To accommodate to the demands for social and cultural development, and meet ever growing spiritual and cultural needs of the people in the new century, MOC has constructed platforms for long-term cultural exchanges with foreign countries. It has sponsored such activities as the Meet in Beijing, Beijing International Music Festival, Asia Art Festival, Shanghai International Art Festival, Shanghai International Film Festival, China International Folk Art Festival, China Wuqiao International Acrobatics Festival, Hangzhou International Animation and Comics Festival, Nanning International Folk Song Art Festival, Beijing International Book Exhibition, Qinghai Lake International Poem Festival, and Xinjiang International Folk Dance Festival. Among them, the Meet in Beijing activity has been held for 10 times.

The art festivals, which have integrated the ancient and innovation elements, and the Chinese and international elements, have developed into comprehensive festivals on a par with world famous counterparts, due to their rich contents, diversified novel styles, flexible arrangements and orientations towards the public. The Meet in Beijing 2008 activity was closely associated with the Olympic Games to attract 110 art troupes from 80 countries and regions. It was joined by nearly 10,000 artists and 3 million audiences to be the largest-scaled international cultural exchange activities since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. It served as a best proof to run the 2008 Beijing Olympics into People’s Olympics. These art festivals have worked as bridges for communications of Chinese and foreign people and artists. They have also laid a solid foundation to turn China into a leading country for international cultural activities in Asia.

In 2008, the 10th Asia Art Festival was held in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province. It attracted culture ministers from four Asian countries, diplomats from 22 countries in China, and 2,000 performers from art troupes of 20 foreign countries and 17 Chinese art troupes. The 13-day event hosted 956 cultural activities, drawing 3.9 million audiences from all walks of life.

The 2nd China Chengdu International Intangible Cultural Heritage Festival

In June 2009, the 2nd China Chengdu International Intangible Cultural Heritage Festival was held. It was the first time for UNESCO to participate in sponsoring a large cultural activity in China since it resumed its lawful seat in the United Nations in 1972. A total of 1,600 intangible cultural heritage items and 630 transmitters from 26 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities attended the event. It stimulated 5.42 billion yuan social consumption, and left active and far-reaching impacts at home and abroad.

These activities have become name brands for cultural exchanges at home and abroad. They have enhanced friendship among people of all countries, satisfied people’s cultural demands, enriched spiritual and cultural lives of local people, and improved the popularity of host cities. They have also enormously stepped up the levels of local places in cultural exchanges with foreign countries, explored the room for cultural exchanges with foreign partners, accelerated local cultural facility construction and cultural construction, forcefully promoted local construction of ideological progress and harmonious society, and realized wins for all parties.

Editor: Wen Yi and Yan Fei