The homepage of the 14th Asia Arts Festival's official website features the logo and bright colors. [Photo/2015art.cn]

Sponsored by China's Ministry of Culture, the festival was first held in Beijing in 1998. Since then, successive festivals have been conducted in different cities across the country. This year's festival will run between Nov 8-15, with the Fujian provincial people's government acting as co-sponsors. The co-organizers will be the Fujian provincial Department of Culture and the Quanzhou municipal government.

Aside from the online competition for the logo and mascot, there were also a global photography and video contest dubbed "Just Share It — Explore the Beauty of Asian Arts and Culture"; an international poster creation competition; an online expo on Quanzhou art and special coverage of the online event on people.com.cn.

Over the years, the Asian Arts Festival has become an increasingly popular occasion for cultural exchanges within the wider Asia region. It has been marked by growing domestic and overseas participation and the showcasing of a number of artistic creations that have helped to promote appreciation of Asia's rich cultural legacy.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Culture is inviting contestants from across the globe to participate in the Just Share It contest, which aims to explore the beauty of Asian arts and culture.

Recognized by UNESCO as the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road, Quanzhou boasts a rich local culture, which includes glove puppetry and Nanyin music, a traditional opera sung in the Minnan (southern Fujian) dialect that has existed for more than 1,000 years.

Along with South Korea's Gwangju city and Japan's Yokohama city, Quanzhou was designated as an East Asia City of Culture during the annual trilateral Ministerial Conference on Culture held in Gwangju in September 2013.