THE SECOND “CHINESE DREAM INSPIRED BY THE SILK ROAD”CHINESE SONG CONTEST
On October 19, 2018 Confucius Institute at the University of Ghana hosted the second Chinese Song Contest on the theme “Chinese Dream Inspired by the Silk Road”. This is the final competition of 10 contestants who were selected from many contestants in the preliminary competition on October 3, 2017. This contest received sponsorship from the Confucius Institute Headquarters and four Chinese companies: Sunda International(Sunda Group), Oriental Pearl Company, Global Genius Ghana Ltd., and Ghana Chinese News.
The director of the Institute, Dr. Meilian Mei in her speech during the Chinese Song Contest stated that the Chinese song contest was one of the many activities that provided the Ghanaian people with the opportunity to learn Chinese as well as building a platform to deepen of friendship between China and Ghana. The program would also help bridge a gap between Ghana and China and provide a platform for cultural exchange between the both countries. In efforts to further achieve these objectives, the Institute within 5 years has established ten teaching sites, including the Confucius Institute Headquarters, Basic school University of Ghana and so on. In addition, a variety of Chinese cultural activities have been held such as the Confucius institute day, spring festival and others which have introduced the students to the rich culture of China. She finally ended by assuring the audience of a fun and exciting display of talents by the contestants.
The ten groups at the final stage brought a wonderful, visual and aural performance to the audience. The first contestant began with Promise, a Chinese classic song which paved the way for songs like Little Lucky, Chengdu, Mother, I Miss You, Invisible Wings, We Are Different, Composer, Goodbye, Youth battlefield, The Sun Washed in the Spring Rain to which they sang beautifully receiving shouts of praises and applauses from the audience.
The contest was graced with performances by three of last year’s participants, One of them singing He Says, followed by another who impressed the audience with Your Backpack. However the most memorable performance was by the winner of last year’s Chinese song contest, Tiantian, crowning the first round with her performance If There is An Afterlife. The contestants were judged based on the performance in the first round and are reduced to six finalists who will compete for the crown. After two rounds of the competition a winner was finally declared by the judges. The honored gusest presented the winners with their respective awards and certificates. Finally all the performers and contestants were called back on stage to sing Sunshine Always Appears After Rain. The vote of thanks was given by Dr. Mei marking an end to the 2nd edition of the Chinese song contest.
