106 countries and regions join the 4th Silk Road International Art Festival

The fourth Silk Road International Art Festival will be held for 15 days in Shaanxi province from Sept. 7. A total of 106 countries and regions will participate in a number of cultural and artistic activities at the festival.

As a key "Belt and Road" project, the festival is jointly organized by the Ministry of Culture and the Shaanxi Provincial People's government. From 2014 to 2016, three sessions of the Silk Road International Arts Festival have been successfully held. With concern and support from all social circles, members have expanded from 30 in the first session to 80 in the third session.

"We will fully utilize the Shaanxi-based festival to integrate Chinese and foreign forms of art," Liu Kuanren, head of the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Culture, said.

"Performances with Shaanxi elements in different languages will bring audience great enjoyment and enable more people to know about our culture."

Being unique, continual and global are three features of the festival. Being unique means it is the only international art festival related to the Silk Road culture, which can set and decide on awards through discussion in China. Being continual reflects in that the festival is held annually. Joint performances by artists from different countries and cities demonstrate its internationalism.

The festival is divided into performances, art exhibitions, cultural forums and road shows. Artists from across 23 countries and regions, as well as 18 provinces, will bring 184 shows in total. Road show is a highlight for the festival. Organizers will arrange more than 70 professional performers to offer more than 100 shows at factories, mines, communities and schools.