Confucius Institute Choir of the University of Zimbabwe

The Confucius Institute choir of the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) was established in 2008. The members consist of Chinese language students from the UZ and local music lovers who are interested in Chinese culture and songs. The artistic director is Michael, a famous Zimbabwean music creator.

Since its establishment, the Chinese choir has combined language learning with singing practice, constantly seeking innovations and changes. The choir not only learned many popular Chinese songs, but also adapted many excellent local Shaona songs into Chinese, showing the charm of the fusion of Chinese and Zimbabwean music.

The Chinese Choir has been invited several times to participate in Chinese cultural activities organized by the Chinese embassy in Zimbabwe and government agencies, and their performances were well received by local people from all walks of life.

In February 2010, the Chinese Choir was invited to participate in the birthday celebration of then-President Robert Gabriel Mugabe of Zimbabwe and sang three Chinese songs including Liuliudeta (She). President Mugabe highly praised the performance of the choir and encouraged them to continue to work hard for the traditional friendship between China and Zimbabwe and the cause of cultural exchanges between the two countries.

The choir performing at President Robert Gabriel Mugabe's birthday celebration.

On July 6, 2014, the Chinese choir participated in the "Beijing Night" large-scale gala and performed with artists from China and Zimbabwe. The choir sang Jasmine • I'm going to Beijing.

Among them, the original song I'm going to Beijing perfectly echoed the theme of the gala Beijing Night. "Play the diabolo, listen to Peking Opera, stroll along the hutongs, I'm going to Beijing..." The students' yearning for going to Beijing is all in the singing.

They also adapted the Chinese song Jasmine and the Zimbabwean song Ruva Rangu. The perfectly integrated melody is like a flower of friendship between China and Zimbabwe, which is intoxicating.

Teachers and students of the Confucius Institute at the UZ sang Jasmine • I'm going to Beijing

In March 2015, the Chinese Choir was invited to participate in the graduation ceremony of the 2015 Contemporary Diplomacy and International Relations majors of the Zimbabwe Foreign Affairs University and sang Chinese-Shona bilingual songs.

The audience said Chinese songs were so beautiful, and many graduates expressed their desire to learn Chinese language and Chinese songs. V.A. Chikanda, Dean of the Zimbabwe Foreign Affairs University, highly praised the performance of the choir in the letter of thanks.

At the 2016 Harare International Music and Gourmet Festival, the Chinese choir sang many Chinese songs such as Chinese Music, Dances the World and The Road to Heaven is Wide and Broad. Their standard and authentic pronunciation and decent manner gained bursts of applause from the audience.

The choir performed at the 2016 Harare International Music and Gourmet Festival

As a famous local singing group, the Chinese Choir has become the messenger of cultural exchanges between China and Zimbabwe. It has witnessed the historic moment of friendship between China and Zimbabwe many times, and is deeply loved by the people of the two countries.