Ｎｉｎｇｂｏ Ｃｕｌｔｕｒｅ Ｗｅｅｋ ｉｎ Ｎｏｔｔｉｎｇｈａｍ

Ningbo and Nottingham have been twin cities for over two years. To celebrate the sisterly relations， Ningbo， a port city in eastern China’s coastal Zhejiang Province， sent a goodwill delegation to Nottingham， one of the oldest cities in United Kingdom in May 2008. The delegation staged a Culture Week there from May 7 to 12. The charming presentation of the cultural facets of the Chinese city greatly enhanced its image among the people of Nottingham and promoted the cultural exchanges and cooperation between the sister cities.

The opening ceremony was held in the art center on the campus of Nottingham University. The city’s celebrities and representatives from all walks of life attended the ceremony. The 100-minute performance brought more than 30 ovations.

Inspired by the sensational success of the show in the first evening， a huge crowd gathered at the noon on May 8 when the show was repeated at the city square. After the show， artists fielded questions. Many people took photographs.

The Lord Mayor of Nottingham Mohammed Munir commented that it was the first public show on the square since its restoration project in 2007 and that it was beyond their expectation that Ningbo artists could have won the hearts of local residents known for their aesthetics and art quality.

During the Culture Week， the artists from Ningbo presented their shows in five middle schools and primary schools. At Bluecoat School， a calligrapher， a paper-cut artist， and a master of martial arts demonstrated their respective arts to about 100 students and had interactive activities with the youngsters. At Welback School， two dancers and a Pipa instrumentalist demonstrated their charms. The two dancers presented Romance of Butterflies， a classical dancing program. The show brought down the house and the two masters repeated the dance three times. At another school， artists played a bone flute and danced a Ningbo gig.

The Ningbo delegation consisted of three subgroups: artists， educators and government officials. Government officials from Ningbo talked with their counterparts in Nottingham on such subjects as business， culture， education， environmental protection， urban administration. The two cities singed a memo for further cooperative relations.

Educators from Ningbo visited colleges， high schools and vocational academies in Nottingham. They attended classes and held forums with their counterparts and explored ways of further strengthening exchanges and cooperation in education.

The Nottingham council spoke highly of the Culture Week. It was the first time that Nottingham held a people-to-people cultural exchange program on such a scale. The Ningbo artists were the first Chinese artists that visited Nottingham and its schools. Many local residents were intrigued by Ningbo， a city that boasts such a colorful and wonderful culture. They expressed the intention of paying a visit to the oriental twin of Nottingham. □