Datong to host folk art festival

The 8th China Folk Art Festival will run from Sept 19-23 in Datong, northwestern Shanxi province.

The largest event of its kind, it will feature a wide range of performances and parades from more than 20 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, and seminars on preserving the nation's cultural heritage, besides the re-opening of five ancient Buddhist and Taoist compounds and the launch of tourism books, and a huge catalog, compiled by scholar Feng Jicai, on the ancient sculptural arts of Datong, says city mayor Geng Yanbo.

The festival coincides with the 9th China Yungang Grottoes Arts and Culture Festival, and the finals of the 10th China Mountain Flowers Folk Performance Awards.

A city rich in coal resources, Datong has a history that goes back more than 2,300 years and is known for its Yungang Grottoes, ancient mural paintings, and sculptures in a cluster of well-preserved Buddhist and Taoist structures.

High Five comes to China

The Unites States' preschool magazine Highlights High Five launched its Chinese edition in Beijing recently.

Targeting 2 to 6-year-olds, the magazine aims to help young children develop their language and social skills, as well as their emotional intelligence.

Established in 1946, Highlights High Five is a much-awarded magazine with the largest circulation in the US, selling 2 million copies per month, said editor-in-chief Kathleen Hayes.

Mulan Psalm thrills Moscow

Original Chinese opera Mulan Psalm was staged at the Kremlin Ballet Theater in Moscow recently, as an important cultural event of Russia's Year of Chinese Language.

Based on the famous Chinese folklore heroine who disguises herself as a man to take her father's place in the army, Mulan Psalm features Chinese renowned soprano Tan Jing.

Since its premiere in Beijing in 2004, the opera has wowed audiences at prestigious venues such as New York's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the Vienna State Opera House.

The opera will move to St. Petersburg on Sep 13.

An exhibition of photographic art

Exposure, a gigantic exhibition of photographic art works, prepared by the School of Photography of the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), will be held in late November at CAFA Museum.

Slated to run through Dec 10, the retrospective show will feature more over 100 cutting-edge photographic, video and installation works done by 30 veteran artists, all graduates of the school.

Also on display will be selected photographic works by graduating students from the academy, and numerous documents, videos, pictures, manuscripts, and teaching equipment to show the decade-long trajectory of the nation's largest and most influential photography school, says its dean Wang Chuan.

A Decade of Exposure, a mammoth work on the development of photographic art and photography education in China over the past decades, written by researcher Jiang Jiehong, will be released during the exhibition.

China Daily