The 17th Chinese Drama Festival opened Jiao Huang and Wei Minglun were awarded the honorary title of lifetime achievement dramatists

Wuhan, 9 Oct (Xinhua) -- On the evening of 9 October, the 17th Chinese Drama Festival with the theme of "Gathering Heroes in The City of Drama and Celebrating the New Era" officially opened in Wuhan in the golden autumn. Drama performance artist Jiao Huang and playwright Wei Minglun were awarded the honorary title of Lifetime Achievement Dramatist by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles.

Chen Yan, secretary of the sub-party group of the China Dramatists Association and vice chairman of the association, said at the opening ceremony that the brilliant life and lofty pursuit of the previous generations of artists who are both virtuous and artistic, and "drama is bigger than the sky", will become the spiritual nourishment for generations of theater workers to pass on the torch.

After the opening ceremony, the Peking Opera "Mother" created by the Wuhan Peking Opera House was brilliantly staged as the opening drama. Liu Ziwei, winner of the Chinese Drama Plum Blossom Award "Second Degree Plum" and president of the Wuhan Peking Opera Theatre, vividly interpreted the extraordinary life of Ge Jianhao, the revolutionary mother. The whole drama adopts symphonic accompaniment, and integrates modern choreography into the pure Peking Opera singing voice, presenting a very impactful viewing effect.

According to reports, this year's drama festival will last until October 28, during which 31 outstanding plays from all over the country will appear one after another, covering 14 opera genres such as Peking Opera, Kun Opera, Commentary, Yu Opera, Yue Opera, Huangmei Opera, Wu Opera, Gaojia Opera, Flower Drum Opera, as well as drama, opera, children's drama and other artistic disciplines.

The reporter learned that this year's theater festival will also hold the "Building a Chinese Theater Director System - Chinese Theater Directors Art Summit Forum" and "Shouzheng Innovation - Chinese Theater Performing Arts Summit Forum" to discuss many problems that need to be explored and solved in the development of China's theater.

The China Drama Festival is a national theatrical performance event founded in 1988 and held every two years. This year's Chinese Drama Festival is co-sponsored by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, the Chinese Dramatists Association, the Propaganda Department of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee of the Communist Party of China, and the Wuhan Municipal People's Government.