The 2026 Duisburg China Festival commenced on Friday afternoon in Duisburg, Germany, with participation from Chinese and German cities, aiming to bolster bilateral ties. The three-day event features cultural booths and interactive zones displaying traditional Chinese cuisine, culture, and contemporary art. On Friday evening, top-tier performing arts troupes from Wuhan, the capital of central China's Hubei Province, staged the festival's opening gala. Nearly 40 artists presented over a dozen programs, including Peking opera, Hanju opera, Chuju opera, acrobatics, and ethnic song and dance.
Chang Haitao, acting consul general of the Chinese Consulate General in Dusseldorf, described the festival as a vivid expression of Sino-German exchange, allowing Germans to experience and understand China up close. This event holds particular significance as Duisburg and Wuhan became sister cities in 1982, the first such pairing between Germany and China. Since then, the two cities have maintained close people-to-people and economic exchanges, forging a lasting bond.
Duisburg Mayor Soeren Link, impressed by the performance, remarked that the opening gala was unforgettable for its standard, quality, richness, and the many facets it presented. He emphasized that Duisburg values its sister-city relationship with Wuhan and hopes to continue strengthening German-Chinese friendship and dialogue. Markus Teuber, commissioner for China affairs at the Mayor's Office of Duisburg, noted that the array of theatrical and song and dance performances brought by Wuhan offered German audiences an excellent window into Chinese culture. He expressed hope for deepened cultural exchange between the two cities in the future.
For Yang Jing, deputy director of the Wuhan Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, the presence of Wuhan at the festival marks an important step in Wuhan culture's global outreach. The Duisburg China Festival, an annual signature cultural event, injects fresh grassroots momentum into the development of German-Chinese friendship. This year's festival underscores the ongoing commitment of both nations to cultural diplomacy and mutual understanding, building on a relationship that has thrived for over four decades.
