Overseas Chinese in US Midwest are lucky enough to have a feast of Chinese cultural performances to ease their nostalgia while embracing the 2018 Chinese Lunar New Year, the Year of the Dog.
For local natives, they have a bite of typical Chinese culture.
On February 16, the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, the City of Chicago kicked off its Chinese New Year celebrations at Chicago Cultural Center with lion dances; and on the following day, the Chicago Symphony Center presented to some 2,500 audience ancient Chuanju Opera excerpts and Chinese folk music played in the way of symphony
On February 19, Detroit 2018 "Happy New Year" concert was held at Detroit Symphony Hall, Michigan. Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra presented 1,500 audience traditional Chinese music such as Uighurs folk song "Life Your Veil" and popular song music "Crossing River" as well as the Symphony No.1 in D major. The combination of Chinese folk music with Western classical music.
On the same day in Carmel, Indiana, 1,200 audience watched dances, acrobatics, magic presented by the Jiangxi Troupe from Jiangxi Province, China.
In the coming week, Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra, Jiangxi Troupe and Guangdong Troupe will continue their performance tours in Iowa, Missouri, Colorado, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan.
"China and the US are two countries with significant influences in the world, and people-to-people exchanges are the basis for our bilateral relations," Chinese Consul General in Chicago Hong Lei said. "I believe with joint efforts, cultural exchanges between China and US will be further enhanced and the friendly ties between people of the two countries will be constantly strengthened."
With cultural exchanges being the basis, economic ties are the booster to the relationship between the two countries.
US Midwest abounds in resources and is hub of agriculture and manufacturing industry. State governments and enterprises in this region highlight their economic and trade ties with China. In 2017, governors of Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, and Iowa have one after another visited China, hoping to seek more investment and cooperation opportunities.
According to statistics provided by Chinese Consulate in Chicago, total trade volume of nine states in US Midwest with China exceeded 90 billion dollars in 2016. From 2000 to 2016, Chinese enterprises invested nearly 15 billion dollars in the nine states in US Midwest, directly creating 36,000 jobs.
Meanwhile, many multinational companies from US Midwest have increased their investment, expanded their business and opened new production bases and R&D centers in China, taking huge profit from the Chinese market.