The seventh China Arts Festival, originally scheduled for east China's Zhejiang Province this October, will be postponed to the next autumn due to the influence of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) on theater building, performance selection, and foreign troupe invitations.
Sources with the Chinese Ministry of Culture (MOC) said the festival was the largest national artistic gala in China. So far, 40 theaters had been built or reconstructed for the festival, and nearly 100 new performers have applied to attend the awards competition. The organizers have invited over 10 overseas artistic troupes and nearly 400 artists, and started developing the ticket selling system specially designed for the festival.
An MOC official said the postponed festival would maintain the artistic standards of the previous festivals, and show the latest achievements in Chinese culture. The festival would also be included as a celebration of the 55th founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China.
(Xinhua News Agency June 24, 2003)
