Zeng Chunling, Head of Wenzhou Global Art Volunteer Troupe

On the night of December 11th, the 14th "Dreams Come True in Zhejiang" International Students Talent Show came to a successful conclusion with fruitful results in Hangzhou. International students from 13 universities in Zhejiang presented a wonderful audio-visual feast to the audience at the 1200 studio of the Communication University of Zhejiang. 

Among those outstanding performances, the musical drama entitled "red tulip" presented by Wenzhou Medical University which combined traditional folk art such as Wenzhou Guci and allegretto with modern music, tells the story of students from Wenzhou Medical University starting their own business in Wenzhou, helping farmers to get rich through science and technology and spread the traditional Chinese medicine.

The success of this musical drama and its unique interpretation of Chinese culture and the culture of Zhejiang by a group of international students can hardly be realized without the support of Zeng Chunling, Head of Wenzhou Global Art Volunteer Troupe. 

As an outstanding grass-roots artist who has been working for decades and keen on spreading Chinese culture to international students, Zeng Chunling has special regard and connection for the "Dreams Come True in Zhejiang" event. Having participated in this activity for more than 10 years, she witnessed the overseas students of Wenzhou Medical University from knowing nothing about Chinese culture to understanding Zhejiang and falling in love with Zhejiang.

In the narration of her experiences of working with those international students, Zeng mentioned one of her star students - Percy. Percy, whose full name is Percy David PaPa Akuetteh, has once participated in an all-media program called "Learn Wenzhou Dialect with Me" and later became an Internet sensation because of his fluent Wenzhou dialect. Percy's excellent language capability gave Zeng much more inspiration. She managed to adapt a famous Wenzhou nursery rhyme "Ding Ding Dang" by combining international musical elements with Wenzhou dialect, making it very suitable for international students to learn and sing. 

The spread and internationalization of one's homeland culture is not an easy task. It requires years of learning and experience accumulation, as well as an in-depth understanding of Chinese culture and global communication. 

In addition to being the head of Wenzhou Global Art Volunteer Troupe, Zeng is also the director of the Development Department of Wenzhou Cultural Center. Normally, the majority of her work focuses on the services for the local residents. But in her spare time, Zeng will also participate in a series of cultural activities and guidance works for international students, hoping to help them to learn more about the traditional Chinese culture and Zhejiang customs. 

As the name of her troupe suggests, her troupe consists of international students from Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou-Kean University, and Wenzhou Polytechnic. The troupe helps students to learn about Zhejiang and Chinese culture, and introduce the "Belt and Road Initiative" through a variety of cultural activities. 

At the end of the interview, she said sincerely that she felt very happy to be able to introduce the wonderful cultures of her homeland to her lovely international students. In the future, Zeng said that she hopes to be more actively involved in the introduction of Chinese culture to international students and contributes to the dialogues between China and the world. 

(Written and edited by Ye Ke, Translated by Bao Kexin)