From the luxuriant, yellow-colored royal garments of the Qing
Dynasty's emperors, to the aflutter, colorful robes of the Muslims
in northwestern China, and the fitted, dark blue two-piece dresses
of the ethnic people in southeastern China...
As you may guess, this is a magnificent show presenting various
costumes of China's all 56 ethnic groups.
What you may not expect is that the show was not taking place in
China, but at the hall of the Chinese embassy in Ottawa, Canada, on
Tuesday. And most of the models of the show were not Chinese, but
Canadians -- Canadian MPs (members of parliament), senators and
their wives, to be specific.
The Chinese ambassador's wife, Gao Shuqing, who co-sponsored the
show with Valorie Day, wife of Canada's Minister of Public Safety,
said as she saw the collection of the beautiful costumes at the
cultural office, an idea occurred to her -- to introduce to and
share with Canadian friends the beautiful Chinese clothes.
The idea met active response from Canadian MPs, senators and
their wives. A total of 62 models, including two Canadian MPs,
three foreign ambassadors' wives and 37 wives of MPs, and some 20
Chinese diplomats, took part in the show.
The 56 Chinese ethnic groups were roughly divided into five
small categories based on their geographical locations. Against the
backdrop of special music, Michel Faure, husband of Senator Joan
Fraser, and Valorie Day, dressed in magnificent Mongolian royal
dresses, read out a general introduction about the costumes of the
category in two languages, English and French.
Despite limited practice, the models looked "gorgeous, very
beautiful, very handsome and very different" and their performance
was no less than professional, Gao said.
The show helped the Canadians know more about China and raised
their curiosity about Chinese ethnic groups.
Most importantly, it was friendship. As Stockwell Day, the
minister of public safety, said: "Every one is saying it is
marvelous, every one is looking forward to having it again next
year. It is good for relation-building, isn't it?"
(ChinaCulture.org October 27, 2006)