China Art Festival achieves new record attendance

More than 100,000 people watched performances at 19 major theaters in Shanghai during the 12th China Art Festival, setting a record for attendance, according to the news conference held at the Shanghai Grand Theatre on June 2.

A total of 51 shows were held during the May 20 to June 2 festival, including opera, chamber music and dance. The event also featured nearly 1,200 artworks, calligraphy, seal cutting, photography works and creative cultural products.

About 80,000 citizens attended the 56 public welfare exhibitions and performances in the city's 16 districts, more than 50,000 visitors visited the creative cultural products expo, and over 100 million people watched the art performances online.

During the closing ceremony, 10 performances, including The Eternal Wave, were conferred the Wenhua Award, a triennial award established by the Culture and Tourism Ministry to honor outstanding stage performances.

"The goal of this festival is to present the new achievements of our national artistic creation and literary causes, as well as the new face of literary and artistic workers. It also aims to promote outstanding artworks and talents, and to meet the citizen's growing needs for a better life," said Zhu Di, head of the ministry's arts department.

As 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, this year's repertoire was centered around the lives of modern Chinese people as well as the diversified and prosperous art development in the new era.

The 13th China Art Festival will be held in 2022 by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in conjunction with Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province.