What: "The Third Sister" Musical presented by The Third Sister Liu Musical Troupe from Guangxi, China.

Sponsors: Chinese Association of Columbia (CAC), the Columbia Academy of Chinese Language (CACL), the Columbia Chinese Christian Church (CCCC), the Columbia Chinese School (CCS), and the Friendship Association of Chinese Students and Scholars (FACSS)

When: 7:30pm, Monday, June 16, 2008

Where: Dreher Auditorium, 3319 Millwood Avenue, Columbia, SC 29205

Cost: Ticket of $50 (VIP) and $15 available at IFM (803-799- 3452), 610 Pickens Street, Columbia, SC 29201, 9 am- 5 pm, M- F (All proceeds will go to the Sichuan earthquake relief ). For ticket, donation, or more information, go to http://www.columbia-chinese.com

Highlights: The Third Sister Liu Musical Troupe is one of the most prestigious performing arts troupes of China. The portion of the Troupe currently visiting USA consists of 27 artists. Among them are six top ranking singers and dancers in China. Columbia is the last leg of its five- city U.S. tour of charity show, after Washington DC, Atlanta, and Charlotte.

The Third Sister Liu is the heroine in the Chinese musical The Guangxi people have a long tradition of singing folk songs. Singing is an important part of their life. They sing to exchange greetings, to communicate with each other, and to express their feelings. Such tradition of hundreds if not thousands of years has given local people the opportunity to compose their verses and melodies while singing simultaneously. In the March of every year, people of every town and from all walks of life get together to hold a singing competition, which has evolved into one of the most important local festivals.

The Third Sister Liu musical tells a love story which happened during one of the singing competitions. Third Sister Liu is the heroine in this story. The musical show was first made public in the late 1950s because the songs were so beautiful, and the show was so successful. It was made into a musical movie in the early 1960s, showing across China and Southeast Asian countries. The songs soon became so popular they became part of the Chinese classic folk songs. The name Third Sister Liu became so popular that, the troupe's name was changed to the Third Sister Liu Musical Troupe.

The show will be with English captions and features wonderful songs, beautiful dances, and exotic costumes.

Contacts: Prof. Xian Wu, wux@math.sc.edu, (803)777-4714,

Dr. Ling Gao lgao@sde.state.sc.us

(803)734-4321, or Lin Ko, linkosc@juno.com, (803)772-6675.