Ottawa's Beijing Week brings Chinese culture to Canada

Ottawa's Beijing Week, part of 2017 Ottawa Welcomes the World, kicked off at Lansdowne Park here on Wednesday, with performances of acrobatics, folk music, and traditional Chinese operas.

Themed with "Greetings from Sister City," the Beijing Week also features shows of Chinese tea art, sales of local delicacies, and demonstration of traditional craftsmanship that are recognized as intangible cultural heritage including cloisonne, paper-cutting, and Beijing embroidery.

Visitors are able to enjoy the "Charming Beijing" photo exhibition and exhibition of cultural and creative technologies, and participate in promotional events on Beijing tourism, 2019 China Beijing International Horticultural Exposition, and 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games.

Tonight, coinciding with China's Mid-Autumn Festival, Beijing Week will bring a traditional Chinese cultural feast to all participants. Visitors can not only enjoy dances, Peking Opera, acrobatics, folk music, but also have a taste of Chinese moon-cakes and Beijing local delicacies.

Beijing Week, hosted by the People's Government of Beijing Municipality and Chinese Embassy in Canada, presents the best wishes from Beijing, for the 150th confederation of Canada, said Zhao Haisheng, the minister-counselor of cultural affairs at Chinese embassy in Ottwa.

Since establishing the sister-city relations in 1999, Beijing and Ottawa have achieved fruitful exchanges and cooperation results.

Beijing Week is an important sister-city exchange program of Beijing in 2017. It aims to strengthen the mutual understanding and friendship between Beijing and Ottawa and lay a solid foundation for future cooperation in various fields, added Zhao.