The Romanian Cultural Institute in Beijing has organized on Friday, January 13th, from 17:00 p.m. atGalaxy SOHO, the "Romanian Culture Day", an event considered by the Chinese professors as a "new morning" in the Romanian-Chinese cultural relations. The event included a round table with the most important Chinese Romanian translators, a bilingual recital of Mihai Eminescu`s poetry, a piano concertTribute Dinu Lipatti and a photo exhibitionTimișoara – European Capital of Culture 2023. The main guests of the event wereXu Wende(eminescologist),Ding Chao(PhD professor, dean of the Romanian language department at the University of Foreign Languages and Cultures in Beijing),Dong Xixiao (PhD professor, vice-dean, Romanian language professor at Beijing Language and Culture University, works/translations: "History of Modern Romanian Culture", "Grammar of Contemporary Romanian Language", etc.),Wu Min (director of Romanian Language Department, Radio China International/China Media Group RCI-CMG), career diplomat Li Ming and Wang Tieshan. The central figure, however, was the venerable professor Xu Wende (89 years old), recognized in Romania and China as one of the exceptional eminescologists of the last 50 years, translator in and from Romanian, former director of the Romanian language section at Radio China International - China Media Group. Professor Ding Chao began his message using a poetic license, greeting those present with "Good morning!", on the evening of Friday, January 13th. Later, the erudite professor explained: "... when I start speaking Romanian again, I feel like in the morning. It's a long-awaited meeting, at least for me." Prof. Dong Xixiao, one of the prolific translators from Romanian to Chinese, argued that "the event is not only the first that the ICR organizes in 2023, but it is also the first meeting of Chinese Romanians in the past three years. That's why it's so important. (...) The Chinese market is large enough for the Romanian culture, if the topics chosen and the forms of manifestation will arouse people's interest. The problem is that in this market the competition generated by the cultures of other countries is fierce. So it needs strong marketing, a high level promotion. Chinese Romanians have translated many excellent works. But from my point of view, both releases and reviews leave something to be desired. These relations should be clarified by ICR Beijing together with those publishers. Then the model of cultural promotion needs to be updated, understanding the value of the internet, in addition to translating and publishing books on paper, we also need appropriate content for online distribution and fragmented reading". As a token of appreciation for their entire work, ICR Beijing`s director, Mr. Liviu Țăranu, has offered a diploma of excellence to the special guests for outstanding merits in book translation and contributions to the promotion of Romanian culture in the world, 20 years after the establishment of the Romanian Cultural Institute. Wang Tiange (Tamara), a second year student at the Foreign Language and Culture University in Beijing and George-Matei Andrei, a 12th grade student at No. 55 High School in Beijing, offered the guests a moving moment of poetry, reciting in Romanian and Chinese the poems "What I want you, sweet Romania" and "O, stay" by Mihai Eminescu. The event dedicated to Romanian culture has been crowned by Andrei Ivanovici, pianist with Romanian origins and descendant of the renowned composer Ion Ivanovici (1845-1902) author of the famous"Waves of the Danube". Currently residing in Shanghai, Andrei Ivanovici has performed a 50 minutes concert, from favorite works of pianist Dinu Lipatti: Chopin's operas, Bela Bartok, Domenico Scarlatti and Ion Ivanovici. Finally, the photo exhibition entitled "Timișoara, European Capital of Culture in 2023", was organized in partnership with the Consulate General of Romania in Shanghai and financed by the Public Diplomacy Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). We thank all our guests for participating and we welcome everyone to the upcoming events of ICR Beijing! Happy Chinese New Year!
