The representatives of 2016 Silk Road International League of Theaters were awarded certificates at the signing ceremony held in Haicang District of Xiamen on Aug 1, 2016. [Photo/Chinaculture.org]

The signing ceremony for the 2016 Silk Road International League of Theaters was held in Haicang District of Xiamen on Monday afternoon, August 1. The representatives of the British Culture Exchange Association in China and theater authorities from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Romania and Mongolia attended the ceremony, signed the league contract and were awarded certificates. Meanwhile, the Xiamen Cangjiang Theater also celebrated its opening, becoming the league members’ first opened theater.

Before the signing ceremony, representatives and local officials participated in a dialogue centered on the Silk Road. Among them were Cao Fang, deputy director of the management committee of the Haicang District's Taiwan investment zone; Wang Long, deputy manager of the China Performing Arts Agency (CPAA) and senior administrators of the St. Petersburg State Capella Concert Hall, Belarus Janka Kupała Theater, Ukraine Odessa Opera and Dance Drama Theater, Mongolia National Opera and Dance Drama Theater, Romania Vasile Alecs and National Theater, and the Ukraine Kiev Arts Center.

Guests from home and abroad discussed how Silk Road culture has impacted economic development, and specifically, how Haicang and other harbor cities along the Maritime Silk Road should utilize that impact to seek economic promotion and international cultural communication.

As the starting port of the Maritime Silk Road, they agreed that Haicang is not only geographically advantaged but also economically privileged as "the specific economic zone", "Taiwan investment zone", "export processing zone", "bonded port" and "free trade experimental area".

The guests put high expectations on the Silk Road countries' arts communication featuring theater performances, as well as their harbor cities' economic and cultural interaction based on port trade. They also expressed passionate concern about future collaboration with the Xiamen Cang Jiang Theater.