UK celebrates Chinese culture in festival's grand finale

The China Changing Festival will return to London's Southbank Centre for the final time in October for a four-day spectacular that will close the three-year event.

Launched in December 2016, the festival celebrates contemporary Chinese culture and its connection with the United Kingdom.

Work by some of the most innovative artists practicing in China will take center stage alongside leading and emerging UK-based Chinese and Southeast Asian artists.

Rachel Harris, creative producer of festival development at the Southbank Centre, said: "We are delighted to have been able to put together a vibrant four-day program for this final year of our three-year festival. China Changing Festival was originally launched in December 2016 and we are very excited to bring it back with an extended program, which celebrates artistic excellence and showcases exciting Chinese and UK partnerships."

BAFTA and Academy Award winning Tim Yip, who is known for his work on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, will present Cloud, a project especially commissioned for this year's China Changing Festival featuring large art installations tackling themes connected to the environment, consumerism, and looking into what young Londoners think about their future.

Returning to the UK for her first performance in 10 years is Beijing-based choreographer Wen Hui, with the London premier of dance docu-drama Red.

Another theater highlight for this year's China Changing Festival is The Injustice to Tou O, a supernatural tale of love and intrigue from the 13th century.

Visitors can also look forward to comedy, traditional and contemporary sounds, dance, calligraphy, food, family events, and topical panel discussions.

"With this festival, we hope to explore and give an insight into the breadth of China's creativity and creative influence," Harris said.

Singer-songwriter Emma-Lee Moss, who is better known to fans as "Emmy the Great" will share the story of her trip to China exploring music and performance. She will be joined on stage by Dfu, who is described as one of Xiamen's finest musicians.

Looking into contemporary Chinese culture, societal discourses, and literature, the festival's talks program will focus on The Rise of China's Feminist Resistance, with award-winning novelist Xia Jia leading a discussion about Chinese sci-fi.

There will also be an event dedicated to the works of Hong Kong writer Jin Yong, who wrote the popular Legends of the Condor Heroes series.

China Changing Festival starts on Oct 4.