At a recent international cultural workshop held in Vietnam, almost all participants, ranging from officials to NGO workers, from artists to cultural experts, found themselves engaged in projects related to China.

"Chinese art and culture are becoming more and more fashionable. There is great interest in China on all levels," says Airan Berg, former artistic director for the performing arts of the European cultural capital, Linz, Austria 2009.

Berg was one of the participants of the workshop, organized by the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) to discuss how to foster multi-lateral cooperation through culture in the ASEM framework. The workshop recommendations will be submitted to the 4th ASEM Culture Ministers' Meeting in September in Poland and the 8th ASEM Summit in October in Belgium.

The workshop attracted delegates and participants from nearly 20 countries and regions, and the topics ranged from cultural diplomacy to the role of associations and NGOs in cultural dialogue.

Berg shared the experience of Linz, the European Capital of Culture 2009, a one-year cultural project that helped attract tourism and boost the economy of the city during the world financial crisis.

The program included a new rendition of the operetta The Land of Smiles, directed by China's director Li Liuyi and including some Chinese performers.

Chinese Heroines in War, directed by Li Liuyi, is one of the highlights of the Europalia China Art Festival, Brussels. [China Daily]

The short opera, which premiered in 1929 in Berlin, tells the story of the relationship between a Chinese man and an Austrian woman. In his new production, Li fused contemporary theater with traditional Chinese operatic styles and addressed intercultural relationships from a Chinese angle. The production was sold out for all performances, and is still running at Landestheater Linz regularly.

"The scenes in China in the original play were an Austrian vision of China from a time of which we knew very little. Having this work about China performed and directed by Chinese gives its great reality and poetry," Berg says.

Asialink, an Australian organization devoted to Australia-Asia engagement, is planning to curate an exhibition in Australia of Chinese arts from 1911 to 1979.

"Traditional and contemporary Chinese arts are very well known in the world, but the period linking them is not known outside China. What happened between them is a really fascinating story," says Alison Carroll, director of the arts program of Asialink.

Many Asian delegates at the workshop are also carrying out projects with China. Pooja Sood, director of the Khoj International Artists' Association in India, is working on an Indian artists' exhibition in Beijing, while Tri Minh, a Vietnamese experimental musician and director of the Hanoi Sound Stuff festival, is planning to both invite Chinese artists to perform at his festival and to perform in China himself.

"China is such a big country with a very interesting culture. Chinese artists are becoming a very important factor in the international art scene," he says. "Vietnam and China are very close. Understanding between the two countries is very important, and culture is a tool to expand it."

Is the rising profile of Chinese artists because of their works or because of the world's increasing interest in China?

Berg says that to do an operetta with a Chinese director was an economic, political, social and cultural decision, as he wanted to direct the eyes of the Linz audience to China, whose development has something to do with everyday life in steel-industry-important Linz.

"But above all it's because of the artistic reason, and because Li is an exceptional theater talent. I spent two years working with Li, and it turned out to be a rewarding experience for everybody involved," he says. "I think the exporting of Chinese theater is moving very fast, because there are great talents, techniques and stories from China."

Tri Minh believes that the increasing visibility of Chinese artists on the international stage has to do with both the art itself and the world's interest in China, but the former is the dominant one.

"The world has become so small. You can only make it when you are coming there with your quality. Chinese artists have created very strong impressions," he says.

It has also to do with China's own efforts. In recent years, China has organized or co-organized several festivals outside of China to promote its culture and art, like the China Now festival held in the United Kingdom in 2008 that coordinated some 800 events, and the Europalia China Art Festival, held in Brussels from October 2009 to February 2010.

"These festivals presented a panorama of what's happening in China in the arts world, from the classical to contemporary. I think the impact for the audience was very strong," says Steve Green, team leader of presidency of the European Union National Institutes for Culture, who attended a number of events at both festivals.

However, Green believes that the most important result is the links that arts professionals from China and Europe have established through these festivals, which will have a long-term impact in the future.

The Expo 2010 has catalyzed more art projects related to China. The Asia-Europe Foundation, one of the sponsors of the workshop, will hold a workshop for Asian and European visual artists in Shanghai from Aug 26 to Sept 9, while the European Festivals Association will send a delegation to Shanghai in September, when the Shanghai International Arts Festival and fair are held. The 3rd Chinese-European Art Dialogue will also be held during the Expo in Shanghai.

"In the future 10 to 20 years, China is going to organize more cultural events on the international level, which is very important to boost the country's soft power," says Gu Hongxing, advisor for policy planning with the division of multilateral affairs, Chinese Ministry of Culture's bureau for external cultural relations.

China's international cultural exchange activities are mainly carried out on the governmental level. A system to encourage individual artists to carry out international cultural activities has yet to be established.

"We need to think about the ideal way to encourage international cultural exchanges on the individual levels," says Gu. "Whether to establish national foundations, or to give support in terms of policy to let social sectors establish foundations to support cultural and artistic activities, is a topic that needs our research."