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Cantonese culture shone through at the 2017 Fortune Global Forum reception gala

The reception, dinner and entertainment for the 2017 Fortune Global Forum opening gala was held in the square in front of Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall in Guangzhou on the evening of Dec. 6, 2017. It consisted of three sections, ‘Meeting in Lingnan’, ‘Xiguan Story’, and ‘Symphony Concert’.

The square was covered with red carpet, and in front of Sun Yat-Sen’ statue a transparent platform was constructed with a crystal piano sitting atop it. The whole front wall of the memorial hall was turned into a screen. The dinner party was conducted with a contemporary take on traditional Han stylings, with greeters and presenters clothed in traditional ‘Hanfu’ robes, carrying red lanterns and even greeting the guests with traditional Han style etiquette.

All these traditional touches wowed the guests. But the dinner party was also filled with Guangzhou specific elements which also pleasantly surprised the attendees. Let’s introduce them one by one.

No.1 A taste of Guangzhou

What did the guests eat for dinner? Although the menu was arguably European in style, classic Cantonese flare was added to create a fusion of flavours.

People in Guangzhou usually drink soup before main course, and so a ‘Double Boiled Duck Soup with Cordycep (caterpillar) Mushrooms’ was served as the second course at the dinner party. Soup with this kind of mushroom is actually very common among Guangzhouers, but was likely something pretty new to many non-local guests.

The main course, ‘Hoisin Braised Black Angus Beef Short Ribs’ was served with traditional Cantonese morning tea dim sum ‘Cantonese Radish Cake and Star Anise Jus’. This not only surprised foreign guests, but locals alike.

Dessert was a ‘Warm Cantonese Coconut and Sago Soup, with Mango and Raspberry Coulis’. Mango-coconut sago sweet soup is a common dish in Guangzhou, but with the addition of raspberry coulis, it was fused with a more Western dessert flavour.


No. 2 Locally made, automated crystal piano

The crystal piano on the transparent platform is ‘Made-in-Guangzhou’, through and through. Provided by Guangzhou based Pearl River Piano, one of the world’s largest piano manufacturers, this piano was also exhibited at Music China Show in Shanghai. According to the general manager of Pearl River Pianos, this piano is equipped with an intelligent auto - play feature, allowing it to use the best online sheet music resources to play automatically.

No. 3 Award winning performers took to the stage

At the beginning of the dinner, over 60 performers came on stage to present a Cantonese opera ‘Meeting in Lingnan’. Among them, six are winners of the Chinese Drama Plum Blossom Award, China’s top award for drama. During the performance, each of the six award-winners sang a piece of newly composed Cantonese Opera music to demonstrate the traditional charm of Xiguan.

No. 4 Successful flight for ‘Made-in-Guangzhou’ drone

During the dinner party, a drone made by Guangzhou-based drone company EHang participated in the performances. Due to the complicated acoustic, photic, and electromagnetic environment at the venue, the drone was specifically installed with a RTK centimeter-level GPS in order to allow it to overcome this and challenge and fly along its pre-set route. The flight was completed within the extremely narrow error-margin of within two centimeter accuracy latitudinally and just one centimeter in the longitudinal direction.


No. 5 A total of 101 dancers presented ‘Xiguan Story’

The dance program ‘Xiguan Story’ was performed by 101 local dancers, including 60 so called ‘Xiguan Ladies’ clothed in the traditional Qipao and holding oiled paper umbrellas, contrasted with 40 ‘Xiguan girls’ with hip-hop stylings performing street dance. Aiming to demonstrate both a traditional and contemporary Guangzhou. The patterns on the Qipao were flowers and landmarks from around Guangzhou. The music for the umbrella dance was a Cantonese music piece ‘Coloured Clouds Chasing the Moon’.

No. 6 Guangzhou Symphony Youth Orchestra performed four masterpieces

The first one was ‘Dance Of The Golden Snake’, one of the top ten Chinese national classics especially at New Year. The second one was the theme from Oscar award-winning movie ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’. The third one is truly one of the most well-known Chinese classics ‘Jasmine Flower’. The final piece performed, ‘Dragon Boat Racing’ is a masterpiece of Cantonese music composed by a local musician.

(Author: Monica Liu; Editor: Simon Haywood)

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