On 6 April Kuban State University hosted the IV Festival of Chinese Culture and Calligraphy, which summed up the results of the Fourth Regional Contest of Chinese Calligraphy among students of Kuban universities and schools. This year more than 200 schoolchildren and students studying Chinese from all over the Krasnodar region took part in the contest. The winners – children of different ages, united by a common interest in Chinese writing and culture, were selected by a qualified jury of the Department of Foreign Regional and Oriental Studies of the Faculty of History, Sociology and International Relations (FHSIR): Professor Yuri Smertin, Associate Professors Ekaterina Rokitskaya, Victoria Filippova, Nina Degtyareva, Senior Lecturers Anna Kolomeyets and Tatiana Zybina.
Inna Miroshnichenko, Acting Vice-Rector for Strategic Development of KubSU, Alexander Evtushenko, Dean of FISMO, and Olesya Chalaya, Deputy Head of the Department of Foreign Relations and Intermunicipal Cooperation of the Krasnodar Municipal Administration addressed the contest participants with welcoming words. The red thread of their speeches was the idea of the importance of developing and strengthening bilateral relations between Russia and China, maintaining cultural and educational ties with partner universities of KubSU in the twin cities of China and establishing new contacts between our countries. In this regard, Alexander Yevtushenko focused attention on the opening of the Centre for Russian–Chinese Cooperation at KubSU, expressing confidence that its creation will help to strengthen existing contacts and bring academic interaction between KubSU and Chinese universities to a new qualitative level. From the Chinese side, the audience was welcomed by Wang Ning, Deputy Head of the Foreign Affairs Office of the People’s Government of Harbin, Li Jian Yong, Director of Secondary School No. 49 in Shijiazhuang, and students, postgraduates and teachers from the People’s Republic of China, studying and working at KubSU – Zhao Manyui, Yang Qijia, Zhang Zhixuan, Sun Xilong.
The welcome speeches were followed by a beautiful gala concert prepared by the students of Oriental and African Studies. Its theme was the history of Chinese writing from ancient times to our time. FHSIR students demonstrated their sense of Chinese culture in dance, song and a whole exciting choreography on one of the episodes of Chinese history. At the same time, creative teams from the Faculty of Philology of KubSU filled the concert with the zador of Russian quadrille and folkloric vigour (more information https://www.kubsu.ru/ru/node/43932).
