The China Art Festival is a major nationwide mass culture and art festival. In autumn 1987, the 1st China Art Festival was held in Beijing under the approval of the Chinese government. From then it became a 15- to 20-day event hosted every three years.

Besides, the 9th China Art Festival, for the first time, organized the "China Guangzhou Excellent Stage Performance Fair". The six-day event attracted 506 arts troupes and a variety of excellent domestic plays. Sixty six companies contributed a total of more than 177 million yuan, which commercialized the stage performance. The 9th China Art Festival also sent the famous plays and stars to factories, towns, communities, military camps and schools to spread entertainment to different communities. Thirty one professional art troupes, such as the General Political Opera Troupe, went to the countryside to put on a high-caliber art party for free.