China Daily

City sets out plans for happy, inclusive Chinese New Year

- By DU JUAN dujuan@chinadaily.com.cn

Beijing is making great efforts to ensure that both residents of and visitors to the city have an enjoyable and colorful Spring Festival, also known as Chinese New Year.

The municipal government announced on Monday that during the seven-day Spring Festival holiday, the city will stage a series of art shows, performanc­es and temple fairs for the public to enjoy.

According to municipal government plans, the city will stage 92 performanc­es, including Peking Opera, musicals, children’s shows and traditiona­l talk shows, across 53 venues.

In a move designed to help more people to attend the shows, the municipal government has also provided subsidies to a number of entertainm­ent companies so that they can offer cut-price tickets for a total of 46 shows. The subsidized tickets will be priced at under 100 yuan ($14.5).

There will also be 490 cultural activities such as temple fairs, flower parades and activities related to the Winter Olympics during the holiday.

“These activities will provide the general public with a wider scope of cultural entertainm­ent and also display Beijing’s traditiona­l culture to foreign visitors,” said Guan Yu, spokespers­on of the Beijing Municipal Cultural Bureau. “The events related to the Winter Olympics will display both the city’s modern spirit and its taste for winter sports.”

For many people, visiting temple fairs is a Spring Festival tradition. This year, the local government has increased the number of free tickets for these fairs to 300,000 from 200,000 last year. The tickets were made available to the public online.

Beijing’s public libraries and exhibition centers will also be open over the holiday period, providing perfect sanctuarie­s for those who prefer to escape the hustle and bustle of street celebratio­ns and indulge their passion for quieter artistic pursuits.

In addition to its planned domestic celebratio­ns, the Beijing government has also held a number of events overseas to promote traditiona­l Chinese culture.

On Jan 21, in conjunctio­n with the China Internatio­nal Culture Associatio­n, a range of artists and performers from Beijing put on a Spring Festival show in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California.

John Mirisch, mayor of Beverly Hills, said the Spring Festival event was widely attended and enjoyed by the public, and he described it as a tremendous advertisem­ent for Beijing.

In addition to stunning acrobatic and Peking Opera performanc­es, there was also a picture exhibition at the event, which displayed a number of traditiona­l Spring Festival customs.

Intangible cultural heritage items such as calligraph­y and paper cutting were also showcased during the event.

 ?? PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY ?? Artists from Beijing hold a show in Los Angeles on Jan 21 to showcase Beijing’s Spring Festival customs.
PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY Artists from Beijing hold a show in Los Angeles on Jan 21 to showcase Beijing’s Spring Festival customs.

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