Singing in Your Mother Tongue

Singing in Your Mother Tongue

2017-05-25

Overseas Chinese will have the chance to sing in their mother tongue in their motherland from July to August when the finals of the 2017 "Culture China & Water Cube Cup" singing contest will be held in Beijing. This was announced by the organizer in a news conference in Beijing on May 23.

This year, the event is renamed the "Culture China & Water Cube Cup Song Contest for Overseas Chinese" from the "Water Cube Cup Song Contest for Overseas Chinese Youths." There's no more age limit for participants, which means youngsters aged 12-18 and adults can both participate in the contest.

Preliminaries are going on from April to June in 43 competition spots throughout the world. Two teenager winners and one adult winner in each competition spot will have the opportunity to go to Beijing for the finals.

Compared to previous events, this year's contest has 10 more competition spots worldwide including South Korea, the Netherlands, Chicago in the United States and Rome in Italy, said Shi Lichen, Vice Director of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the Beijing Municipal Government. So far, there have been over 5,000 contestants, according to the organizer's statistics.

The National Aquatics Center, better known as the "Water Cube", is one of the prime venues of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It was sponsored by 350,000 overseas Chinese from 107 countries a decade ago. It will also serve as the curling venue for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games.

The "Water Cube Cup Song Contest for Overseas Chinese Youths" was initiated in 2011. It has so far attracted over 10,000 participants from more than 30 countries and regions around the world. The contest is sponsored by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, the Beijing Municipal Government and All-China Youth Federation.

Beijing Review