More than 500 Chinese artists will bring the best of ancient Chinese sculptures, original folk arts, avant-garde music, dance, plays and paintings to Berlin next month.

Chinese ornaments will line the streets of Unten den Linden and Kurfuerstendamm, as well as adorn the Gate of Brandenburger, while Chinese fireworks will illuminate the evenings, as Chinese artists aim to enliven the China Festival - the major event during the Berlin Asia-Pacific Week between September 17-30.

Rare Buddhist sculptures, dating from 500 to 900 AD, will make their international debut at the Altes Museum - a highlight of the festival - which will also include a series of seminars on China's economic development.

Hand-picked by the German organizers, the sculptures - unearthed in 1996 in the ruins of the Longxing Temple in Qingzhou, East China's Shandong Province - have been considered by many experts and archaeologists as representing the best works of the Oriental Buddhist's stone carving in Chinese history.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin and German President Johannes Rau have served as the honorary guardians of the rare relics.

Zhao Qizheng, minister of Information Office under the State Council, said the cultural presentations during the China Festival in Berlin have been carefully selected.

The classical and traditional folk arts testify to the rich cultural legacy of the Chinese, Zhao said.

(China Daily 08/29/2001)