This year marks the 90th anniversary of the publication of the renowned playwright and Nankai University alumnus, Cao Yu's classic work, Lei Yu (Thunderstorm). On the evening of June 22, teachers and students from the "Foreign Language Drama" course of Nankai University's School of Foreign Studies were invited to the Italian Cultural Institute of Beijing to perform excerpts in Italian and Portuguese .
The event was a sell-out, with more than 150 Chinese and foreign spectators, including Niu Wenli, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Nankai University, and Federico Roberto Antonelli, Cultural Counsellor of the Italian Embassy in China. The audience enjoyed an entirely new theater experience, immersing themselves in the charm of this Chinese classic.
In his welcoming speech before the performance, Antonelli praised the long-standing friendship between China and Italy as two great representatives of Eastern and Western civilizations. He noted that in recent years, collaboration between the two countries has grown closer, particularly in the areas of culture and bilateral relations. He highly commended the achievements of Nankai University's foreign language drama program and expressed hope for further exchanges and cooperation to promote the development of Sino-Italian culture.
Niu Wenli expressed his gratitude to the Italian Embassy for the invitation. He said that Nankai University has a long history of cooperation with Italy. Thanks to the support of the Italian Cultural Institute of Beijing, the Italian language department at Nankai's School of Foreign Studies has made significant progress in recent years. He looks forward to deepening international cooperation, continuing to bring Chinese stories to the world stage, and building bridges for the exchange of Eastern and Western civilizations through the university's foreign language drama tradition.
Letizia Vallini, the instructor for the Italian version of Thunderstorm, and Maria Martins, the instructor for the Portuguese version, introduced the performance successively. They emphasized that foreign language drama is an important way of telling Chinese stories in foreign languages, promoting cultural exchange, and allowing more people to appreciate Chinese culture.
Nankai University has long prioritized drama as an integral part of education of aesthetics, using art to cultivate character and enhance students' ability to serve society and the country. The successful practice of using art to spread the voice of China and engaging in equal dialogue with the world through artistic exchange reflects the contributions of Nankai's students to the history of cultural exchange between China and foreign countries.
In recent years, the School of Foreign Studies at Nankai University has explored new models for training foreign language talents, integrating both on- and off-site learning. The school has given a multi-lingual foreign language drama courses, where students and teachers collaborate in translation, learning, and performance. Thanks to the joint efforts of foreign language instructors and students, the bilingual Italian and Portuguese excerpts of Thunderstorm were successfully brought to the stage.
In May this year, a multi-lingual version of Thunderstorm, including English, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese, Spanish and Russian, was invited to perform at the Beijing People's Art Theatre.
