China's artistic exchange grows

BEIJING－China continues opening up and cooperating with other countries in theatrical and artistic circles as rising income nurtures a growing consumer group that craves for better cultural offerings.

The National Center for the Performing Arts, with a landmark building in the very heart of Beijing, serves as a barometer of cultural life in the country.

Since its opening in December 2007, the NCPA has staged more than 10,000 commercial performances by over 300,000 Chinese and foreign artists and attracted more than 10 million audience members, making it one of the world's most important performing art centers.

In terms of opera, the NCPA has coproduced works with international opera houses, including the Royal Opera House in London, the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City and the Vienna State Opera.

It is also establishing its own production system and producing operas independently, says Wei Lanfen, director of the NCPA's production department.

It has also shot 29 opera films, including Turandot and Rickshaw Boy. Epic opera The Long March, an original production of the NCPA, has been performed overseas, while Marco Polo, a Chinese opera based on the story of the famous Italian explorer in the 13th century, premiered in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, in May 2018. It was also staged in Genoa, Italy, in September.

Besides opera, the NCPA's performance calendar is filled with various "festivals" all year long, ranging from dances and concerts to performances by top musicians and troupes worldwide.

"It's not that we deliberately seek a bigger foreign repertoire," says Wang Wei, director of the NCPA's performance department. "But rather, after four decades of opening up and development, China now boasts a genuinely diversified market demand for international artistic works."

According to Wang, classic works of William Shakespeare often sell out at the NCPA, but so do dramas in Japanese, German, and even Lithuanian.

So far, the NCPA has established relations of exchange with 134 foreign embassies in China and 447 international art institutions. It has formed partnerships with 34 overseas art establishments, inviting foreign artists to help popularize art education in China's communities, while also staging Chinese performances in 18 countries and regions.

In 2016, the China Arts and Entertainment Group initiated and founded the Silk Road International League of Theaters to strengthen cultural and artistic exchanges and cooperation between countries along the ancient Silk Road. Currently, the league consists of 124 members from 42 countries and regions, including 77 overseas members.

Over the past year, the league has successfully promoted 10 Chinese quality dramas to overseas markets such as the United States, France and Italy. Meanwhile, it has introduced several works from overseas members, including Malaysia, Lithuania and Ecuador.

Li Jinsheng, chairman of CAEG, says the league serves as a bridge to accelerate the link between Chinese and overseas performing markets. "We have new missions and undertakings since the new era raises new requirements for cultural exchanges," Li says.