A hundred cultural events will be held in 10 Chinese cities from next month during the "Festival of Sino-French Cultural Exchange", which is a follow-up program of the already concluded China-France Culture Year.

French Minister for Sport and Youth Jean-Francois Lamour said in Beijing Thursday that the festival would bring all the visual and performing arts to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Nanjing, Dalian, Wuhan, Xi'an, Qingdao and Kunming from April 20 to June 11.

Eight hundred French and Chinese young people would be offered exchange visits, he added.

Lamour said France-China cultural cooperation was based on mutual respect for cultural diversity.

From 2003 to 2005, the China-France Culture Year involved more than 1,000 projects in both countries and the festival included exhibitions, dance, chamber music, opera, jazz, children's choirs, video and film, as well as drama.

Lamour said joint productions by Chinese and French artists, such as the opera "Carmen", would also be staged during the upcoming cultural festival.

The festival will be a feature of the "Meet in Beijing" cultural festival, one of the most important spring arts festivals in Asia, organized by the Chinese government.

Pu Tong, an official of the Chinese Ministry of Culture, said "Meet in Beijing" offered opportunities for artists from around the world to exchange ideas.

(Xinhua News Agency April 7, 2006)