CHINA FOCUS AT FRINGE
The 2018 China Focus event kicked off its second year at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe on Friday.
China Focus is Edinburgh Festival Fringe’s celebration of excellence in Chinese theater and drama production through high-quality art performances. This year, the event brings another Chinese feast for the senses with five excellent Chinese theater productions: A Life on the Silk Road, Tu Tu, A Chinese Bestiary, The Creation Myths of China and Painted Skin Return. Each is a contemporary show that blends Chinese tradition with the country’s contemporary creative trends.
At the opening ceremony, Pan Xinchun, Chinese consul general in Edinburgh, said that the “Focus on China” campaign is sure to lay a more solid foundation for the continued development of the “Golden Age” of Sino-British relations.
Councilor Donald Wilson, the convener of the City of Edinburgh Council’s Culture and Communities Committee, said that Edinburgh’s festivals, which attract 4.6 million people annually, are unrivalled anywhere else in the world.
He noted that the China Focus event will allow visitors to see more performances from China. He also stressed that he was looking forward to closer cooperation, interaction and communication between Edinburgh and Shanghai, and the UK and China in terms of culture and art.
China Focus is the result of a cooperation memo signed by the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture, Radio, Film & TV and the Festivals Edinburgh in November 2017, and a cooperation agreement between The Centre for China Shanghai International Arts Festival and the Festivals Edinburgh signed in April.
According to organizers, China Focus has proven itself to be a dynamic strategy and platform to encourage innovation in art industries in the UK and China. By bringing the most exquisite and thrilling selection of theater productions, the annual program will continue to grow as a mainstay of Edinburgh Fringe’s Chinese cultural showcase and strengthen existing relationships and build new links between individuals and organizations in the art and culture industries, as well as between governments.
Chinese theater productions will take part in the festival until August 27.