The Yi ethnic group started to celebrate their new year at the end of November. This year, a theater festival made the occasion even more jubilant, with a grand gala, street performances and hundreds of theater productions.

The destination at the foot of the Daliangshan Mountains and beside picturesque Qionghai Lake in Xichang, Sichuan province, welcomed its first-ever Daliangshan International Theater Festival from Nov 19 to Dec 1.

It was initiated by 23 artists from home and abroad, and featured 312 performances from eight countries and regions. The types of performances ranged from the traditional theater formats of plays and operas to more modern genres, such as experimental opera, physical theater and even puppetry using puppets made of ice.

The performances and events are categorized into three major sections. The "mountain" section features high-quality works in midsize and large-scale theaters, such as Red Mountain, a modern local opera production that staged its 100th performance at the festival.

The "lake" section values innovative experimental theater and openair works, and the "city" part mainly consists of academic and educational shows, forums and exhibitions that promote local theater development and foster cross-cultural theater exchanges.

The festival also has a specialized section for ethnic groups from across China to showcase performances of local intangible cultural heritage.

Pu Cunxin, a veteran Chinese actor and one of the founders of the festival, says that organizing this first edition was very challenging and time was tight, but the team braved the obstacles and made it happen.

What is important is to establish the platform first, to bring diverse theater productions to the city of Xichang and to bring more viewers into theaters.

Pu says: "I saw that most of the theatergoers in European festivals are elderly, but in China, theater audiences are relatively young. We need to bring more young people into the theater, not only to appreciate plays but also Chinese operas."

At the festival's grand ceremony on Nov 23, Pu performed with local children to showcase Yi culture.

Tobias Biancone, director-general of the International Theatre Institute, a global organization for the performing arts, says his eyes welled up with tears when he saw the children singing and dancing onstage with delight and dedication.

The gala performance illustrated to him young people's love for theater. He believes theater professionals need to ignite the fire of their passion.

"I think it's very important if you want to reach young people to, first of all, include them in your thinking. How do you want to do a festival? How you want to present your work? And choose the approach which works best," says Biancone, a poet and writer from Switzerland, who is also a festival organizer himself.

"What will help this region most is art education."

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