City sets out plans for happy, inclusive Chinese New Year

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.

dujuan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 01/25/2017 page7)