More than 20 events, including concerts by renowned symphony orchestras from China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and other ASEAN countries, as well as high-level forums, will take place at a music festival that kicked off Wednesday evening in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The 13th China-ASEAN (Nanning) Music Festival is taking place in the region's capital city of Nanning, in coordination with the 2nd China-ASEAN (Nanning) Culture Month, the theme country of which is Vietnam this year.

The festival, running from Nov. 6 to 11, aims to highlight the unique ethnic music and cultural characteristics of China and Southeast Asia, while promoting cultural exchange among China, ASEAN countries and the rest of the world, fostering mutual learning and understanding.

Since its inception in 2012, the music festival has grown from a small-scale event featuring performances and seminars into one of the key platforms for contemporary Chinese music creation and presentation of new musical works, according to Zha Danming, an official at Guangxi Art University.

To date, the festival has hosted 179 concerts, showcasing 1,600 musical works by both domestic and international composers, along with 32 forums. A total of 2,085 musicians from nearly 50 countries have participated, including 879 from ASEAN countries.