The beauty and mystique of the Far East will be recreated tonight in Hilton Coliseum when the Youth Goodwill Mission from Taiwan, the Republic of China, visits for one very special performance.

The Youth Goodwill Mission will be performing Chinese dances, songs, Kung Fu and folk art. The Mission’s presentation will provide a great opportunity for the Ames community to sample and interact with the unique tradition of Chinese culture.

“It’s a major song, dance and acrobatic spectacle,” Pat Miller, program coordinator for the lectures committee, one of the group’s sponsors, said. “It’s going to be spectacular.”

The Mission was established in 1974 as an endeavor to promote cross-cultural exchanges through art performances.

For more than 20 years, the group has evolved as a well-established showcase of Chinese culture. This year’s Mission group is made up of 21 college students from Taiwan.

“All of the performers are selected through an audition and are from different colleges in Taiwan,” Han-Ching Wu, President of the ISU Taiwanese Student Association said.

Wu said that many of the performances are common in his homeland of Taiwan, but he hopes the Ames community will come out to experience them first hand.

“The last time the Goodwill Mission came to Ames was in 1985,” he said. “I hope the Ames community will once again come out and appreciate it. The Chinese are a unique culture.”

The program will be comprised of three feature presentations: The Chinese Opera, music and dances in Tang Dynasty and the legacy of Taiwan. The production requires more than 220 items of stage properties which weigh about 3,300 pounds, including costumes, theatrical masks, feather fans, bows, swords, Chinese drums and bass gongs.

The program opens with the Chinese Opera which features distinct facial make-ups and Kung-Fu style presentations. The rainbow colored faces will be introduced to the audience as characters portraying human traits such as morality, evil and loyalty.

The combination of music and dance in Tang Dynasty is renowned for its elegant yet robust display.

The final feature performance, the Legacy of Taiwan, allows the audience to sample diverse cultures of different ethnic groups familiar to the island of Taiwan.

One of the highlights is an aborigines’ hair- swinging dance spotlighting ritual dances performed for welcoming guests or praying for rain.

“I hope the Mission will provide an opportunity for all to see and interact with the Chinese culture,” Wu said. “The Taiwan Student Association has been working very hard to bring this to campus.”

The Youth Goodwill Mission from Taiwan will be at Stephens Auditorium tonight at 7:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

A reception will be hosted by the Taiwanese Students Association following the program.