China Art Festival opens

The 10th China Art Festival, which features quality arts from around the country, opened on Friday in Jinan, Shandong province.

The triennial festival will showcase paintings, theater performances, dance, singing, folk operas and other art forms in an exhibition across 17 cities in the province.

The 16-day festival will present the Splendor Award, one of the country's most established awards celebrating theatrical artworks. Some 90 plays from all over the country entered the competition and will stage for review during the festival.

Contestants for the Galaxy Award, which honors amateur artists and community culture, will also be judged during the festival. Award winners for both awards will be announced on Oct 26 in Weihai.

"The China Art Festival has generated quality art and has found talent in its history," President Xi Jinping wrote in a letter read by Vice-Premier Liu Yandong, who announced the festival launch.

"This festival will show the spirit of the Chinese people and their strength," the letter said.

Cai Wu, minister of culture, said during the festival's opening ceremony that the festival brings together all art forms, regardless of style and experience, in a "splendid gala and holiday for all citizens".

"The festival puts together the professional and the amateur arts, the traditional and the modern, as well as the ethnic and international classics," said Cai. "When a country prospers, arts will blossom."

There will be altogether some 2,000 performances and more than 150 exhibitions, including a European Art Exhibition that has enlisted the works of Da Vinci, Picasso, Michelangelo, Salvador Dali and others.

The festival will close on Oct 26.