Chinese arts festival takes root and flourishes

There is singing and music. Fifty musicians from the Shandong Philharmonic National Orchestra, as well as world renowned tenor Yijie Shi, will perform both Eastern and Western masterpieces.

For younger audiences, "The Dragon Child", a stage play by the China National Theatre for Children, is scheduled for Oct 12 and 13, while two sitcoms, "Single Lady" and "Married to Budget Husband", will target the millennial generation.

As for art exhibitions, the festival has lined up a weeklong painting exhibition: The Backbone of the Pacific Railroad, which will open to the public on Sept 9 in San Francisco, commemorating the contributions and sacrifices early Chinese immigrants made toward America's prosperity and development.

A month-long exhibition on Han Dynasty portraiture will be held in Seattle, and an exhibition on 5,000 years of Chinese characters displaying the richness of traditional Chinese painting, calligraphy and seal engraving is scheduled for Oct 6 in Las Vegas.

Arts and cultural exchanges can enhance people-to-people understanding and friendship, said Zhang Ruwei, founder of the Shandong Friendship Association, who also oversees the execution of a seminar and exhibition on Confucius, one segment of the China Arts Festival.

"Regardless of skin color, language or ethnic background, people around the world share similar values and all pursue happiness, peace and harmony," said Zhang. "Through learning and exercising doctrines of Confucius, for example, 'Man of dignity keeps harmony but seeks no oneness' might help spread the idea of peaceful co-existence."