On August 20, Yichang Municipal Government announced the exciting news in Wuhan that the 9th China International Folk Art Festival will be held in Yichang from September 14 to September 22.

　　This Festival will be sponsored by China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and Hubei Provincial Government, and be hosted by Hubei Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles and Yichang Government. It is informed that 302 artists, in varied art groups from 13 countries in five continents, will present an art feast for us in the festival.

　　It is also learned that regular guests like organizations from Russia, America, Mongolia, Egypt, Czech Republic, Mexico and many new guests, such as the Dance Group of Ethiopian National Theatre, Pakistan National Performing Arts Group, Senegal African Dance Group, Trinidad and Tobago National Steel Symphony Orchestra are all invited this time. Some of the groups have long history and enjoy world-wide reputation, such as Egyptian Tanoura Dance Group, Mexico Chorus, Poland National Arts Group, Russian National Model Arts Group, and some are young arts organizations, such as Trinidad and Tobago National Steel Symphony Orchestra and American Utah Valley State College Ballroomdancing Group.

　　China International Folk Art Festival, the activity held in China to promote the people-to-people communication for international folk arts, is approved by the State Council and hosted by China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the city selected. Since 1990, the festival activity has been successfully held eight times for every three years, and it is estimated that over 3,000 artists from 114 folk arts groups in more than 70 countries participated in and the number of audience has amounted to millions. (Reporter Ai Qiping)