Festival - Chinese Cultural Festival

An array of delicious vegetarian food will be cooked and served by monks from the Fuguing Temple in London today as part of the Chinese Cultural Festival at Lewes Town Hall. These food stalls will form part of the Chinese market which will feature an assortment of Chinese stalls selling tea, cushions, clothes, and jewellery - providing all visitors with an ‘Impression of China’ the theme of the day. Chairman of the UK Chinese Cultural Association and organiser of the event, Xeuxian Bei, told Viva Lewes “the aim of festival is to give our guests a taste or impression of China. It will also celebrate the Chinese Moon Festival, our friendship with Lewes and the relationship between China and the UK. It will be filmed by our national TV channel CCTV and broadcast at home as part of the Festival of the Moon festivities.”

At 6pm Xeuxian Bei will invite nine dignitaries, including the Mayor of Lewes, to join him in the Dance of the Dragon. This will be followed by a show from the Jiangshi Province Art Group, a professional acrobatic troupe from China, which will perform circus tricks and play traditional folk music. Highlights of the show will include Gong Fu (martial art like kung fu), diablos, plate spinning and the DuanHuang dance. Xeuxian Bei adds: “the event will be really colourful and great fun to watch. There are over 6,000 Chinese people living in Sussex and it is good for us to be able to bring some of our heritage and culture to Lewes.” KA