Artists from the quaint hilly rural town of Songzhuang will open their art studios and homes, and ethnic and folk singers in parades and performances will be entertaining visitors for an upcoming culture and arts festival.
Running from October 22-26, the festival is jointly sponsored by the Development Center of Chinese Ethnic and Folk Culture and Arts under the Ministry of Culture, the Songzhuang Township Government, and the Songzhuang Art Promotion Society.
Major activities include the Third All China Ethnic and Folk Singers Challenge, "The Songzhuang Way" open-air art exhibitions, Chinese ethnic and folk song and dance parades and performances, and a trade fair that sells local products and attracts investment in the Xiaopu Village of Songzhuang.
The ethnic and folk singers challenge draws about 60 singers from 56 ethnic groups, including several singers of the Amei tribe of the Gaoshan ethnic group from Taiwan.
After six rounds of contests in the Tongzhou Auditorium, the final-stage of the contest will be held at the Cultural Palace of the Nationalities on the evening of October 26 in downtown Beijing.
"The Songzhuang Way" open-air art exhibitions, designed mainly for contemporary Chinese art, will be running along the two-kilometer main road in the Xiaopu Village of Songzhuang. About 300 Songzhuang-based artists have been invited to put at least 600 of their works on show for visitors from home and abroad.
Also running at the Xiaopu Village of Songzhuang will be a group exhibition of works by some contemporary Chinese ink painting masters.
Songzhuang is about a 30-minute drive from downtown Beijing, surrounded with hills, rivers and plains.
Since the mid-1990s, at least 500 artists, art dealers, and collectors, critics and curators from home and abroad have settled in the 47 villages under the Songzhuang Township, particularly in the Xiaopu Village. Today Songzhuang is widely recognized as one of the largest original artists' communities in China, and probably in the whole world.
(China Daily October 21, 2005)
