Ambassadors, senior diplomats add grace to Cheonan Heung-Taeryeong Festival

By Publisher Lee Kyung-sik with VCs Jang Chang-yong, Joy Cho, Kim Hyung-dae, Reporters Joseph Rhee, Jung Da-jung

Ambassador Nurgali A. Arystanov of the Republic of Kazakhstan, together with the representatives of a score of other member countries of the Seoul Diplomatic Corps added a great measure of grace and international quality to the Cheonan Heung-Taryeong Dance Festival on the opening-day evening of the Festival on October 5th this year.
At the opening ceremony, Ambassador Arystanov was invited to join Mayor Park Sang-don of the host Cheonan City on the stage of the grand opening ceremony and address the audience estimated at 20,000 persons packing the spacious area in front of the stage.

Ambassador Arystanov congratulated the host on the successful grand opening of the wonderful cultural festival of the Cheon City and expressed his appreciation of Mayor Park’s invitation of the members of the Seoul Diplomatic Corps, (See list of participating members of the SDC at the end of this report.—Ed.)

The Cheonan Heung-Taryeong Dance Festival 2023, one of Korea’s leading dance festivals, which started on that evening, is one of the representative major cultural festivals of Korea.

The Festival, which has been held for 19 times, is a very important cultural tourism festival selected by the Ministry of Culture, Sports & Tourism of the Republic of Korea.

One of the most interesting features of the Cheonan Heung-Taryeong Festival on the opening evening, especially among the established generation in Korea, was the appearance of three main characters of the famous old Chinse novel, Journey to the West (Seo-Yu-Gi in Korean name). The Monkey King, Son O-Gong (Sūn Wù Kōng in Chinese), appeared with his master, the Buddhist monk named Samjang Beopsa (Xuanzang in Chinese), Jeo-Pal-Gae (a pig warrior named Zhu Baije in Chinese) and Sa-O-Jeong (a river animal warrior named Sha Wujing in Chinese). The Monkey King had a thick, long stick named Yeoeuibong in Korean meaning a stick that the user, the Monkey King, could change into anything such as a sword, a spear, a man, woman or even a flying stick on which he could ride to travel in the air.

The modern-day three characters of the Journey to the West were accorded a warm welcome from the audience together with the performance teams of 15 other countries from around the world that evening, including the People’s Republic of China (mainland) and the Republic of China (Taiwan).

The Cheonan Heung-Taryeong Dance Festival, which used to be held annually at Cheonan Samgeori Park, has been moved to the stage to the Cheonan Sports Complex due to drastically increasing participation by the citizens of Cheonan and many other localities of the Republic of Korea and the outside world.

The festival started with an entry performance by each of the teams from 16 countries of the world.

At the opening ceremony, a video representing the history of the Cheonan Heung-Taryeong Dance Festival was shown, followed by a joint performance by the Cheonan City Symphony Orchestra and overseas teams, and a theme performance titled 'Echo of the Beginning.’

Popular singers such as So Myung, Serendipity, Kim Jong Kook, Park Ji-hyun, and Seo Mun-tak performed in the celebrations that followed, and the opening ceremony concluded with a colorful fireworks display.

Before the opening ceremony, many people visited various programs on the outdoor stage at the experience and promotion booths.

The festival, held under the concept of "dance that combines challenges and creativity," presents a wide variety of performances and events until October 9, the ending day of the festival spell.

Speaking at the opening ceremony on that evening, Park said, "We are ready to perform exciting dances to energize your tired daily life and I hope it will be a time for all of the visitors here this evening to feel the dynamic dance full of passion with your whole body and make your heart beat."

Then he said, “In our Festival this year, a total of 16 countries participate, but we will try to secure at least 30 countries participating in this Festival next year and 50 countries the year after so that Cheonan Heung-Taryeong Dance Festival can become a grand global festival."