ＢＹＵ－Ｈａｗａｉｉ Ｃｏｎｃｅｒｔ Ｃｈｏｉｒ ｉｎ Ｃｈｉｎａ

Brigham Young University Hawaii Concert Choir of 107 members headed by its President Eric Shumway paid a visit to Urumqi， Xi'an and Beijing from May 8 to 24， 2007. Kurax Mahesut， vice chairman of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Liu Jingcai， vice chairman of the Shaanxi Provincial People's Political Consultative Conference of met with and entertained the president of BYUH and the university board members. The BYUH Concert Choir gave wonderful performance in each city and had exchanges with the Chinese universities and friendship organizations during their stay in China.

The CPAFFC enjoys good cooperation relations with BYUH. Over the past 10 years， the CPAFFC dispatched two groups of outstanding middle-school students every year to participate in BYUH summer and winter camps. This well-received programme has greatly promoted the youth contact between our two countries.

During their visit， the BYUH Concert Choir introduced Hawaiian music culture and local customs to Chinese audience in their performance in Xinjiang University， the Great Hall of the People in Xinjiang， Shaanxi Normal University， Beijing Forbidden City Concert Hall， Juyongguan Pass of the Great Wall， Central University for Nationalities， etc. They performed a cappella and accompanied choral literature ranging from classical oratorio literature as well as international folk music， and art music of Europe， the Americas， and the South Pacific.

The unique performances were warmly received by the audience， giving them strong cultural impact as well as audio-visual enjoyment. Climax arose one after another during these performances. Their joint-performance with the Youth Choir of the China Central Conservatory of Music became a part of \"Meet in Beijing\" Festival.

Besides the performances， members of the choir had gatherings with students of Xinjiang University， Urumqi Senior Middle School， Shaanxi Normal University， Xi'an International Studies University and the Central University for Nationalities. They enjoyed joint-performance， calligraphy show， oral practice in English and played basketball and ping pong together. The cultural exchanges between the Chinese and American students deepened their mutual understanding， laid the foundation for future cooperation.