Bridges from East to West

Guests of honor from China in Gießen

On January 11, 2012, on the occasion of a New year Reception of “Die Brücke” (“The bridge”), representatives of the Consulate General of People’s Republic of China came from Frankfurt to Gießen. Guest of honor and main speaker was Liu Xiaolu, counsel for education and culture, accompanied by vice counsel Wang Lin. “Die Brücke”, the German American Association in the region of Gießen-Wetzlar, has been speaking up for international understanding since more than 62 years. Amongst the guests were INTERKULTUR President Günter Titsch and Wang Qin, Director INTERKULTUR China.

Liu Xiaolu spoke about the constantly growing relationship between Germany and China and stressed that a “good cultural relation to Germany” developed in the past 40 years of mutual contact, from which both sides learned and benefit. One was aware of differences between both countries, but also knew about possibilities to be a “part of the global community”. Roger Schmidt, president of “Die Brücke”, expressed his satisfaction about the counsel’s speech and highlighted the mission of “Die Brücke” to act as a broker between the people.

INTERKULTUR also acts as a broker between cultures. It has been organizing international choir competitions for more than 20 years, also in China. In the evening Liu Xiaolu and Wang Lin gladly took the chance for an exchange of ideas with chairmen of “Die Brücke” and INTERKULTUR and were highly interested in the new competition in the South Chinese city of Guangzhou. Guangzhou hosts the 1st Xinghai Prize International Choir Championships from November 8 to 14, 2012. Find registration information here.