Not entirely traditional, rich in modern perspectives: 23rd China Shanghai International Arts Festival to kick off

Expected to bring a feast presented by global artists, the 23rd China Shanghai International Arts Festival (CSIAF) is scheduled to be held between October 18 and November 17 this year. This annual one-month festival in Shanghai serves as a vibrant platform for artistic exchanges and showcasing outstanding Chinese literary and artistic works.

The festival will present more than 700 art-themed events this year, including 168 main performances, CSIAF Center President Li Ming said.

“The world’s top artists and troupes will gather [in Shanghai], with nearly 5,000 artists from 36 countries and regions participating in this grand event,” Li said at a press conference on Monday.

Approximately 60 percent of the performances will be presented by international artists this year.

The opening and closing ceremony performances are respectively the highly anticipated dance drama Azure After the Rain and symphony concert Tugan Sokhiev, Haochen Zhang and Münchner Philharmoniker. 

Azure After the Rain by the Shanghai Dance Theatre highlights the spiritual world and patriotic sentiments of the renowned ancient Chinese female poet Li Qingzhao (1084-1155). Through the combination of music, dance and stage art, this dance drama creates a concise, implicit and profound aesthetic atmosphere of China’s Song Dynasty (960-1279), showcasing the outstanding charm of traditional Chinese culture.

“In the process of creation, we looked for many traditional cultural and aesthetic elements, trying hard to enable the audience to experience the exquisite and elegant life of ancient Chinese literati,” famous dancer Wang Jiajun told the Global Times after the press conference.

Wang will act as Li’s husband Zhao Mingcheng in Azure After the Rain. He shared that there are some details in the dance drama that contain beautiful Chinese intangible cultural heritage and folk customs. “But it’s not entirely traditional; we do it from a modern perspective,” said Wang.

Including Azure After the Rain, numerous performances with Chinese cultural themes will be presented at the 23rd CSIAF, showing the cultural confidence of Chinese people and conveying the romantic spirit of Chinese culture from various perspectives, such as the drama Beneath the Red Banner.

Beneath the Red Banner by Beijing People’s Art Theatre is adapted from a semi-autobiographical novel by Chinese novelist and dramatist Shu Qingchun, known by his penname Lao She. This drama tells the story of the great changes that took place during the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), showing the spirit of the Chinese nation in that era through stories of an individual and his family.

“I felt flattered when they told me that I would play Lao She in the drama,” recalled Pu Cunxin, one the most celebrated actors in China.

“For this drama, I hope to get closer to Lao She’s inner world and bring the audience’s heart to his side. And [I hope that we can] tell some history of the Chinese nation to our future generations in an artistic way,” he told the Global Times.