China festival to enjoy Maori culture

Te Puia carvers (clockwise from top left) Jeff Ruha, Karatiana Rurehe, Hepara Teepa, Arapo Whata, James Teepa, Dariel Marino and Tommy Herbert will showcase their skills to the world at a festival in China. Photo / Robyn Burke

Maori arts, crafts and culture will be shown to the world when a group of tutors and students from the New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Institute travel to China this week to take part in the Baoshan Festival.

The journey coincides with the 50th anniversary of Te Puia and the institute's establishment.

The institute's Tuku Iho exhibition will open in Shanghai on October 18 and will include more than 120 works reflecting a range of Maori art forms taught at the institute, including wood, bone, stone, pounamu (greenstone) and weaving.

Director Karl Johnstone said the institute's exhibition at the Baoshan Museum was a continuation of the special relationship that has developed between New Zealand and China, following the World Expo held there three years ago.

They carved a 10m waka maumahara (canoe cenotaph), called Te Kakano, at the expo, which was then gifted from the people of New Zealand to the people of China as an enduring symbol of cultural respect, memorialising the friendship between the two nations into the future.

"Our presence at the festival this year is about honouring our special relationship with China and paving the way for closer ties between the cultures of our two countries," Mr Johnstone said.

The institute's presence at the exhibition would also include a "living" culture component, with a group of 13 staff, students and friends forming a special kapa haka group, who would travel to China to perform.

The male members of the group first came together for rehearsals nine weeks ago, with the female members joining a month later. The group would be showcasing different disciplines of kapa haka, including mau rakau (weaponry demonstrations) and stick games such as titi torea and ti rakau. The group will be performing a mix of songs unique to Te Arawa and Rotorua, and well-known anthems of Aotearoa, with a Chinese song to close as a tribute to their hosts.

The cultural elements on display in Baoshan will also be accompanied by a series of high-level tourism trade promotions in Wuxi, Shanghai, Beijing, Gungzhou and Hong Kong.