At the 2024 Guilin Festival, international students from Tajikistan and Nepal embarked on an enriching cultural journey. The festival, held from Oct 26 to Nov 3, transformed Guilin into an "open-air theater", with 48 performances across 13 venues, including scenic mountain, water, cave, and field theaters.
At the Guilin Art Museum, an international student from Tajikistan was moved by a traditional Chinese painting that evoked a sense of warmth and nostalgia. Meanwhile, her friend from Nepal was captivated by a dynamic installation that brought cultural imagery to life, making her curious about the stories behind each image.
The expats also explored the outdoor art market, featuring handmade crafts and local delicacies, and attended cross-cultural performances like Little Carp's Adventure, a children's musical specially designed for Guilin, and The Nose in the Soil, a Swedish acrobatic drama.
Studying in Guilin, both of them have embraced traditional Chinese arts, including Sichuan face-changing and water sleeve dancing. They described their experience at the festival as invaluable and expressed their eagerness to share it with friends around the world.