Chinese delight in Turkish Culture and Food Festival

Chinese and Turkish attendees of the Turquoise Turkish Culture and Food Festival in Shanghai watched whirling dervishes performed on stage. (Photo: Hüseyin Aydın, Cihan)
Chinese and Turkish attendees of the Turquoise Turkish Culture and Food Festival in Shanghai watched whirling dervishes performed on stage. (Photo: Hüseyin Aydın, Cihan)


Date posted: October 10, 2013

OSMAN EROL, EYÜP BOĞAZKESEN, SHANGHAI

The Turquoise Turkish Culture and Food Festival kicked off in Shanghai on Sunday as part of 2013 Year of Turkish Culture activities, providing Chinese people with the opportunity to find out more about Turkey.

The first day of the event, held at the Shanghai Mart, saw a large attendance comprising both locals and Turks living in China, despite the rainy weather.

The three-day-long event in Shanghai, the financial and commercial center of China with a population of 23 million, covers a 7,000-square-meter covered and 3,000-square-meter open area.

Various booths were set up to promote the provinces of Şanlıurfa, Bursa, Denizli, İzmir, Konya, İstanbul and Ankara.

The event kicked off with a concert by an Ottoman military band. This was followed by Turkish folk dances, an Ottoman fashion show and a performance by whirling dervishes.

Many elements of Turkish culture, including döner kebab, Urfa kebab, Maraş ice cream, marbling art, calligraphy, folk dances, historic heroes of the Aegean region known as Efeler and whirling dervishes from Konya, were displayed at the festival.

Meanwhile, Sultan Kösen from Turkey’s Mardin province, who is officially recognized by the Guinness World Records as the tallest man alive, also joined the Turkish delegation visiting Shanghai for the festival. Kösen, who is 2.51 meters tall, was the focus of great attention, with many Chinese people eager to take a photograph with him.

A Chinese visitor named Sun told the Turkish media that she really enjoyed Turkish ice cream, while Wang, another visitor, said he admired every aspect of the organization of the festival and found the döner kebab, which he tasted for the first time in his life, very delicious.

Shanghai Chamber of Manufacturers and Importers Chairman Feng Zheng Zhou, speaking at the opening ceremony of the festival, was applauded when he said: “Blue sky, blue sea and Blue Mosque… There is no country in the world more beautiful than Turkey.”

Murat Sungurlu, the chairman of the Turkish-Chinese Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association (TÜÇSİAD), was also in attendance. In his speech he said he wishes for the event to be held for several more years and hopes that it improves commercial and friendly ties between the two countries.

Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO) Chairman Salih Bezci and Society for Social and Economic Solidarity with Pacific Countries (PASIAD) representative Ferhan Merter also delivered speeches at the festival.

Turkish Consul General in Shanghai Deniz Eke, speaking at the event, said Chinese businessmen now have the opportunity to know Turkey a little better, helping to improve commercial relationships between the two countries.

Source: Today's Zaman , October 7, 2013


Related News

Factory settings of Turkey as a nation-state

ABDÜLHAMİT BİLİCİ 18 May 2012 If we were to give a title to an article discussing the problems most heatedly debated in Turkey, I think the best option would be “Woes of transitioning from an empire to a nation-state.” It has been no easy task to transform a multi-faith, multi-lingual and diversity-dominated empire into a […]

Moderate Islamic Gulen Movement Builds Bridges of Understanding With Christians, Jews

Jim Buie Gulen Movement is trying to identify youths at risk to join terrorist groups and give them free tuition to private schools and a place in the Gulen communities, in hopes of turning their lives around. I was reading in Today’s Zaman (English language daily newspaper in Turkey) about a conference at the University […]

The Istanbul Cultural Center hopes to build bridges though food

The room at the Istanbul Cultural Center just off the FSU campus is filled with both men and women and lots and lots of children. Many of the women are wearing colorful headscarves and long buttoned coats. And most of the men are their husbands, some associated with the university as teachers or students, and others who have taken time away from their own professions in Turkey to accompany their wives who are completing graduate studies here.

Former director of Turkish schools in Pakistan and his family kidnapped

Former director of Pak-Turk Schools in Pakistan Mesut Kaçmaz and his family were reportedly kidnapped in Lahore on Wednesday, the Daily Pakistan reported. Another person, Fatih Avcı, who was also abducted and later released, said their heads were covered with bags.

PakTurk School lauded for serving a wide range of students

Minister of State for education and Interior Engineer Balighur Rahman has honoured nine students of PakTurk School for winning medals in various international competitions bringing pride and a good name to Pakistan.

Scholars: Misconceptions of Islam still abound

SEVGI AKARÇEŞME, İSTANBUL The subject of misconceptions of Islam dominated the debates at the international conference organized by the Foundation of Journalists and Authors (GYV) and Fatih University in İstanbul today. The event, titled “The Practice of Coexistence in Islamic Civilization and Contemporary Interpretations,” started on Friday with the participation of international scholars and leading […]

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Nigerian Turkish schools denies links to Turkey coup

Anti-police operation is gov’t attempt to take revenge for graft probe

3 dead, 5 missing in attempt to escape Turkey’s post-coup crackdown

Ramadan Dinner Downtown Brings Cultures Together in Celebration

Wife says dismissed police chief left to die of colorectal cancer in İzmir prison

Foreign journalists baffled by gov’t decision to shut down prep schools

Toward an Islamic enlightenment

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News