UCLan brings acclaimed Chinese art troupe to Preston to celebrate the New Year

26 February 2018

Chinese Nanjing Little Red Flower Art Troupe performs at Preston Guild Hall

The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) has welcomed the Chinese New Year in style by bringing an internationally acclaimed performance group to Preston.

Almost 20 children from the Chinese Nanjing Little Red Flower Art Troupe performed at Preston Guild Hall on Tuesday 20 February to mark the beginning of the Year of the Dog.  The troupe, which last visited Preston in 2014, was brought to the city by the UCLan Confucius Institute, which aims to promote Chinese language and culture in the community.

Among the excited crowd were children from local schools and the Mayor of Preston, Councillor Brian Rollo.

Nanjing Little Red Flower Art Troupe, founded in the 1950s, is the first children’s art troupe in China and is made up of children aged six to 12-year-old. The troupe frequently performs in the National Chinese New Year Gala on China Central Television, at various children’s art festivals in and out of China, and also performs for the heads of state, foreign delegations and diplomatic envoys to China.

UCLan Confucius Institute Director Feixia Yu said: “We work very closely with the Chinese Embassy’s cultural section every year to organise a celebratory performance for Chinese New Year.  This year Samuel Joy, a UCLan finalist learning Chinese, announced the performance and Xueting Luo, UCLan Confucius Institute’s own professional dancer, did two beautiful solo pieces.

“The show was a fantastic collaborative effort. We are really proud of the very high standard of Chinese achieved by our degree students as seen on stage. The enthusiastic response to the dance from the audience is most reassuring as we have recently started offering Chinese dance workshops to local schools and community centres.”

View images from the event on the UCLan Flickr gallery.