Chinese Food Song and Dance in Oslo

September 21, 2007
| 37 Comments

We’ve had special visitors from Xinjang, China recently week as part of the Chinese Cultural week. [Before reading on; click the vid at the bottom to get the mood music!]
Last Sunday they gave a breath taking performance in Oslo Concert Hall. I’ll get back to that, but let me first take you along to Peking Garden where a Chinese friend of mine invited my wife and I, plus 4 others to dinner. I love Chinese food as it is very different and very tasty, although a bit more spicy than Norwegian food. The restaurant has a nice Chinese ambiance. Their menu has everything including beef, lamb, pig, chicken and of course duck as well as fish and even the more spicier Sezchuan dishes. The service is excellent and it was interesting to hear my friend and her discussing what we should have to eat in cantonese. This setting puts us into the right mood for the evening. Let me give you a peek:
Peking Garden in Oslo Norway

We began with hot and sour soup as a starter (to the left):
Chinese Hot and Sour Soup Chinese five Dishes
and then a five dish culinary feast including stewed beef with Chinese melon, sweet and sour pork, steamed cod, chicken chopsuey and tofu with spicy vegetables.

After a lovely dinner and interesting conversation around the table, it was time to see the show. Through our friend, we where invited by the Chinese embassy and of course for a Norwegian it was very exotic. Let me give you some background from the program: The Xinjiang Song and Dance Company was established in 1949. Its composed of artists from 12 ethnic groups of China, which include Uygur, Kazak, Han, Hui, Kirgiz, Ozbek, Tatar etc. The company is one of the leading performing arts institution in China. I had my Nikon CoolPix S2 camera with and even if the lightening for such a camera wasn’t that good, you know I gladly share some with you. I hope you’ll get a good impression of this magnificent dancers:
Chinese Dance an Song
Believe me, the troupe gave a lovely performance. I heard they have won 6 gold awards and 2 silver awards in the friendship Art Festival held in Pyongyang, North Korea, in which 80 countries from around the world participated. They have also visited Moscow in 2002 together with China’s Olympic Bidding Committee and staged a successfull performance.
Xinjiang is called Country of Songs and Dance as a shining pearl in their country. To give you an impression of how they where shining, I’ve made a movee from some of their acts. If you look carefully, you also see a Norwegian Folk Dance group guest participating:


I also experimented with the video function on my camera. Bare with the quality, but if you like to see them dancing and also hear the lovely music, you might like to start this vid:

This post is also a part of Lifecruiser’s Cyber Cruise. Read more about: Our Cyber Cruise Event and here is The Cyber Cruise Archive.

Culture, Food