(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-11-06 10:50

CAIRO - "I like it, and I will imitate the Peking Opera actress and perform for my parents at home," Azza, a senior student from the Chinese Department of Egypt's Ain Sharms University told Xinhua on Monday.

Azza, deeply impressed with Chinese culture and art, was very excited after attending a lecture on Peking Opera culture at the Chinese Cultural Center in Cairo along with her professors and friends.

She was just one of the some 200 audience, who gave a big applause to the introductive but detailed lecture, with delicate Peking Opera character miniature models on display and performance played by famous Peking Opera artists on Monday evening.

Abd Aziz Hamdi, Dean of the Chinese Department of Ain Sharms University, hailed the lecture and the performance as excellent, while Professor Magedy, deputy dean of the department who undertook the Chinese-Arabic interpretation all through the lecture, said he know more about Peking Opera now.

Wu Jiang, the lecturer and president of China National Peking Opera Company, told the audience that Peking Opera is China's national treasure with a history of more than 200 years.

Noting that China's national cohesion relies on its traditional culture with Peking Opera as an important element, Wu explained that Peking Opera is a synthesis of stylized action, singing, dialogue, and mime, acrobatic fighting and dancing to represent a story or depict different characters and their feelings of gladness, anger, sorrow, happiness, surprise and fear.

Being a style of art expression, Peking Opera has also become a "green entertainment style" in today's stressed modern life for people to become relaxed, said Wu, who came to Egypt with a six- member Chinese culture delegation.

Asked by Xinhua about the internationalization of Peking Opera, Wu said that, during his trips to many countries such as the United States, Russia, the Republic of Korea and Japan, he noticed that people there like Peking Opera very much, not only the fighting performance, but also the operas characterized by singing and acting.

The Chinese artist expressed his belief that as an important means to spread the Chinese traditional culture oversea, Peking Opera will be welcomed at the international arena with more performance abroad and better translation.

With Egypt as the first stop of this trip, the delegation will travel to France in a few days to continue their efforts to inform foreign audience of the Chinese traditional culture.