30% events in Helsinki Festival will be from China

The 2015 Helsinki Festival Focus China Press Conference took place on August 5 at the National Museum of China. [Photo by Wang Shen/Xinhua]

Among the programs, there are those that are already well-known to the world, like The Red Detachment of Women performed by National Ballet of China and Baishezhuan (Madam White Snake) - a 1,000-year legend of the kind and attractive Madam Baisuzhen, performed by North Kunqu Opera Theater.

One special delight of the Focus China project would be combining the local Finnish element with the Chinese traditions, which shows the creativity of the performances. The Beijing opera Tiaohuache, for example, will be performed in Finnish.

"We will have our first overseas master graduate Antti Silvennoinen perform the Beijing opera Tiaohuache," said Batu, head of Academy of Traditional Chinese Opera. He added that the performance is not achieved by going out of the way as he sees more Finnish youngsters are coming to China to learn opera in the academy.

"This is the window for us to learn about China in a comprehensive way," said Tarja Kangaskorte, deputy head at Finnish embassy in Beijing. She said she hopes the Focus China project will further promote "people-to-people exchanges" between the two countries.

Helsinki Festival, established in 1968, is an important art festival in Europe, also the biggest in Northern Europe. Held in middle and late August, it aims to promote art to citizens. It attracts about 200, 000 audiences every year.

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