Hangzhou, dubbed "Heaven on the Earth" for its beautiful scenes and benign climates, will embrace for a grand art carnival, the Seventh Chinese Art Festival, in the upcoming 17 days.
Local people will have the chance to enjoy about 100 traditional operas, musicals, dramas and song and dance performances at this capital of east China's Zhejiang Province and the province's Shaoxing, Wenzhou,
Jiaxing and
Ningbo cities.
The theaters at
Hangzhou have been preparing for the art festival with advanced stage equipment to present the audience with scenarios of the watery landscape in southern China and various kinds ancient operas.
The sunshine of traditional operas not only lit up the professional stages, but also the stages for amateurs and opera aficionado alike.
For 53-year-old retiree Yu Zhuya, her favorite theater is Huanglongdong Park, where she could spend merely 10 yuan (1.20 US dollars) and enjoy
Shaoxing Opera, favorite for many locals, at the bank of the scenic West Lake for a whole day.
Set up in 1988, the
Shaoxing Opera troupe at Huanglongdong Park is among the first batch of non-governmental troupes in Zhejiang and over 30 players perform there each day to entertain the park-goers and tourists from home and abroad.
"There are over one thousand folk opera troupes like me in Zhejiang province and they usually performed at the countryside for the rural residents with relatively low income", said Meng Kejuan, deputy director of Huanglongdong
Shaoxing Opera Troupe.
Other opera fans organized themselves to perform at the West Lake. Though dressed in modern clothes, they let out ancient singing, walked and posed elegantly, telling love tales or political dramas in ancient courts.
For young people unlike Yu and love more dramatic stories instead of the century-long art genre, the festival's committee also prepares Hollywood blockbusters. With Harry Potter III premiered at Hangzhou, a film festival started on the same day as part of the art festival, including 15 latest feature movies from home and abroad.
Meanwhile, ancient paintings and traditional Chinese calli graphic exhibitions will also be showed at local museums, including feudal artworks made during the past ten centuries.
These activities will diversify programs at the festival and help more citizens watch the performances, according to the committee.
The first Chinese Art Festival was held at
Beijing in 1987 and was slated to be held every three years across the country. The Seventh Chinese Art Festival is acclaimed as the largest one.
The festival also prepared some cheap tickets for senior citizens, priced at about 20 to 50 yuan (6.02 US dollars). "I hope to get one cheap ticket and get glimpse of my favorite
Shaoxing Opera stars" Yu said.
With the programs unfurling across the city, "Heaven of the earth" is turning into "Heaven of art".
