Mon, January 26, 2009
BANGKOK, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- Select art troupes from China led by a Chinese culture deputy minister on Monday unveiled a series of festivities in Bangkok to celebrate Chinese New Year around Thailand.
Thai Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn presided over Monday's grand opening of the "2009 Chinese New Year Culture Cruise", which lasts from Jan. 24 to Feb. 2 and takes place in major tourist cities of large Thai-Chinese population around Thailand -- Bangkok,Pattaya, Phuket, Hatyai, Songkhla, on Yaowarat Road, known as the center of Bangkok's China Town.
The troupes came from China's Hainan, Anhui, Shandong, Jilin, Heilongjiang provinces and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The performances include singing, dancing, drama, acrobatics and Wushu (or known by foreigners as Chinese Kongfu) of diverse local and ethnic flavors.
This is the fifth year that Thai and Chinese governments have cooperated to organize such a culture event as part of Thailand's celebrations for the Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival as Chinese call it -- the most important holiday for Chinese, as well as a tribute for the long-time Sino-Thai relationship and cultural exchange.
This year, the Chinese culture delegation was led by China's Vice Minister of Culture Madame Zhao Shaohua, who, with Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and other top Thai government officials, witnessed the opening performances.
The performances attracted a large audience of tourists, local or foreigners, and shoppers in the crowded China Town area, while Thai artists also returned with Thai traditional dances.
Although the Chinese New Year, which falls on Monday, Jan. 26 this year and the festival lasts for seven days, is not a public holiday in Thailand, but the large presence of Chinese descendants in the country have made the Chinese festival a time for celebration both for locals, tourists and shopping businesses.
