KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 22 – A Malaysia-China Shadow Puppetry Cultural Workshop was successfully held with a combination of online and offline on 20th & 21th August in China Cultural Centre in Kuala Lumpur.
Co-organized by China Cultural Centre in Kuala Lumpur and Gansu Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, supported by Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture of Malaysia, jointly presented by Akademi Arjunasukma, Malaysia and Intangible Cultural Heritage Centre in Huan County, Gansu Province of China.
Themed as “Silk Road, Connection & Conversation” Malaysia-China Shadow Puppetry Cultural Workshop opening ceremony was held on 20th August 2022. The two-day cultural workshop, lecture and performance were co-taught by Akademi Arjunasukma, Malaysia and Intangible Culture Heritage Centre in Huan County of Gansu Province China, aimed at experiencing the inheritance, protection and innovative development of traditional leather-silhouette in between Malaysia and China from different angles and levels, and it was attended by 41 participants in Malaysia.
The Deputy Director of Gansu Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, WanXueke said, “In recent years, Gansu and Malaysia have cooperated in cultural tourism, trade, science and technology. We will strengthen the cooperation with the China Cultural Centre in Kuala Lumpur, and hold a series of activities such as the “Silk Road in Symphony, Gansu in Harmony” Cultural Tourism Promotion Week, digital cultural relics exhibition, and online training classes of Dunhuang culture and paper-cut, as an important measure to promote Gansu culture and tourism, deepen exchanges and cooperation in culture and tourism, and constantly enrich the cultural connotation of the Malaysia-China community of shared future.”
“China and Malaysia will gain greater benefits from close cultural and tourism cooperation through effective planning, developing and promoting the rich cultural and art knowledge. In the past two days, the offline and online lecture and performance have attracted attention and support from the leather-silhouette artists, intangible cultural heritage experts, and media at all levels and audience from both countries. In the perfect combination of traditional “skill” and “art”, the performance shows the modern beauty of traditional art to Chinese and Malaysian audiences. When spreading the excellent traditional art of both countries, it also inherits their excellent traditional culture and further promotes the traditional intangible cultural spirit. We will take this opportunity to fully implement the top-level deployment for Malaysia-China relations, thoroughly implement the “Belt and Road” Initiative, and strive to promote the cultural and tourism industry exchanges and cooperation between Gansu and Malaysia to a broader horizon, a deeper level and a higher level, so as to jointly create a new glory for the culture and tourism between Gansu and Malaysia,” Wan added.
The Director of China Cultural Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Zhang Jiexin said, “The Silk Road connects people and cultures. In order to enhance the mutual understanding of the people of Chinese and Malaysian, both countries have launched the theme of “Silk Road, Connection and Conversation” by organizing a series of “Malaysia-Gansu Province Culture and Tourism Exchange Program” throughout the year. Since the beginning of the year, a series of online and offline art and culture events have been launched and enjoyed by a large number of people, including performances, exhibitions, seminars, teaching and training, and tourism promotion which are in various forms.”
Zhang said the Malaysia-China culture workshop is the first attempt to invite shadow puppetry masters from Malaysia and China to cooperate through on-site connections. Therefore, this cultural workshop will be a fantastic platform for exchanging, communicating and integrating in both Malaysia and Gansu Province shadow puppetry culture and artists.
The Senior Principal Assistant Secretary of International Relations Division (Culture), Ministry of Tourism Arts and Culture Malaysia, Surya Kumar A/L Subramaniam said, “The shadow puppetry in China has a history of over a thousand years. Chinese Shadow Puppetry was registered in the Representative List of the “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity” by UNESCO in 2011. This cultural workshop provides an opportunity for the cultural exchange of shadow puppetry between Malaysia and China. We hope to take it as an opportunity to further strengthen the exchanges and cooperation between the two countries in the field of intangible cultural heritage.”
In the opening and closing ceremony, the puppet masters from both countries integrated and jointly presented the traditional shadow puppet theatre of Malaysia and China.
The guests of the ceremonies included Surya Kumar A/L Subramaniam, Senior Principal Assistant Secretary of International Relations Division (Culture), Ministry of Tourism Arts and Culture Malaysia, Zhang Jiexin, Director of China Cultural Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Wan Xueke, Deputy Director of Gansu Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, Mohd Sulhie bin Yusuf (Mat Yie), Founder of Akademi Arjunasukma and Li Feng, Deputy Director of Intangible Culture Heritage Centre in Huan County, Gansu Province of China.
