By Devon Zhang

On Jan. 7th, the signing ceremony designating Canada as the feature country of the 2016 Meet in Beijing Arts Festival was held in Beijing. Zhang Yu, chairman of the board of the China Arts and Entertainment Group and Nelly Ng, president of the Canadian Fund for International Understanding through Culture, signed a memorandum about the 2016 Meet in Beijing Arts Festival.

Meet in Beijing Arts Festival is a large-scale international festival hosted by China’s Ministry of Culture, Beijing Municipality Government and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. The festival was inaugurated in 2000 and is held annually.

With the principle of spreading Chinese traditional culture, introducing the essence of overseas arts as well as promoting cultural exchanges between China and the other parts of the world, the Meet in Beijing Arts Festival has established itself as China’s national-level artistic activity and topped its Asian competitors. Now it has turned into Beijing’s famous cultural brand.

Every year, there is one country to be chosen as the featured country and its most well known classic performance will be shown at the opening ceremony. Russia, Mexico and Australia are among previous featured countries. It is the turn of the United States in 2015.

Videographer: Wang Yuxi

Video: Devon Zhang

Producer: Flora Yue