On the evening of March 18, 2022, the Spring Concert of Stralsund Confucius Institute (Germany) was successfully held at the St. Jacob Cultural Center. It was its first offline activity to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Sino-German diplomatic relations and the 5th anniversary of the Institute (jointly built by Hefei University and Stralsund University of Applied Sciences). 

Mr. Zhang Haiou, a famous Chinese pianist, and Ms. Yang Tianwa, a violinist, were invited to play at the concert. They played Beethoven’s “Spring Sonata” and the Chinese famous musical piece “Butterfly Lovers” together. In addition, Mr. Zhang Haiou presented Beethoven’s another piano solo “Dawn Sonata” and another Chinese famous piece “Liuyang River”. Their performance brought an auditory feast of Chinese and Western music to the local people, winning endless applause. The local media Baltic Daily, on its main page delivered a report entitled “Beethoven meets Chinese melody” on the concert. 

In the interview by such media as Xinhua News Agency and China News Service after the concert, city councilors and representatives of the local government’s cultural department spoke highly of it, and reaffirmed the efforts of Stralsund Confucius Institute for the diversity of local culture. Steffi Behrendt, Director of Bureau of Culture, World Heritage and Media of Stralsund, remarked, “Today’s concert is intoxicating, which can be a good example for the cultural cooperation to promote further mutual understanding between the two countries.”

As a famous commercial city of the Hanseatic League, Stralsund has a long history of communication with China. With the 50th anniversary of Sino-German diplomatic relations just around the corner, Stralsund Confucius Institute is going to organize more cultural activities this year for the further mutual cultural exchanges.