Jamaica and China Strengthening Ties through Culture

Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Hon. Olivia Grange, has said that Jamaica and the People’s Republic of China were strengthening ties through the exchange of cultures.
She said that the visit to the island of the Folk Music Group of the Tianjin Song and Dance Theatre was a symbol of the growing friendship and co-operation between the two countries.
“Next year, Jamaica will be sending cultural delegations to China for our friends there to experience a taste of Jamaica. We know they will enjoy our cultural presentation as much as we are enjoying theirs, and we believe that this cultural interplay will be mutually beneficial,” Ms. Grange said on July 16 at the Gulf View Hotel in Mandeville, where the group performed.
She noted that the “exchange of cultural delegations between the two countries is one of the results of very fruitful meetings between our Prime Minister the Hon. Bruce Golding, and the Vice President of the People’s Republic of China, His Excellency Xi Jinping.”
In his remarks at the concert, Charge d’Affaires of the People’s Republic of China, Liu Kan, said the visit of the folk group would help to increase understanding between the two countries.
He also informed that the group has won acclaim worldwide because of its rich content and diverse forms and styles, which employ simple but emotive melodies.
“Music has no boundaries in encouraging the sad with enthusiasm, inspiring the desperate with confidence, and enhancing people’s spiritual life with melodious notes. Our music will serve as the medium by which the Chinese people deliver the richest expression of their culture to Jamaica,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Principal Director of Culture in the Ministry, Sydney Bartley, lauded the concert as a “brilliant display of Chinese culture.”
“They played instrumental and some western music, from very ancient instruments; it was amazing,” he told JIS News.
“The expression and the discipline of harmony were extraordinary,” he added.
The group, which performed in Kingston earlier this week, ended their tour of the island last night (July 17) at the Montego Bay Civic Centre in St. James.