9th China Art Festival Opens in Guangzhou

The 9th China Art Festival has opened in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province. A series of cultural activities including performances, forums and fairs will be held over two weeks to showcase the achievements of China's cultural industry. CRI's Zhang Ru has more.

In spite of the heavy rain, artists from home and aboard are gathering here in Guangzhou, presenting a cultural feast during the biannual China Art Festival.Renowned Chinese artists performed at the opening ceremony of the festival.But this is just the start of the two-week cultural gala.

Liang Zhengxiang, an official from the festival's organizing committee elaborates on some of the highlights of the art festival.

"The key event of the festival is a stage performance trade fair held for the excellent domestic troupes. It's a good opportunity to develop China's art industry in terms of internationalization, commercialization and industrialization. This is the first time for the festival to hold such a fair."

Liang Zhengxiang says the fair provides a platform for buying and selling China's stage performances regionally and internationally.

He adds that under the principle of "a gala of art, a festival of the people", China Art Festival also plays an important role in enriching people's cultural life.

"We have organized renowned Chinese artists and troupes to perform 31 shows in troops, enterprises, schools and construction sites. We hope more common people can share the achievements of China's cultural industry."

Official from the organizing committee says more than 100 shows such as musical, local opera and acrobatics will be staged in nearly 30 venues of five cities across the province.

Classic Italian opera Turandot have already been staged ahead of the festival.

Other overseas shows from China's Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan as well as foreign countries like Poland and South Korea will also perform for the audience.

For CRI, I'm Zhang Ru in Guangzhou.