The Chinese Kunqu Opera Culture Exhibition was unveiled at the Lan Su Chinese Garden in Portland, the U.S. in July.
The actors from the Suzhou Kunqu Theater performed four scenes of the Peony Pavilion against the beautiful scenes of pavilions, flowing water, and rockeries at the Lan Su Chinese Garden, bringing the American audience on site closer to the charm of outstanding traditional Chinese culture such as Suzhou classical gardens and Kunqu opera.
Encompassing three parts of culture, classic plays, and Kunqu in the world, the exhibition introduces the history, characters, facial makeup, clothing, music, classic plays, and overseas performances and exchanges of Kunqu opera in pictures and words.
As part of a series of activities commemorating the 35th anniversary of the establishment of sister-city relationships between Suzhou and Portland, the exhibition aims to help Suzhou's Jiangnan culture go global, conduct cultural exchanges between the two cities, enhance mutual understanding of the people in China and the U.S., and deepen the friendship of the people in the two countries.
Suzhou established the sister-city relations with Portland in 1988. In September 2000, the Lan Su Chinese Garden, whose name is formed by combining the sounds from Portland and Suzhou in Chinese, opened and has since become a shining brand name of Suzhou classical gardens overseas. In 2014, Portland and Suzhou received a U.S.-China Sister Cities Award in the economy and trade category by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) and Sister Cities International (SCI).
