Recently, the "Forbes China Cultural Festival" was held in Shanghai, and Ye Xunqian, President of the Himalayan Drama Education Innovation Institute, was awarded the "First Forbes Chinese Cultural Influential Figure".
Founded in New York in 1917, Forbes has produced lists that have been called "barometers of the economy" and "bellwether of wealth." As a global media brand with innovation as its core, Forbes is good at interpreting the world with iconic lists, and the 2023 Forbes China Selection focuses on Chinese culture for the first time, and is committed to discovering more valuable cultural wealth and becoming a window for Chinese culture to the world.
The selection is divided into two sub-selections: "The First Forbes China Outstanding Cultural Masters" and "The First Forbes China Cultural Influential Figures", which aims to pay tribute to the famous masters with unique ingenuity and talent, and look for those outstanding and shining influencers in the field of culture and art. The "First Forbes China Cultural Influential Figures" focuses on outstanding people who are engaged in the creation, production, and management of culture and art, and selects them in three dimensions: cultural behavior and achievements, industry influence, and commercial value. Ye Xunqian, president of the Himalayan Theatre Education Innovation Research Institute and an expert in theatre education, was selected for his outstanding contributions to the field of theatre art education.
With 27 years of experience in theatre and education, he is an expert in theatre and musical theatre education, a musical theatre director, and currently serves as the director of the Himalayan Theatre Education Innovation Research Institute and the senior director of Himalayan Children's Arts and Education.
Long before joining Himalaya, Ye Xunqian has been working in the field of musical theatre and drama education for many years. After graduating from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, he became a well-known young director in Hong Kong, and his original musical "Animal Farm" won four awards at the Hong Kong Drama Awards. Up to now, he has served as director, artistic director, producer and translator for more than 50 musicals and theater productions, including the original family musical "The Big Monster in the Forbidden City", the musical "Shining Barbie", the original musical "I, The Little Prince", "Shakespeare's Love Letter", the puppet musical "Lilliputian and Adult", the Broadway musical "13", and the Disney musical "Mulan".
In terms of drama education, Yip is also a well-known promoter of drama education in the Mainland. Since 1997, he has been working with cultural organisations, arts organisations, government departments, universities, primary and secondary schools, kindergartens, community organisations, social welfare organisations, etc., in various positions including project planning, curriculum development, teacher professional training, consultant, tutor, etc., to promote the development of drama education. In Hong Kong, in 2004, he began to research and develop a systematic and continuous English drama curriculum and teaching material "Learning English through Drama", which has been applied in more than 200 primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong, and in 2009, Oxford University Press published this course as a textbook for senior secondary schools, and in the same year, at the invitation of the Education Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, he began to provide teacher professional development courses for primary and secondary school teachers.
In 2015, Ye moved to Shanghai, where he has taught in more than 40 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, including drama courses for students, professional training for teachers, and expert lectures for school leaders. Mr Yip helped them develop drama and drama education programmes in their schools, and trained teachers to use drama-based pedagogy in the classroom.
He has also been committed to promoting international cultural exchanges in drama education, such as leading teachers and students to visit Denmark to showcase traditional Chinese culture and promoting drama cultural exchanges between China and Denmark, and he also led students to participate in the "Massachusetts Schools Drama Festival", where his performance won the Gold Award and the Outstanding Actor Award. In March 2024, he was invited to deliver a keynote speech on "10 Unique Experiences from Art" at the 25th IDEA International Conference on Theatre Education (Austria), sharing the important role of theatre education in the growth of children and adolescents.
In 2023, Ye Xunqian joined Himalaya and is responsible for the planning and development of the children's literacy education curriculum of Himalaya Children's APP. Together with Himalaya, Ye Xunqian has continued to carry out his "Drama Education Public Welfare Project", such as cooperating with Ningmeng Film and Beautiful China to train hundreds of rural teachers in Long'an County, Tiandong County, Guangxi Province, Meixian County, Guangdong Province and other regions, so as to strengthen the educational function of drama and cultivate students' core literacy. In February 2024, the Himalayan sketch program "Accompanied by AI" directed by Ye Xunqian appeared on CCTV's "2024 China Online Audiovisual Annual Ceremony".
Through the Himalayan platform, Ye Xunqian's concept of "drama education" for children and teenagers has realized the connection between online and offline, and his drama education work will also affect more children, parents and teachers.