Recently, international student choir of Wenzhou University(WZU) won the silver prize for the adult group of the Fifth Wenzhou Choral Festival, which was organized by the Publicity Department of the CPC Wenzhou Municipal Committee, Wenzhou Municipal Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau and Wenzhou Municipal Federation of Literary and Art Circles.
Founded by College of International Education (CIE), WZU international student choir is made up of more than 30 international students from Zambia, Zimbabwe, Angola and other countries, as well as 15 Chinese students. Under the guidance of Ms. Zeng Chunling from the Municipal Culture Center, members of the choir gradually mastered choral breathing and vocal techniques and gained a deeper understanding of the Chinese culture embedded in Chinese music. On the day of the competition, the international student choir impressed the audience with a Hainan folk song “Long time no see, so hope to see you for a long time”(《久久不见久久见》) and an African song.
“Gū gū vō gì gū gū gì，Gū gū gì guéi yāng diō gì……”（“It has been a long time since we last met, and I hope it will be a long time before we have to part...”）This Hainan folk song “Long time no see, so hope to see you for a long time” was originated from a Li (an ethnic group of China living in Hainan) village, and widely sung in Hainan. And it had been sung at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2018, signifying the deep friendship between China and the rest of the world and the expectation of creating a better future together. This song is not sung in Mandarin, and what makes it more difficult is that it requires international students to have a deep understanding of the meaning of the lyrics so as to present the essence of the song. However, the international members were not discouraged. They have been practicing pronunciation, intonation and harmony hard for months before they went on the stage, and amazed the audience by their excellent performance, which made them proud of themselves.
The international student member AUDREY from Zimbabwean said that it was meaningful to participate in the international student choir and was glad to win the prize on behalf of WZU. She looked forward to performing more traditional Chinese songs with her Chinese and foreign members of the international student choir.
