While the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra is bringing the vibe of Spring Festival into the United Nations headquarters, the city of Suzhou is also showing its charm through a multimedia exhibition hosted in the U.N. on Feb. 8 in New York.
The exhibition, titled "The Art of Suzhou People's Lives," will showcase the city's rich history, Chinese New Year customs, and people's adjustment of their lifestyles according to seasonal changes.
Planned by iSuzhou, a platform established by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Suzhou Municipal Committee and media company Suzhou Daily that devotes to promote cultural exchanges, the exhibition is using multimedia resources to portrait the city and its distinctive cultures.
Featured in the exhibition will be Taohuawu Woodcut New Year Pictures, products of a distinct printing technique that dated from the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), the key elements of the 24 solar terms, and Spring Festival must-haves like antithetical couplets, red envelops and "Fu" characters.
All the items, videos and multimedia products will come together to showcase a "romantic Suzhou," a city rich in history and culture.
This year's Suzhou-themed exhibition and music concert performed by the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra are part of the endeavors taken by the city to spread its culture around the world.
In the past few years, exhibitions that present the southern Chinese city's distinct handcrafts, creative art pieces, city landscape and music are held in multiple countries and places, including the United States, Germany, Romania, Poland and the United Kingdom.
Book series "The Allure of Suzhou," for example, is a major cultural product that introduces the city to the world.
Published both in English and Chinese, the 8-year-old book series unveiled the uniqueness of Suzhou, and has developed into a unique brand for the city that combines both the traditions held by the thousands-year-old city and the modern perspectives welcomed by contemporary visitors.
Apart from the book series, music is becoming another representative for the city.
While for centuries Suzhou has been famous for the Kunqu Opera, in one of the oldest forms of Chinese opera still being performed today, nowadays the city is also seeing rapid development of some more international music forms.
The establishment and rapid development of the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra and Suzhou Chinese Orchestra, both of which are masters in coordinating Chinese and Western music and instruments, demonstrate the city's achievement.
The orchestras, both young but talented, have been broadening their influences across the world.
In the beginning of 2019, two-year-old Suzhou Symphony Orchestra will perform for the U.N. delegates in the U.N. headquarters, while Suzhou Chinese Orchestra, founded in late 2017, is going on a tour in Europe.
With the city's rich culture a fundament and the municipal government's support a major promoting force, Suzhou is committed to further spread its charm globally through various platforms, both online and offline.
And the Spring Festival music concert and exhibition in the U.N. headquarter are just marking the beginning of another year of Suzhou making an impression globally.
