Music, food, salsa and friendship

By Erik Nilsson (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-11-19 07:45

A worker waters fl owers in a garden near this weekend's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit venue in Lima, Peru, on Monday. AFP

Cuban Elisabeth Valvez, who has lived in China for the past two years, says Chinese people know much more about Cuba today than when she first came to Beijing to study Putonghua in 2001.

"At first, everything was about Fidel Castro and cigars," the 31-year-old says.

"But now, other things are becoming well known, and more and more people know what Cuba really is because there are more places to get to know things like Cuban music and food."

Cuban musician Milan Garcia, who has performed in China for four years, says that when she first arrived in Beijing, people were so curious they would feel her hair. Today, people are more knowledgeable - but just as curious - about Cuba.

Her music is "a great way for transmitting our culture", she says. "The first time we played, we played Cuban music that was very strong but the Chinese people didn't understand that. So we made some versions of Chinese songs into salsa, and people loved them," the 33-year-old says.

Her gigs now feature only one or two Cuban songs, and the rest she sings in Chinese.

Entrepreneur Geovany Gonzalez, who has lived in China for three years, says the free salsa classes he hosts for about 40 people in his Guantanamera nightspot in Beijing fill up every night.

"Chinese love to learn salsa, because it's very different from their tradition," he says.

"They have opened their minds and souls to things from Latin America. For them, it's the New World."

Alexis Hernandez, who has worked as a chef in China for more than three years, says culinary exchange has contributed to the mutual understanding between Chinese and Cuban people.

The 37-year-old now commands the kitchen at A Che, a Cuban restaurant Gonzalez founded in Beijing two years ago and later sold. "Chinese can learn about another style of food while I have learned what Chinese food really is," Hernandez says.

Valvez described President Hu Jintao's two-day visit to her homeland as "an expression of the good relations between the two countries".

Raudel Vasquez, who works at the Cuban embassy in Beijing, says the visit is important for his compatriots, including the 1,000 or so living in China.

"After the hurricanes, we are counting on the help and solidarity of the people of China," the 28-year-old says.

(China Daily 11/19/2008 page6)