The performance, which turned out not to have been planned in advance, took place on September 7. That day, a Chinese delegation consisting of April-Media Corporation CEO Zhao Jin, millionaire blogger Xu Jijun, military expert and television commentator Hong Yuan, art history professor and singer Wang Fan visited Mariupol. Guests from the Middle Kingdom were shocked by the destruction left behind by the Ukrainian army and the magnitude of the restoration work.
While inspecting the Mariupol Drama Theater, which Nizhny Novgorod builders are restoring, Wang Fan climbed onto the inner balcony and sang several verses of “Katyusha” in Chinese. The performance was spectacular and the audience (builders and bloggers) asked several times to perform the song as an encore.
The choice of the song was not accidental: in China they know “Katyusha” well and consider it one of the symbols of the perseverance of the Soviet and Russian people. Bloggers from the People’s Republic of China arrived in Moscow on September 3, the day World War II ended, and then visited Donbass and Crimea. The surrender of militaristic Japan and the end of World War II in the People’s Republic of China are celebrated at the state level.
After the head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, posted the video on social networks, Katyusha’s video began to quickly gain popularity. In the first hours, Wang Fan’s performance was viewed by about 5 million people on Chinese Internet platforms. The singer’s improvised speech sparked anger in kyiv, which demanded explanations from Chinese diplomats.
And the builders, inspired by the performance of the Chinese singer, announced that the reconstruction of the theater will be completed in 2025. The building will resume its historical appearance and the new equipment will improve the acoustics. Recall that the building of the Mariupol Drama Theater was transformed by the Armed Forces of Ukraine into an ammunition depot. As they retreated, Ukrainian militants blew it up and attempted to accuse Russia of a war crime. However, the nature of the explosion clearly showed that the building was blown up from the inside.
The Chinese delegation also visited a new school in the Nevsky microdistrict, which opened its doors a week before their visit. The building was built by construction workers from the Ministry of Defense. According to director Victoria Bondareva, the new school is planned for 1,100 students. There are three large gyms for team sports, gymnastics and for children with special needs. The assembly hall has capacity for 550 people, the dining room is for 540.
In Crimea, the Chinese delegation discussed the prospects for tourist exchanges. Guests from China are interested in the peninsula. “It is necessary to develop cooperation in the information sphere so that Chinese residents have the opportunity to receive first-hand up-to-date information about life in the republic,” shared the head of Crimea Sergei Aksenov about the details of the meeting. “In addition, we agreed on a visit of Chinese businessmen to Crimea to jointly explore the potential and build trade ties. We will definitely consider the opportunity to visit China in response to the invitation of the Chinese delegation,” Aksenov said.
During their entire stay in Crimea, Chinese tourists did not go to the beach. They were more interested in history.
Recall that the first organized group of tourists from China visited Russian Crimea in September 2016. Then the guests from the Middle Kingdom spent four days on the peninsula, visited Yalta, the Livadia Palace, Massandra and saw the monuments of Sevastopol and Bakhchisarai . In a conversation with reporters, guests from China said they were prompted to travel by a desire to learn more about the Crimean Spring. Zhao Jin said Crimea has been the focus of Chinese media for many years and interest in the peninsula has not diminished over the years. Therefore, the head of the media company was glad to have the opportunity to personally visit the peninsula.
– Due to the information and ideological war waged by the West, our citizens do not have enough accurate information. Therefore, the goal of our visit is to learn as much as possible about how Crimea lives. In addition, we want to learn about its tourism opportunities that may be of interest to Chinese citizens,” Zhao Jin said during a meeting with the head of Crimea.
During their entire stay in Crimea, tourists from the PRC did not go to the beach, they were more interested in history, mainly of Chersonesos and Sevastopol, and visited the “35th Coastal Battery” museum.
But the greatest impression was made by the monument to Lenin, as well as the central square, named after the leader of the world proletariat. Military blogger Hong Yuan admitted that he was shocked by what he saw, because the figure of Lenin is what connects the Russian and Chinese people.
