Wudang Mountain plays host to ballad contest

The 6th Chinese Ballad Contest is set to take place on Wudang Mountain, in Hubei province on Sept 7, sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and the provincial government.

The purpose of the contest is to promote folk culture and enrich people’s lives in their spare time. It will have four parts: a preliminary heat, a quarter-final, the finals and an awards ceremony. The contestants will have to sing traditional ballads, including farmers’ songs, fishermen’s songs and other ethnic songs.

For the finale, at the awards ceremony, the audience will be given a feast of genuine ballads, which will be accompanied by the following.

1. For openers, a gigantic seal, a symbol of Chinese culture, will suddenly descend from out of the sky above, casting its shadow -- the emblem of this contest -- onto the stage.

2. There will be special trophies for the winners, made out of clay from Yunnan province, in five colors, embodying the Wudang culture and Chinese civilization generally.

3. Wudang culture will be fully represented at the ceremony, by integrating it with folk ballads from all across the country.

4. And there will be famous artists, stars, balladeers, and bands up on stage striking a pose and giving their best performance.

5. The stage itself is designed as a place for artists to perform and a virtual backdrop where huge Wudang buildings appear. It is a multi-dimensional stage so that people can be seen dancing and singing on the ground, on water, and in the air.

Edited by Fu Bo and Roger