by Justice Lee Adoboe
ACCRA, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- Amid the sweeping green oasis that rises gently over the Legon Hill in the northern part of Accra, Ghana's capital, lies the 11.4-square-kilometer University of Ghana, the country's premier higher-education institution.
As a typical ivory tower, the university is made up of different schools, departments, and institutes, including the Confucius Institute. Here, many young Ghanaians come to study the Chinese language and culture.
Among the current crop of students is 20-year-old Austin Elikem Afiawo, a final-year Chinese language and linguistics student at the university, who loves to spend time at the Confucius Institute working on his Chinese language and cultural studies.
For young Afiawo, his academic journey, including structured classroom work and writing test papers, is also interspersed with cultural activities such as Chinese dance, stage performances, music, and drawing, among others.
One specific Chinese art form that the Ghanaian student has taken keen interest in and has been mastering is "Bian Lian," the traditional Chinese Sichuan Opera's face-changing performance.
Afiawo, then a first-year student, attended a cultural performance at the Confucius Institute. But this turned out to be a moment that would transform him from being part of the audience to a key cast member in cultural performances at the institute.
"I watched one gentleman, Jesse Twumasi-Ankrah, on stage in a blue costume just changing faces. I was really shocked and got interested in it. So, I decided to approach him after the program and ask him how he did it," he told Xinhua in a recent interview.
Twumasi-Ankrah, then a senior student, began teaching Afiawo the basics of the face-changing performance, and Afiawo gradually started perfecting the art. Later, other teachers of the Confucius Institute at the University of Ghana (CIUG) also joined in to train him.
Being new to the stage craft, the young student found the performance initially difficult to learn and cope with. But gradually, he mastered the art and has established himself as a face-changing art performer in Ghana.
"The first difficulty is that, while people think the performance is just about changing faces, the real challenge is the costume. Putting on the costume is a very difficult part of the performance," he said.
According to him, "The costume with several masks is very heavy. It puts a lot of stress on you. So those are some difficulties we face."
"I remember my very first performance, which was here at the Confucius Institute. I was very nervous, being the first time I stood in front of a large audience to perform, and one mistake can destroy the entire performance," he said.
To manage his stage fright, Afiawo avoided eye contact by looking above the audience's heads and pretending he was alone in the auditorium, which helped him enjoy his act.
Afiawo has since mastered the art and is able to perform during events organized by the three Confucius Institutes in the West African country and other events organized by Chinese organizations in the country.
Chinese Director of the CIUG Liu Baijun spoke highly about Afiawo's enthusiasm. "He's very active in CIUG activities. He always comes to the Confucius Institute and learns some Chinese culture."
"Face-changing is a tradition in China. Maybe it's quite strange for some of the foreigners, but for Austin, he likes it very much," Liu said. "He practices face-changing in his spare time, and his skill has improved a lot."
One of the values Afiawo has learned through performing the face-changing art is endurance, as the heavy costume he puts on to perform on stage causes him to sweat a lot in Ghana's warm, humid tropical weather. Furthermore, the need to pile up different masks in the costume, which he keeps changing on stage to portray different looks, requires enduring discipline.
"But after every performance, we realize that no matter the struggle we go through, we can actually pull through," added the Ghanaian student.
Afiawo expressed gratitude to the CIUG for the enormous support he continues to receive from them, both for his academic work and training in stage performance.
Liu noted that more and more Ghanaians are eager to learn the Chinese language and culture in recent years. The CIUG will introduce more Chinese culture, not only traditional but also the latest Chinese technology, to the Ghanaian people. ■