City welcomes visitors year round

Black Forest Arts and Cultural Festival host encourages further exchanges

Gerhard Link, the mayor of Freudenstadt, said the Black Forest Arts and Cultural Festival was a great opportunity to showcase German culture and arts to their Chinese guests.

The festival, which ran from July 18 to 31 this year, was co-hosted by Deument Co and the Freudenstadt city government. Chinese youths visited Freudenstadt for the festival, which included a range of music and cultural activities and promotes cultural communication.

Rainer Neher, a local music director, helped the Chinese participants experience Western music and instruments and taught them how to play in a different style.

Neher said his impression was that Chinese youths are eager to improve their music skills while German youths played with more feeling for the music.

He told his Chinese students to concentrate on how the music they played was created and how the composers felt when writing the works.

This way, they can gain a better and broader understanding of the pieces and grasp the essentials for playing them, Neher said.

Link said Freudenstadt appreciated the festival and was willing to play a role in the 2016 communication year between Chinese and German youths, agreed by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in October 2014.

"We support local institutions that are organizing events and promote German-Chinese exchanges," Link said.

Young Chinese people visiting Freudenstadt in the Black Forest region can join in different activities and events.

A local theater, called Kurhaus, offers concerts, plays and other cultural events throughout the year.

Link said young Chinese visitors can go hiking, ride bikes or just enjoy nature in Freudenstadt.

He said paragliding and playing golf in the summer and skiing in the winter was also possible.

The city is known for its Black Forest cake and Black Forest ham, which is exclusively smoked in the Black Forest area.

Michael Krause, the tourism director for Freudenstadt, said Chinese youths could experience a new culture by dancing and listening to music in the city and get to know another lifestyle.

He said due to the location of Freudenstadt, the city is perfectly positioned for access to sports activities such as mountain-biking and Nordic walking.

Several fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm, including Snow White and Little Red Riding Hood, were based in the Black Forest region.

Krause said, "Often the stories' plots involve beautiful landscapes. Especially wide, mythical and downright enchanted forests, which are characteristic of German fairy tales."

The area's landscape and natural surroundings are considered of huge value to Freudenstadt and are major reasons that people want to visit, said Krause.

songmengxing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 08/31/2015 page7)