[Turkmenistan] Mammedova Gurbantach, Xidian University

When you see the girl in the photo, it will be hard for you to associate “beauty” with her. This is me when I first came to China, a timid and shy girl who is not confident and good at expressing herself. But a class in China completely changed me.

In the winter of 2020, the teacher arranged a practical class on Chinese dance culture for us. In class, the teacher showed us ancient Chinese dance. She danced gracefully and gently. “The beauty dances like a lotus flower, which the world has never seen.” I was amazed and intoxicated by her graceful figure, which still deeply impresses me today.

Under the teacher’s explanation and demonstration, I have a better understanding of the dances of the Tang Dynasty. “Women learn Hu makeup to mimic Hu women, and they learn Hu songs to perform Hu music.” The open and inclusive Tang Dynasty that absorbed and promoted foreign cultures made the “Hu Spinning Dance” from the Western Regions widely spread. The inclusive and eclectic nature of dance in the Tang Dynasty also allowed women in the Tang Dynasty to show a confident and open spirit. I was shocked by the dancing female figures in the millennium scrolls shown by the teacher. I couldn’t believe that Chinese women more than 1,000 years ago were so fashionable and confident! They were subtle but not overt, gentle and persevering. This aroused my interest and yearning for Tang culture as a woman, and I came up with the idea of learning Chinese dance.

The teacher seemed to have discovered my “little secret” and carefully choreographed the dance for us, encouraging us to learn the Tang Dynasty dance “A Banquet at the Qing Capital”. After hearing the news, I made the boldest decision in my life: Sign up to learn dance! I was the first to go to the dance class every day to practice my movements. Although my body was stiff and my coordination was not good, the teacher still took the trouble to help me adjust my movements. Under her careful guidance, I practiced hard and tried to imitate every movement. In order to let us dance with the elegant charm, the teachers also took us to visit the Shaanxi History Museum to help us understand the culture and history behind the dance. I was also selected as the captain to help each team member learn to dance and unify their movements.

One night in June 2021, it was the day when we officially performed at Datang Never-night City, and it was the most unforgettable day for me. Under the gaze of hundreds of Chinese audiences, I mustered up the courage to lead all the international team members to successfully complete the dance performance. When the audience responded with warm applause and cheers, we shed tears with excitement, feeling proud and accomplished. I didn’t expect that as a foreigner, I could also become a disseminator of Chinese traditional culture, show my beauty on such a big stage, and demonstrate foreigners’ understanding of Chinese culture. This persistence has also strengthened my determination to learn Chinese well and deepened my love for Chinese culture.

A Chinese teacher once said in class that “each has its own beauty, and beauty is shared by all.” At first, I didn’t quite understand what the teacher meant by “beauty”. How can I feel “beauty”? What does my “beauty” look like? Only after understanding of Chinese dance culture through my personal experience, did I realize: Chinese culture is born for beauty!

Dance is a part of culture and has always conveyed the yearning for beauty. It is also the inheritance and extension of Chinese culture. I have seen countless beautiful Chinese dances: in “Only Green”, I saw the Chinese people’s yearning for the beauty of nature; in “Night Banquet at the Tang Palace”, I felt the yearning for the beauty of the people of the prosperous Tang Dynasty; in “Fragrant and Colorful Courtyard”, I realized that behind the Chinese color aesthetics is the yearning for the harmonious coexistence of “the heaven and the earth coexist with me, and all things and me are one”. Chinese dance, with its costumes, movements, expressions, and music, all show the unique charm of “grace as a startled phoenix, elegant like a swimming dragon.” It also made me deeply feel the long and profound Chinese aesthetic tradition behind the culture. “Dancing to express one’s heart”, even the most common and the simplest circular motion of Chinese dance also reflects the Chinese people’s yearning for harmony and perfection.

In May 2023, I experienced the convening of the China-Central Asian Summit in Xi’an. At the ceremony to welcome the president of our country at the airport, and the welcome banquet held at the Tang Dynasty Furong Garden, I once again felt the infinite charm of Chinese dance. These top welcoming ceremonies designed in accordance with traditional Chinese etiquette not only demonstrate the spirit of Chinese culture that embraces all corners of the world, but also allow us to see that China and the five Central Asian countries learn from each other’s civilizations, connect their peoples and jointly build a beautiful vision of a community with a shared future.

Of course, this summit also allowed my story to be published in newspapers. As a spokesperson for international students in Central Asia, I spoke out for a better future of cooperation and symbiosis. The experience of learning dance allowed me to move from an unknown B role to the protagonist in life, and gradually discovered and found my own “beauty”. I became cheerful and confident, and actively participated in various school activities and Chinese language competitions. I also insist on learning various Chinese dances. This year, I led our international student dance team to represent the school in a performance of the Tang Dynasty’s court music and dance - “The Dance of Colorful Feather Clothes”. Through hard work, I also became a cultural relic commentator at the Shaanxi History Museum, explaining Chinese cultural relics and historical stories to international students and spreading Chinese culture. My changes impressed my teachers and classmates. Now, I have become not only the international student counselor in the department, but also the teachers’ right-hand assistant, and the enthusiastic senior sister of the students. I hope to help every international student around me discover their “beauty” in their studies, realize their self-worth, and shine with their beauty and appreciates the beauty of each other.”

Beauty is born in dance and blooms in persistence. All the beauty in the world requires standing on tiptoes, working hard to strive for it, surpassing yourself and discovering more surprises in the twists and turns. Just like dancing, use your own rhythm and sweat to show the most confident “beauty.” At the same time, I also hope that through my actions, I can hand in hand with young people around the world to serve as a messenger for cultural exchanges and dissemination, promote people-to-people connections, and realize the goal of “sharing beauty and sharing the united world.”