There is a popular Chinese saying, proclaiming "Guilin's landscape is the best under heaven". A city in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Guilin is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country.

Last year, it attracted hordes of theater lovers with its inaugural Guilin Festival, which took place from Dec 10-18.

In its second year, the festival will be held from Oct 27 to Nov 5, both indoors and outdoors, at different locations in the city, featuring live performances and screening of theatrical productions from home and abroad, as well as premieres of new works by Chinese directors, the festival's organizers announced in Beijing on July 5.

The festival is co-organized by the Central Academy of Drama. For the first time, the festival will offer a platform for programs under the World Theatre Education Alliance, which was co-initiated by the Central Academy of Drama in 2015 and aims to promote cultural exchange and the development of theater education among theater schools around the world.

"In 2022, the Guilin Festival was a great success, attracting more than 10,000 attendees from around the country and staging over 128 performances," says Liu Xinglin, a professor at the Central Academy of Drama and the artistic director of Guilin Festival.

"This year, the festival will continue to serve as a platform for global artists to meet and communicate, as well as a destination for theater lovers to enjoy a diversity of programs."

Liu adds that, besides theatrical productions, the festival will also feature music and dance performances, workshops, forums and street carnivals. Guilin is home not only to magnificent natural landscapes, but also to a diversified population of 28 ethnic groups, including Zhuang, Dong, Miao, Yao and Yi. Therefore, local artists will also be featured during the festival.

As one of the most important parts of the festival, the winners of the Global Young Chinese Elites Project of Theatre Director were also announced in Beijing on July 5. Aimed at supporting young talent interested in theatrical productions, the project attracted more than 300 applicants, who submitted 351 theatrical works since the project was launched in December. According to the organizers, the project was open to theater directors aged under 40, and 14 percent of the applicants are non-Chinese residents, making it a global event.

Ten theatrical works stood out among the competitors, which will be premiered in August, including Black Goat, an original Chinese play directed by two female artists Meng Run and Liu Ruoyi, which tells the story of a young train driver on the cross-border railway between China and Vietnam, and the Chinese play, In Cold Blood, directed by Liu Guangyuan, which tells the story of a divorced couple reuniting after their son dies in a car accident. Four from the 10 works will be staged during the festival.

Two leading Chinese theater directors, Huang Ying and Zhao Miao, were commissioned to create two new theatrical works for the festival.

Huang has adapted the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West into a contemporary Chinese play, of the same title. Zhao will stage a physical theater production, titled Mother Courage and Her Children, adapted from German dramatist Bertolt Brecht's play of the same name. These two theatrical works will be staged during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2023 in August and will also be staged during the Guilin Festival.

"Huang and Zhao showcase their different approaches to theater directing and present those works in different ways," says Yang Shuo, a member of the Guilin Festival's organizing committee, who also teaches at the Central Academy of Drama. "What they share in common is that they both integrate a Chinese aesthetic. During the Guilin Festival, they will share their stories with the audience and young theater talent."

According to Hao Rong, president of the Central Academy of Drama, Guilin has a long history of theater and the school also has a deep connection with the city.

Ouyang Yuqian, renowned Chinese playwright and director, who was the first president of the Central Academy of Drama, lived and worked in Guilin. In 1940, he initiated the Guangxi Provincial Art Center, one of the first professional theaters in China for staging plays, and worked as its first president. He promoted and rejuvenated Guiju Opera, a traditional Chinese form of opera that originated in Guilin during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and wrote Guiju Opera plays.

In 1944, Ouyang, along with Tian Han, his longtime friend and dramatist, launched the Exhibition of Dramatic Arts, which, in nearly 100 days, gathered more than 30 theater companies and over 1,000 theater artists, staging over 170 plays. The event was a phenomenon and was very well-received by audiences, especially in the way it encouraged people during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45).

"The experience of going to live theater is inspiring and exciting," says Hao. "We want to build Guilin Festival into an event for people to enjoy shows, as well as for those who hope to start their careers in theater."

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