Chinese folk festival in Washington attracts million visitors

Girls from Dong ethnic group of Southwest China's Guizhou province sings at the opening ceremony of 48th Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington D.C., the United States, on June 25, 2014. The 48th annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival opened in Washington on Wednesday with a major theme: "China: Tradition and the Art of Living". [Photo/Xinhua]

The 48th annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival closed in Washington on Sunday, attracting about one million local people and tourists from all over the world.

During the two-week event, mainly themed "China: Tradition and the Art of Living," visitors experienced and enjoyed the living traditions of the world's most populous country.

Some 120 Chinese folk artists, including musicians, dancers, craftspeople and cooks, displayed how the Chinese, despite current changes and pressures, are working to preserve and adapt their traditional culture.

Outdoor on the National Mall in the U.S. capital city, the event is jointly sponsored by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and the China International Culture Association.

The festival offered visitors a chance to watch craftspeople making paper cuts, New Year's prints, clay figurines, kites and sachets and to get close to artists specializing in embroidery, batiks and porcelain.

Meanwhile, visitors experienced the exuberance of Chinese public life in the "People's Park" area of the program, where Chinese folk art experts demonstrated and taught the flower drum lantern dance, tai chi and water calligraphy.

Through the large-scale and high-level performance and exhibition of Chinese folk art styles, foreign visitors can better understand the diversity of China by meeting and learning from the Chinese artists, who represent the folk art schools of China's 56 ethnic groups, said Qin Wenhuan, project manager from China Arts and Entertainment Group, the festival's undertaker.

The Smithsonian Folklife Festival, inaugurated in 1967, honors people from across the U.S. and around the world and celebrates the diversity of cultural traditions.

In addition to "China: Tradition and the Art of Living," this year's event has another theme "Kenya: Mambo Poa."

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