A photo exhibition entitled 'Harmonious China: Aspirations and Dreams' was held last Wednesday in my university and was opened by our president and the Chinese Ambassador, Mr. Gong Xiao Sheng.

On the way to the exhibition hall, I was discussing with some friends what exactly the word 'harmonious' in the name of the exhibition means, if it was necessary to include such a term and most important what was the goal of that word. (The Arabic translation was not so clear; this made us opening such unnecessary debate) After half an hour we have reached the hall, there were more than a hundred students waiting in the narrow corridor the reaching of the ambassador, we were really shocked for how many people were there to attend the official opening ceremony, unfortunately, after we have seen that the crowds were even increasing and other students were arriving we decided to delay our visit to Thursday.

Thursday

When you enter the exhibition a giant photo of Mount Qomolangma stays majestically in front of you, Qomolangma is one of the most impressive peaks of the Himalayan Mountain Range, and its picture was grandly covering the entire left-side wall, aside of this picture the official logo of the exhibition built up from English, Arabic and Chinese scripts. Similar graphics representing Chinese sayings and proverbs were present in different parts of the room.

The visitor is then guided to have a detailed look of the ancient civilizations that made up historical China; in this section you will see old temples, magnificent buildings and ancient ruins, these images are gently faded to pictorial expressions of the grandness of Chinese culture, traditions and folklore, the ancient legends and myths are proudly inherited by modern people, who are fine custodians of these traditions.

Modern China splits out suddenly… today's families, customs, habits are surrounded by technology and modernity, an evidence of China's economic power.

The Chinese way-of-life, the faces and the expressions of the society all materialized in these artistic photos. Good feelings are hold until the end of exhibition, when you become understanding that photos are not chosen at random, nor the proverbs, nor the name of the exhibition. Man and land, religion and atheism, technology and traditions… yes, they are conflicting but they harmoniously compose together a modern country, a great civility named China.

(Well, I'm not the only one who had enjoyed the exhibition; I was constricted to wait nearly 10 minutes before I had access to the guestbook)

Labels: Art, JUST