On the Wings of Songs: Summer break in Harbin enriched with chorus music

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China's northeastern city Harbin is holding its first international Children's Chorus Festival. In addition to local choirs, a group of young Russian singers flew in and joined the performance. Reporter Xu Xinchen was there.

A youth choir 33 members strong from Russia's Khabarovsk. Among them, 15-year-old Shishchuk and 14-year-old Kuzmina. They've been toiling away at songs ever since they arrived in Harbin.

KSENIYA SHISHCHUK YOUTH CHOIR MEMBER "This is my first time in Harbin. I've been looking forward to the show, and am honored to have this opportunity."

DIANA KUZMINA YOUTH CHOIR MEMBER "I am very happy to be able to come to perform and talk with people about singing."

Russian choral music has deep roots and can be traced back to the 1500s. In China, its development took off in the last century. Chinese students who watched this performance said they were impressed.

"The Russian choir is all girls, but they sang with great vigor."

"They looked relaxed on the stage, but had a lot of passion."

In addition to the Russian choir, some 500 young singers from across China also performed.

XU XINCHEN HARBIN "This is the first ever show put on for Harbin's International Children's Chorus Festival. And some 1,000 kids from both Harbin and elsewhere showed up to watch. The purpose of the event is simple, to spark more interest for extracurricular activities among young people in China."

Educators in Harbin and Russia also plan to expand the current program to include more activities beyond the chorus festival.

ZHAO XIAOSONG DIRECTOR OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND EXCHANGE HARBIN EDUCATION BUREAU "We hope to use this kind of event to enrich students' lives during the summer break. And we are planning to expand our collaboration with Russian friendship cities to hold more events, including in art and sports."

SVETLANA VOROBYOVA HEAD OF KHABAROVSK YOUTH CHOIR "Russian and Chinese kids are quite different. Chinese kids are quieter and more obedient, while Russian kids are more expressive. Both can learn a lot from each other."

A total of three shows are planned for this year's festival, an event likely to continue for years to come. Xu Xinchen, CGTN, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province.