In addition, two academic forums were held, and attended by industry representatives as well as Chinese and foreign scholars and experts. The first discussed the question: “How shall guzheng music and art convey traditions and lead the trend?” The second forum discussed how to develop “the performing art of the guzheng into a cultural and creative industry.”
The concert ticket sales have also done well, an unnamed representative of one of the festival’s sponsors said. “The music festival is not merely for profit, but meant to provide a better platform for exchange among guzheng lovers. There are more young people who love and learn the instrument. Statistics show that the number of people taking part in guzheng exams nationwide is now only second to the piano.…” the sponsor said, noting that 80 percent of the tickets to several performances in the festival, including Wang Zhongshan’s special guzheng concert and the Xie Tianxiao guzheng and rock and roll concert, have already been sold.
The music festival is sponsored by Beijing Municipal Commission of Ethnic Affairs and Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture, organized by Beijing national cultural exchange center, and co-sponsored by the Central Conservatory of Music, China Conservatory and the Shanghai No. 1 National Musical Instruments Factory. It has been listed as a national cultural project of Beijing, and was organized to help celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
Editor: Shi Liwei