The lotus symbolizes purity and grace. The Lotus Award, one of the highest awards of Chinese dance, was established in 1996 with the aim of helping create a world of Chinese dance as pure and graceful as the lotus flower.

The final competition for the Fourth Lotus Award (dramatic dance and poetic dance categories) will be held from February 29 to March 8 in Shanghai. Eight works will compete for the golden award.

The three most prominent ones are The Last Emperor by the Liaoning Ballet Company, Farewell to My Concubine by the Shanghai Oriental Youth Dancing Troupe and Reflections of Yunnan by the Yunnan Reflection Dance Ensemble, led by famous Chinese dancer Yang Liping.

The competition venues will be Shanghai's Majestic, Yihai, and Yunfeng Theatres as well as the Experimental Theatre of the Shanghai Academy of Drama.

Each of the eight works will have two performances before the awards including best work, choreography, dancer, stage design, original dance music and costume design are finally decided.

For the first time, the Fourth Lotus Award will also offer an award for dance theory and review.

Participating submissions cover a wide range including dance education, protection of dance resources, dance concepts and intellectual property associated with dance.

The award ceremony is scheduled for the Shanghai Grand Theatre on March 8. At the ceremony, the audience will also see a new dance version of A Dream of Red Mansions.

"We would like to further promote dance performances in Shanghai through this competition," said Sun Mingzhang, deputy chairman of the board of the Shanghai City Dance Co Ltd, which is staging the event.

The previous three Lotus Award competitions were held in Beijing, Ningbo of East China's Zhejiang Province and Kunming of Southwest China's Yunnan Province.

According to Sun, Shanghai is a major market for dance performances, and at the Shanghai Grand Theatre, the city's most prominent venue, about one-third of the programs are dance productions.