Cultural tour for diplomats highlights Hunan

A diplomat tries to take a photo of the Poems Wall in Changde, Hunan province.[Photo by Hu Zhe/Chinaculture.org]

Five attractions were selected to highlight China and Hunan's cultural heritage and national character. In Changsha, the Hunan Puppet and Shadow Art Protection & Inheritance Center delighted the guests not only with a presentation of shadow play, named a State-level Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2008 and a UNESCO world cultural heritage in 2011, but also with demonstrations of puppet-making and learning under a master teacher. The diplomats were able to prompt the human-like puppets to roll their eyes and act out emotions. The center is the only adult and youth professional art troupe in Hunan to include shadow play and puppet performance.

In Changde, they were accompanied by their Chinese hosts to the Poems Wall by Willow Lake, a four kilometer display of Chinese poetry and calligraphy. The guests did not speak much as they regarded the characters, but the silence spoke for them as they seemed to sense the poetry’s celebration of both patriotic sentiment and a lyrical exchange of emotion. This long wall of art, constructed at some expense by the State, affected the representatives of different countries in four continents.