The Chinese Cultural Center in Morocco's capital Rabat held a special gala event on Wednesday to celebrate the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival with the locals.
The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the eighth month on the Chinese lunar calendar, which is next Tuesday this year. For Chinese people, it is of special ethical significance, and family reunion on this occasion lying deep in their consciousness has been a sentiment and mindset for hundreds of years.
The colorful and joyous show at Bahnini Hall featured a series of distinctive artistic performances, reflecting Chinese cultural heritage and enhancing the cultural exchanges between China and the North African country.
"The cultural aspect plays a very important role in the intensification and diversification of the relations between our two countries and two peoples," said Li Changlin, Chinese ambassador to Morocco.
The musical celebration combined the cultures of the two countries. Moroccan youths joined dozens of Chinese artists and performed traditional Chinese and Moroccan songs.
"We are very excited to be here. A very different country and a very different culture here. So we are very surprised and excited," said Li Cangxiao, a Chinese artist.
"This time we visited Morocco to perform and we have discovered that the Moroccan audience is very enthusiastic and active. We really appreciate it. Morocco is a very beautiful country and Rabat is also a quite pretty city. We had a great time putting on the show. We thank local audience's warm applause. We are grateful that the China Cultural Center invited us here to present such a wonderful concert," said Yi Lin, another Chinese Artist.
The gala evening drew more than 400 spectators from many regions of Morocco.
"China's Cultural Center in Rabat today has organized an amazing artistic and musical show to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival which is one of the most important festivals in China. This is a great opportunity for the Moroccan public to better know Chinese culture and traditions during this happy time of the year," said Ihsanne Benghanem, a Moroccan spectator.
Moroccans, Chinese Community in Rabat celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival
An official with the World Economic Forum (WEF) has stressed the importance of establishing an adaptable mechanism for dialogue and cooperation that allows the global economy to fully benefit from the development potential of new technologies while managing the associated risks.
Mirek Dusek, one of WEF's managing directors, was speaking on the sidelines of the 2025 WEF Annual Meeting, which commenced in Davos, Switzerland on Monday.
The five-day event has gathered around 3,000 participants from various regions and industries around the world under the theme "Collaboration for the Intelligent Age," highlighting the need for greater collaboration against a backdrop of rapid technological advancements and global divisions.
In an interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN) on Tuesday, Dusek said WEF is monitoring "two big forces" they believe are changing the world economy.
"On one hand, we are living through quite a unique time in terms of technological advancement and innovation. But on the other hand, of course, we are also tracking forces of fragmentation. We are seeing a more competitive geopolitical landscape, shifting value chains and supply chains, and of course, also social polarization in certain societies around the world," he said.
With the current uncertainties in the world, Dusek stressed the importance of building a suitable platform for dialogue, and ensuring that such a mechanisms is adaptable to respond to the various challenges.
"Given the trends that we are seeing in the global economy, in international relations, that function of bridging and dialogue could not be more important. It's very important that we have mechanisms where we can have dialogue and cooperation, and of course, we also need to be on the front foot of thinking, 'Okay, how do we make sure that the collaborative mechanisms are fit for the 21st century?'" he said, adding that this will be one of the focuses of the current Davos meeting.
Dusek also emphasized China's vital role in promoting global economic growth and technological development, describing the country as a "key actor" in helping the world transition to a new era of tech-driven development.
"Everyone understands that we need to be on our front foot, really thinking creatively around how do we relaunch growth that is inclusive, sustainable. But how do we relaunch growth in this new situation for the world economy? And China plays a very important role in that endeavor, on development, on trade, of course, as well. On technology, I mentioned the theme, 'The Intelligent Age'. What we are trying to communicate with that is that there is a huge opportunity around some of these technologies. What is quite special is that it's not only one technology, but we are seeing, at this moment, whole sets of technologies that are going to market and exponentially changing industry and economy. If we have this huge opportunity around these technologies, how do we design [not only] our dialogue mechanisms, but also our collaborative mechanisms to be able to harness these technologies for the benefit of the world economy while taking care of the risks," he said.
WEF official calls for mechanisms to foster dialogue in new tech era, boost world economy