Annual art fest promotes culture of Yangtze River
Zhangjiagang is promoting local culture through its annual art festival, which kicked off on Friday.
Now in its 10th year, the Yangtze River Culture and Art Festival is an event where people can see shows by performers from Zhangjiagang and other cities along the river.
Holding a central place in Chinese culture, the 6,300-km-long river is the longest in the country and runs through 11 provincial economies, about one-fifth of the country's total area.
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Dancers from northwestern Qinghai province perform in traditional Tibetan costumes during the Yangtze River Culture and Art Festival. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is the river's origin. Photos Provided to China Daily |
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A dance troupe from Yunnan perform in Zhangjiagang. Home to a variety of ethnic groups, the southwestern province is one of the many that the Yangtze River crosses. |
"The Yangtze River culture has become something that flows in the blood of Zhangjiagang," said the city's Party chief Yao Linrong.
During the opening ceremony, 27 troupes from cities that the Yangtze River runs by wowed the audience with a variety show that features performances unique to those cities.
To make the performances more accessible, the festival's organizing committee has slashed ticket prices to as low as 10 yuan ($1.64) since 2012.
A major highlight of this year's festival is unveiling a Yangtze River culture-themed museum.
The first of its kind in China, the museum showcases artwork made by intangible cultural heritage artists in Zhangjiagang. Local officials said it reflects the efforts of the city government to promote and protect local culture over the past decade.
The festival is organized by a foundation designed to promote Yangtze River culture.
"It will play an important role in protecting, developing and carrying forward the Yangtze River culture," said a local official.
The organization will organize studies on the Yangtze River, hold themed festivals and explore new cultural elements.
In addition to the festival, local authorities have initiated a large-scale culture promotion project.
By dividing the city into grids, the government assigns one to two people to organize cultural activities in each grid.
Local officials said the project has improved the efficiency of providing public cultural services and made it fairly accessible to residents throughout the city.
The government also encourages residents to organize their art groups.
Statistics show that there are more than 480 troupes in Zhangjiagang, with the members combined reaching 120,000.
In addition to staging performances in their own communities, they also join other troupes in presenting shows in the city, local officials said.
Contact the writers at lifusheng@chinadaily.com.cn and zhoufurong@chinadaily.com.cn
(China Daily 11/01/2013 page15)
