Chicago Field Museum hosts Chinese Culture Day

CHICAGO, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Some 80 American students gathered in the Field Museum in downtown Chicago early this week to have a taste of Chinese food and an in-person experience of Chinese culture on the Chinese Culture Day jointly hosted by the Chinese Consulate in Chicago and the Field Museum.

Several teenagers performed Chinese Kongfu on a makeshift platform in the museum's central hall. They did somersaults and performed stick-fighting and sword dance. The performance received acclaim from both event participants and bystanders.

Chinese traditional instruments, Chinese folk dance, Peking Opera, and Tai Chi dance all took turns on stage. A student from Chicago-based DePaul University performed the Chinese song "I Love You, China," and students from George Westinghouse College Prep High School performed Fan Dance.

Aside from the stage, there was a row of tables with Rabbit plush toys, craft fans, Chinese knots, Beijing Opera facial masks, Chinese folk artwork pendants, paper cuts, and books and films about Chinese landscapes and food.

Caleb Feltis, the champion of 2023 U.S. Midwest University "Chinese Bridge" Speech Competition, shared his Chinese learning experience.

In the first year of learning Chinese, "I feel like learning Chinese is an insurmountable gap ... a challenge," Feltis said. "Now I have changed my attitude. I no longer take learning Chinese as a challenge, instead, I take it as a process ... I am excited about learning something new and improving my Chinese proficiency."

Deborah Bekken, director of the Field Museum's Gantz Family Collections Center, said that the Field Museum is happy to once again be a partner for the Chinese Culture Day. "Field Museum has a long and productive history with China."

Stone tools from the ancient site of Zhoukoudian, Shang Dynasty bronzes, Han jades, Tang ceramics, Song rubbings, Ming paintings, and Qing fabrics are among the museum's rich Chinese anthropological collections.

"The museum's research in botany, paleontology, and meteoritics have benefited from China-U.S. collaboration," she said. "The continuation of our research in China would not be possible without (Chinese and American) people's friendship and cooperation."