China has been immersing itself in culture and arts in the first year of the 21st century.

While addressing the on-going seventh National Congress of China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (CFLAC) and the sixth National Congress of the Chinese Writers' Association, Zhou Weizhi, President of China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, said a strong contingent of talented people are emerging from fields such as drama, film, calligraphy, along with their galaxy of well- received works.

Beijing-based Chinese writer Liu Heng said: "In today's society, fresh things keep coming up, and tradition is being carried on and developed, so artists have a great variety of subjects for creative writing."

A TV program based on Liu's novel about the contented life of an ordinary Beijing resident has been a hit with audiences.

Chinese writers have been depicting the glorious reality in China in all forms of literary creations, many of which have become best sellers, while artists, urged on by cultural globalization, are reviewing the Chinese nation and its traditional culture in hope of blending the characteristics of the time and the new into their creative works.

A growing number of film-makers have won prizes in domestic and international competitions, while some young performers choose to expand their careers at Hollywood.

TV is developing at an unprecedented rate today. President Zhou Weizhi said that 10,000 TV plays, as well as many other documentary and entertainment TV programs are produced each year to give ordinary Chinese much to amuse themselves with.

A devotion to creating a great national spirit and character is the source of creative inspiration for most artists.

"In changing times, artists should have a sense of mission, a sense of justice and care for the people and things around them," said Xie Hailong, a photographer well-known for her picture of dropout schoolgirl.

The picture taken by Xie is now used as a logo by the country's famous Project Hope, a program designed to help bring back many school dropouts in the country's poverty-stricken rural areas.

The first year of the new century has also seen Chinese culture and arts blending peacefully with those from western countries.

Story-telling and comic dialogues, two traditional forms of entertainment in China, are played on the same band of radio as modern western pop music.

Chinese ballet troupes have experimented with classical western art forms to reproduce "Butterfly Lovers", China's most famous romantic music.

(People's Daily December 21, 2001)