Life of Guangzhou - Norwegian Consulate General Opens in GZ with Cultural Flavor

Interacting musical performance, contemporary dance reedited from Ibsen's works, children's choir, delighting Norwegian delicacies, introductory slideshow about Norway in elegant simplicity, celebrities' speeches... All these were featured in the opening ceremony of the Norwegian Consulate General in Guangzhou, South China on July 3, 2008.

Norwegian Minister of the Environment and International Co-operation Eric Solheim and Governor of Guangdong Huang Huahua addressed the ceremony, which was themed "Powered by Nature".

The Ambassador of Norway to China Mr. Sæther attended the event.

(From left to right) The Ambassador of Norway to China Sæthe, Norwegian Minister of the Environment and International Co-operation Eric Solheim, Governor of Guangdong Huang Huahua, the first Consul General of Norway in Guangzhou Tormod C. Endresen, and two senior local officials in Guangdong propose a toast to celebrate the opening.

"China and Norway have established diplomatic relations for 54 years," Erik Solheim said at the ceremony. "South China is taking a very important status in China's economic, historic and cultural development."

The setup of the consulate is "a milestone" of Norwegian presence in South China and Norway-China relationship. The consulate’s future undertakings in South China will be focused on "three pillars of politics, business and people on NGO basis", the Nordic minister expected.

Norwegian Minister of the Environment and International Co-operation Mr. Eric Solheim (left), the first Consul General of Norway in Guangzhou Mr. Tormod C. Endresen address the openning ceremony.

The first Consul General of Norway in Guangzhou Mr. Tormod C. Endresen told the reporter, "Living in Guangzhou is an interesting thing to be. I used to live in the New York in the U.S. Here Guangzhou is also energetic."

To highlight the cross-culture interaction, some performances embodying Chinese and Norwegian elements were staged, which brought artistic pleasure and surprise to the guests at the ceremony.

Norwegian and Chinese contemporary dance "Hunting for Nora". A scene of a famous play by Norwegian playwright Ibsen.

Norwegian flutist Sigrid Inderberg performs, interacting with her Chinese peer on another stage at the other end of the venue, like a musical dialogue cross a long distance.

Childrens choir of the Guangdong Experimental School sing two songs, one Norwegian, and the other Chinese.

This Norwegian consulate office is based at the suite 1802 of CITIC Plaza, No. 233 Tianhe-Bei Rd. in Guangzhou.

Morning jogging, discussion with university students

Another highlight on that day was that Minister Erik Solheim jogged with the students of Guangzhou-based Sun Yat-sen University and South China University of Technology at the Tianhe Sports Centre in Guangzhou from 8 am, and had casual on-location communication later.

Minister Erik Solheim (1st from the left) and Consul General Tormod C. Endresen (3rd from the left) running with university students.

When referring to the Morning Run, Norwegian Consul General Mr. Tormod C. Endresen said, "Our ministers travel from country to country without seeing anything but just in meeting room, we want to show our interests to China, to meet Chinese people with genuine impression, This running program is quite fun!"

Mr. Endresen expected more students exchange program between South China and Norway in the future.

He suggested University of Oslo, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, University of Bergen and University of Troms these four major universities in Norway to Chinese students.

"If you want to study in Northern Norway, you could choose University of Troms; but if you want to stay in the capital, you can choose University of Oslo."

Related:

Foreign Consulates in Guangzhou.

This April Norwegian band Secret Garden played in Guangzhou, which is an excitement for local music fans.

(Reported by Ronald Li and Zhu Yanshan)

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