Homeland, a contemporary original piece of qinqiang, a popular folk Chinese opera of Northwest China, opened the art festival in Yan'an.

"Fine art works should be like sunshine from a blue sky and breeze in spring that will inspire minds, warm hearts, cultivate taste and clean up undesirable work styles," Xi said at a symposium that gathered some of the country's most renowned authors, actors, script writers and dancers.

His advice has been taken to heart, as Minister of Culture Luo Shugang remarked at the art festival's opening ceremony, which was held in Yan'an, also in Shaanxi province.

In his comments, the minister said: "This year's China Art Festival is the first large-scale national art event after President Xi's speech on arts. His remarks pointed out problems that exist in some art works. And during the past two years, many Chinese artists have based their works on people's lives and created fine art in line with socialist core values."

Meanwhile, Homeland, a contemporary original piece of qinqiang, a popular folk Chinese opera of Northwest China, opened the art festival in Yan'an, which was once the center of the Communist revolution.

Tickets for more than 100 different performances have been sold at discounted prices ranging from 20 yuan ($3) to 100 yuan to attract larger audiences.

Supporting the new thrust of the festival, Liu Yunzhi, the famed Chinese violinist, who is the vice-president of China National Opera House, says: "I have witnessed the development and changes in China's art scene and how success and ambition fulfillment need the support of the country."

chennan@chinadaily.com.cn

Liu, who performed at the first China Art Festival in 1987 as the principal violinist of China National Symphony Orchestra, says: "Artists should not be the slaves of the market. Art can seem quite distant without real life experience and connections with the audience."