Paper County Yangge Troupe of Sichuan Visits South Korea

At the invitation of the Yulgok Society and the Yulgok Academy of Kangnung City of Kangwon-do of the Republic of Korea， the Sichuan Provincial People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries organized and sent a twenty-member Yangge Troupe of Jiajiang County to the ROK for a goodwill visit and performance.

Jiajiang County of Sichuan has a long history of producing handmade paper， thus， it is known as the Paper County. Its bamboo-paper manufacture technique comes from the book Tian Gong Kai Wu published in the Ming Dynasty and is regarded as a “living fossil” of Chinese folk arts. It is included in the first List of National Intangible Cultural Heritage. Based on the work songs sung in the process of bamboo paper making and the folk opera Tang Deng， the Paper County Yangge is famous for its beautiful musical accompaniment and lively dancing movements， showing pure Chinese traditional art and special local features. It is an exotic flower of the Sichuan folk custom and culture.

The Kangnung Tanoje Festival， originated from the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival over 1，000 years ago， has now been localized as an agricultural and cultural festival of the ROK， during which memorial ceremonies， folk art shows， sports， temple fair and sightseeing are organized. The festival is entitled the “Important Intangible Cultural Property” by the ROK government and listed in the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by the UNESCO. This year， nongovernmental cultural organizations of China， Japan， Vietnam， Turkey， Georgia and Estonia were invited to take part in the festival which attracted tens of thousands of tourists from home and abroad.

The Paper County Yangge Troupe gave three performances in Kangnung， attracting an audience of over 10，000. Every performance won warm applause and the troupe was regarded “the most welcomed foreign folk art troupe” of the festival by the city government. Owing to wide media reporting， Sichuan Jiajiang became the popular words in the newspapers and a hot topic among the citizens， and thus， deepened their understanding of and favourable impression on Sichuan of China and strengthened friendship between the people of the two countries.

The troupe visited Wonju， an industrial city with a population of 330，000. The city produces ceramics for construction and daily use， sharing something in common with Jiajiang that is also known as the “City of Porcelain in Western China”. On behalf of the Jiajiang government， the troupe handed over to the Wonju City Government a letter of intent for friendly cooperation in economy， trade， culture， education， sports， etc.， which was enthusiastically responded.