Xinjiang’s stage event Beautiful Homeland (Photo/www.xinjiangnet.com.cn)

There was a major play from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region on stage at the 10th China Art Festival, on Oct 20, in Shandong province, competing in the Wenhua Awards, www.xinjiangnet.com.cn has reported.

The work,Beautiful Homeland has many parts -Remove Your Veil, The Spirit of Heaven Rock, Love of Heaven Lake, The Eagle of Tianshan Mountain, The Fire of Heaven Lake City, The Cave of Heavenly Buddha, The Soul of Heavenly Desert, and Ode to the Homeland- meant to show the pluralistic, diverse nature of Xinjiang’s history and culture, customs, and natural beauty, through dance, music and lighting effects.

One of the performers, Di Lee Bayer Ai Zezi, commented, “We put a lot of time and effort into the play, and I think it presents a wonderful, fantastic audio-visual feast for audiences.”

Guo Fujian, the head of Urumqi Art Theater, explained that Beautiful Homeland set an example for other plays in ways to explore new paths for resource integration, marketing, and brand management.

Beautiful Homeland is directed by a famous artist, Men Wenyuan, and sponsored by the Urumqi municipal government, with a large number of choreographers, lyricists and lighting designers involved. It cost more than 3 million yuan ($488, 600) to put on.

The China Art Festival is an important national culture and arts pageant for people from all backgrounds from across the country. It had its debut, in Beijing, back in 1987, and is held every two years. It is sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and provincial or municipal government, and usually runs two to three weeks.

Edited by Roger Bradshaw