The Sixth "Meet in Beijing" Cultural Festival will open on April 28 and stage performances by 50 or more artistic troupes from over 20 countries and regions.

Pu Tong, a senior official with the Chinese Ministry of Culture, said in Beijing Thursday at a press conference that the month-long gala this time will feature diversified cultures including Mexico Program, Russian Culture Festival, China-France Culture Festival, Italian Culture Festival and the Chinese Art Festival.

During these cultural programs, Pu said, top-class artistic troupes will stage state-of-art performances and exhibitions that best represent their respective nationality and culture.

Zhang Yu, general manager of the China Art and Entertainment Group (CAEG) which is the chief organizer of "Meet in Beijing", said that a singing and dancing show by a troupe from west China's Guizhou Province will kick off "Meet in Beijing", showing audiences the abundant cultural heritage of Guizhou where many Chinese minority ethnic groups live.

Zhang noted that the China Central Ballet Troupe and the National Theater will also promote their original productions of recent years.

For the first "Meet in Beijing" will set up a specific section for drama-related performances. Drama troupes from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, Russia, France and Italy will perform traditional drama, modern drama, opera and pantomime.

Two dramas adapted from well-known Chinese female writer Zhang Ailing's best-seller novels, will be staged by the National Theater and the Hong Kong Theater.

The Sixth "Meet in Beijing" will also have outdoor performances and foreign troupes will be invited to suburban areas. Well-known experts and scholars in artistic fields will be invited to give speeches in universities and colleges.

"Meet in Beijing" is the national cultural festival and previous events have included more than 130 performances attracting an audience of millions.

(Xinhua News Agency March 24, 2006)