Beijing's National Center for the Performing Arts is hosting a folk song expo week, bringing together folk music artists from around the world, to entertain with the music indigenous in their homeland.

During the coming six days, thirty eight folk groups from twenty four countries will showcase colorful song and dance legacies to the audiences at the National Center. The theater has devoted all its halls to the folk expo. Several folk music shows are being held simultaneously, to give the crowd more chances to enjoy the entertainment. A total of fifty-six folk concerts will be held during the week. The expo will also extend its influence outside the theater, bringing the artists to schools and communities.

Deng Yijiang, the vice director of the National Center for the Performing Arts, said, This is our first out-of-the-theater move, because of capacity limits. We can house five thousand audience members every night. But that's not enough. Some people don't have the time or opportunity to walk in to the theater. So we will come to them. We want to popularize wonderful art shows.

The International Folk Song Week will be held once every two years. It aims to be a platform for folk artists from around the world to communicate and cooperate.

(CCTV October 6, 2008)