Qingdao officially launched the 2025 International Folk Art Season on the morning of June 22 to further boost its international influence as the 2024-25 SCO Tourism and Cultural Capital, strengthen international folk art exchanges, and showcase the city's fashionable, open image. Deputy Party Secretary of the CPC Qingdao Municipal Committee and Mayor of Qingdao Ren Gang was in attendance during the event.
The 2025 Qingdao International Folk Art Season represents a major measure to advance international cultural exchange. Organized by the Qingdao Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism and co-hosted by the China Mass Culture Association and the Qingdao Cultural Center, the event invites folk art troupes from Russia, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Thailand and more than ten leading domestic ensembles to perform. At the opening ceremony, the program featured the Russian folk dance Molodost, South Korean Mugo, and Sri Lanka's Sinhalese Dance and domestic highlights including Rhythms of Mountains and Seas: Mantis Fist, Pomegranate Blossoms and Your Qingdao, My Home.
This season breaks with traditional formats by staging "mini" art parades across multiple Qingdao landmarks, offering residents and visitors a cross-border cultural feast. From June 22 to 26, troupes will perform at Zhanqiao Pier, the Qingdao International Sailing Center, the Qingdao SCODA Pearl International Expo Center, Zhongshan Park and the Shilaoren Tourist Resort over five consecutive days, integrating spontaneous interactions with each setting to create a roadshow-like series of events across the city where each step reveals a new scene and cultural expression to allow audiences the chance to experience diverse folk-art traditions up close, turning the city itself into a venue where spectators become participants in an immersive, site-responsive presentation.
In addition to landmark performances, this mobile roadshow—dubbed the Qingdao Mass Culture Grand Gala—will continue extending into neighborhood streets and village squares to offer residents a variety of distinctive artistic presentations, creating a citywide carnival of shared enjoyment and participation where citizens and tourists can experience the charms of international folk art up close.
The event's staging further enhances Qingdao's image as an international city and establishes a new platform for promoting cultural exchanges under the Belt and Road Initiative
Vice Director of the Qingdao Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee Han Shouxin, and Deputy Mayor of Qingdao Zhao Yan were also present during the event.
