A colorful artistic performance was held on Friday evening at the Tangier Palace of Arts and Culture to celebrate the Chinese New Year, under the theme “Wonders of the Silk Road.”

The cultural evening was organized by the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Embassy of China in Morocco, in collaboration with the China Cultural Center in Rabat. The Gansu Song and Dance Theatre offered the Tangier audience and the Chinese community in Tangier an artistic journey highlighting the richness and diversity of Chinese civilization.

The program featured a series of performances combining dance, traditional music, and acrobatics, illustrating the millennia-old heritage of the Silk Road.

Highlights included the iconic “Thousand-Hand Guanyin” dance, the musical piece “The Young Man Under the Moon” performed by an erhu and pipa ensemble, as well as acrobatic acts like “Grace of the Jars” and “Fortune Arrives to the Beat of the Whip.”

Other performances showcased the diversity of Chinese art, including “Descendants of the Dragon,” Vajra Dance, “A Hundred Birds Pay Tribute to the Phoenix” (suona solo), and the “Golden Snake Dance.”

The show also featured a unique cultural fusion with the Moroccan song “Marsoul El Hob” performed using traditional Chinese instruments.

Speaking on the occasion, Chinese Ambassador to Morocco, Yu Jinsong, emphasized that this performance provides an opportunity to celebrate China’s most important traditional festival, the Lunar New Year, a symbol of renewal and family reunion, values that “resonate deeply with Morocco’s rich cultural traditions.”

Ambassador Yu also noted that the upcoming Year of the Horse embodies “courage, perseverance, and an indomitable spirit,” aligning with the development of the China-Morocco strategic partnership and Tangier’s urban dynamism.

Referring to the historical dimension of the show, the Ambassador highlighted that Gansu is the birthplace of Dunhuang art, a collection of Buddhist murals and sculptures along the Silk Road, describing it as a “living fossil” of exchanges between Eastern and Western civilizations.

Through dance and music, the artists invited the audience to relive this epic of cultural exchange, illustrating the spirit of Chinese culture, “based on harmony in diversity and beauty in plurality.”

The Chinese New Year, also called the Spring Festival, is the main celebration of the traditional Chinese calendar, marking the beginning of the new lunar year, which this year corresponds to the Year of the Horse. The occasion features various cultural and artistic events, highlighting ancient traditions related to the lunar cycle and the Chinese zodiac.