The 6th Meet in Beijing Arts Festival

The Meet in Beijing Arts Festival is a large-scale international festival hosted by the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) and the People's Government of Beijing Municipality. The festival promotes Chinese Culture by bringing top quality foreign artists to Beijing and which strengthens cultural exchanges. The Meet in Beijing Arts Festival has established itself as one of China's state-of-art cultural events by featuring cultural universality and diversity. Since its inauguration in 2000, the festival has been held five times, successfully staging 400 performances and exhibitions by more than 100 international artistic troupes that have been viewed by millions of people nationwide.

Famous troupes that have performed include The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Royal Shakespeare Company, Valery Gergiev, Placido Domingo, Tina Arena and the musical production Cats.

The one-month-long 6th Meet in Beijing Arts Festival will take place from April 30 to May 27, 2006. The theme of this year is The People's Festivals and is composed of theatre performances, outdoor activities and art exhibitions. Highlights include the festival's guest country, Mexico, the Sino-French Cultural Exchange Festival, the Italian Cultural Festival, the Russian Culture Festival and the Chinese Arts Sector. The 2006 session will feature more than 50 productions with at least 1,500 performers. A total of one-half-million people are expected to attend the events.