Chinese clothing dazzles Venice

VENICE, Italy — Chinese traditional clothing made its debut at the Venice Carnival amid deepening cultural exchange between the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou and its sister city, Venice.

A total of 16 Chinese and Italian volunteers, wearing hanfu, an ancient clothing traditionally worn by ethnic Han Chinese, participated in a parade launched at the Piazza San Marco in the lagoon city center.

"This is the first time that Chinese traditional costumes have officially participated in the carnival," says Ma Xiaohui, a director at the Confucius Institute of Ca' Foscari University of Venice.

The clothing, directly transported from the Suzhou Silk Museum in Jiangsu province, was themed around the Han (206 BC-AD 220), Tang (618-907), Song (960-1279) and Ming (1368-1644) dynasties, effectively displaying Chinese culture and world-renowned Suzhou silk, Ma says.

The show attracted lots of young people from both China and Italy.

"I decided to participate in this initiative when I found it through social media," says Irene Di Maio from southern Italy's Sicily. "I thought it could be a way of bringing Chinese culture even closer to me."

The 24-year-old student, majoring in Chinese in Venice, went to Suzhou to attend a dragon boat festival five years ago. "I really enjoyed the Chinese traditional dragon boat culture, and this time I would like to know more about hanfu."

"The event was amazing, especially the part from Suzhou, a city I loved very much," says a Serbian tourist, who lived in Suzhou for four years.

"I have visited the Suzhou Silk Museum, which is where I got to know about hanfu," he adds. "I hope there will be more activities like this around the world."

"Bringing the traditional silk costumes of Suzhou here is a cultural idea," says Laura Fincato, an honorary citizen of Suzhou.

In addition to the clothing, visitors also enjoyed a series of Chinese cultural activities, including a performance of guzheng, a traditional Chinese musical instrument, the opportunity to try on hanfu and calligraphy demonstrations at the Palazzo Santa Sofia.

Suzhou, dubbed by the Italian explorer Marco Polo in the 13th century as "the Venice of the East", became a sister city to Venice in 1980. Since then, multiple activities of mutual historical and cultural exchange have been held.

The Venice Carnival 2023, themed "Take Your Time for the Original Signs", kicked off in the Italian city on Feb 4 and concluded on Tuesday.

Xinhua