Cultural cause

"The honor is a prize for my years on the stage, and also a requirement for my artistic creation in the future. I can see the vigor of many young people in the theater now, and I know it will have a better future," Liu says.

Recalling his past years, Wang says his artistic creation mainly included directing foreign classics like Jane Eyre, Burnt Deeply and Taking leave, and original dramas related to Chinese history and traditional culture, like The Prince of Lanling.

"I believe art comes from one's heart, and can reach the others' hearts, so it is a heart-to-heart conversation with rich emotions and profound thoughts. Thanks to the theater, I gained the opportunity to insist on my original aspiration and put my artistic concept into practice," says Wang.

Hu Heping, the minister of culture and tourism, extended President Xi Jinping's encouragement to artists of the theater during the seminar. Hu commended the theater's role in promoting a number of high-quality dramas and talented people, and the development of cultural and artistic causes.

He encouraged people of the theater to tell a better story of China with their efforts and emotions, create more works that live up to the times and the people, and make more contribution to enriching people's spiritual life and building China into a socialist cultural power.

An exhibition on the history of the theater also kicked off there on Dec 25.