Surrounded by the tropical beauty of Hainan island in China, Yanitsa Stamenova and Vasilena Vasileva from the Prof. Asen Diamandiev Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Art in Plovdiv opened the International Cultural Rose Festival in Sanya with a Bulgarian folk song – Bre, vodenicharyu (Hey, miller). Behind the Bulgarian girls, performers from the Chinese Song and Dance Ensemble of Hainan danced the Bulgarian horo. 

A Bulgarian cultural exhibition marked one more highlight at the rose festival, which took place April 9-13, alongside the Bulgarian singing and dancing.

The girls had a special photo session in the biggest rose park in Asia – the Chinese Rose Valley, a location many newlyweds favour as a photo session location. The young folk singers Yanitsa and Vasilena also starred in a video published by the local social media platform, as well as on Facebook. 

Zhang Changqing, chair of the China department of the Bulgarian-Chinese Business Development Association helped make the presentation of Bulgarian culture in Sanya possible, and organized the funding of Yanitsa and Vasilena’s one-month stay in China.

Compiled by Darina Grigorova

Translated from the Bulgarian and posted by Milena Daynova