afican dance, Islanders dance, some kind of Samba/Salsa, and more!

 



 

 

The most embarrassing moment of the night. A film crew came to the school to interview teachers about why we like living in Beilun. We were supposed to volunteer to be in the video, but as I was walking my kids out to recess, I accidentally passed the director of the film, who actually said, "Oh she looks colorful! Let's get her!" You know when you're talking to someone who doesn't know English very well, and so you slow down your speech, maybe use simpler phrases, and your voice gets louder. That's EXACTLY how I sound in the video. My Mandarin could use a little work, and I've spent the whole weekend studying to make up for it. 

 

 

 

Chinese acrobats. We think these guys were dressed as zebras, because at the end there were a lot of horse sounds in the music.

 



 

 

 

An island fashion show. This was really cute :)

 

  

 

This guy is a former pop star in China. He is now the equivalent in famous-ness to Simon Cowel as he is a judge on The Voice of China. He was REALLY good, and it's cool because now I recognize his music on the radio.

 

 

 

 

He also seemed very down to earth. I love it when the camera tries to get a few close ups and he just walks away.

 

 

 

 

So that's it. Pretty crazy conglomeration of a show!