Ｃｈｉｎａ Ｈｅｎａｎ Ｃｕｌｔｕｒａｌ ａｎｄ Ａｒｔ Ｔｒｏｕｐｅ’ｓ Ｐｅｒｆｏｒｍａｎｃｅ Ｔｏｕｒ ｏｆ Ｖｅｎｅｚｕｅｌａ ａｎｄ Ｂｒａｚｉｌ

Invited by the Venezuelan National Council of Culture and the Brazil Chinese Cultural Exchange Association， a 69-member cultural and art troupe from Henan Province， China gave three performances with a total audience of over 20，000 people in Venezuela and Brazil from February 25 to March 8.

On the evening of February 27， the premiere was staged in Valencia， capital of Carabobo State， Venezuela. The variety of items such as Henan Opera， Shaanxi Opera， the face changing in Sichuan Opera， martial arts， etc. the troupe put on intoxicated the audience who marveled at the exquisite skills of the performers. At the end of the performance， Governor Luis Felipe Acosta Carlez and Chinese ambassador to Venezuela Ju Yijie went up the stage to congratulate the performers， bringing the joyous atmosphere to a climax.

The second performance was given in Caracas， capital of Venezuela on the evening of March 1. Venezuelan Vice Foreign Minister Hely Vladimir Villegas Poljak accompanied by Ambassador Ju Yijie watched the performance and made an impromptu speech. The vice minister enthusiastically called on the audience to stand up to salute the artists from “brother China”. When the performance ended， there was a long standing ovation. Many from the audience came up to the performers to have a picture taken with them or asking for their autographs.

The third performance was put on in Rio de Janeiro， Brazil. Yan Xiaomin， Chinese consul general in Rio de Janeiro， as well as Italian， Greek and Russian diplomats and representatives of the government of Rio de Janeiro State， among more than 3，000 people， watched the performance. It happened to be the Chinese Lantern Festival that day. The art troupe brought the best wishes to the overseas Chinese and Chinese compatriots in Brazil with their beautiful Chinese operas and the consummate Shaolin martial arts.

Because of the great distance between China and South America， the Henan Cultural and Art Troupe is one of the few large-scale art troupes China has ever sent to the region. The first performance in Valencia had an audience of more than 10，000 people and was broadcast live by Venezolana de Television (channel 8). It was estimated that some ten million people in the country watched the performance on TV. Vice Foreign Minister Hely Vladimir Villegas Poljak who watched the performance in Caracas said in his speech: “Thank you for bringing such an excellent programme to the Venezuelan people， which enabled us to have a deeper understanding of the Chinese culture and China’s development. In the name of President Hugo Chaves and the Minister of Foreign Affairs， and in the name of the whole people， I express to you my gratitude.”