Chinese, Peruvian artists captivate audience at Spring Festival Gala with collision of cultures

China

Chinese, Peruvian artists captivate audience at Spring Festival Gala with collision of cultures

2025-01-29 01:30 Last Updated At：04:37

Chinese and Peruvian artists shared the stage to deliver a special song during the China Media Group (CMG)'s 2025 Spring Festival Gala, leaving audiences in awe through a delightful collision of cultures.

The performance was one of the many cultural highlights staged during the hours-long variety show which was broadcast live on Tuesday night on the eve of the Chinese New Year.

Four artists, including Chinese singer Zhou Shen, Peruvian operatic tenor Juan Diego Florez, Chinese suona musician Niu Jiandang and Peruvian pan flute artist Lucho Quequezana, together graced the stage to perform the musical number which drew on influences from both countries.

The performance blended a traditional Chinese folk song from the northwestern Shaanxi Province called "Lan Huahua", or 'orchid', and a popular Peruvian orchestral musical piece called "El Condor Pasa," which has been recognized as part of Peru's national cultural heritage.

Viewers were treated to the sounds of two traditional instruments from both countries, creating a cross-cultural fusion stretching across the Pacific Ocean.

After the Spring Festival's recent inscription on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list, this year's gala show has integrated more elements of intangible cultural heritage, creating a cultural feast for global audiences.

Recognized by the Guinness World Records as the world's most-watched annual TV program, the hours-long television extravaganza attracts over a billion views every year.

The Spring Festival, or the Chinese New Year, falls on Wednesday this year, ushering in the Year of the Snake.

Ties between China and Peru have deepened in recent times, with the opening of Peru's Chancay Port, an important infrastructure project under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) which was inaugurated during President Xi Jinping's visit to Peru in November, standing as testament to the strong relationship between the two sides.

Iranian Red Crescent chief decries US-Israeli attacks on service institutions

Deliberately targeting civilian service institutions in Iran by the United States and Israel is the biggest operational challenge facing humanitarian workers, according to Pir Hossein Kolivand, head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society.

The United States and Israel on Saturday launched strikes against Iran, plunging the war-torn Middle East into a new round of violent conflicts. Iran has retaliated with a series of counterattacks against Israel and U.S. targets across the region.

A large-scale offensive jointly conducted by Washington and Tel Aviv on Saturday struck a girls' elementary school in southern Iran's Minab, home to a military base of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and killed over 160 pupils.

"The first attack targeted a girls' primary school in the city of Minab. It was a brutal and sad incident that was unprecedented in the history of humanity. More than 168 children aged 7, 8, and at most 9 and a half years old were martyred. The school was attacked in two phases, and unconventional weapons were used in this assault," Kolivand said.

At least seven hospitals and emergency stations in Iran, including Tehran's Gandhi Hospital, were struck by U.S. and Israeli attacks on Sunday night, causing widespread destruction and casualties.

The Iranian official framed these attacks as a fundamental violation of international laws.

"Our challenges are these direct attacks on the service providers. Just today, five of my colleagues were injured. And this is against humanitarian law, against the basic principles of the Geneva Conventions and against all international laws. One of our challenges is that international institutions are almost ineffective and we do not see any trace of it. That is, we do not feel any vital signs of it. These are our main challenges. We have no internal challenges," he said.