REGIONAL> Culture Tourism
Nanning gears up for International Folk Song Festival
By Huo Yan and Huang Feifei (China Daily Guangxi Bureau)
Updated: 2009-09-17 16:31

The 2009 Nanning International Folk Song Festival is set to begin on October 20 in Nanning, south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

The area is home to a variety of ethnic minorities including the Zhuang, Miao, Yao, Hui, Dong, Mulao and Maonan.

"The festival has been changing since we launched it in 1999," said Xiao Yingzi, vice mayor of Nanning. "By promoting the image of Nanning, people nationwide and even worldwide will remember the region as a paradise of folk songs," he added.

According to Xiao, this year's festival will feature overseas art troupe performances and various stages open to folk art ensembles, which will be set up in parks and squares throughout the city.

Other activities to be held during the run of the festival include the Southeast Asia Tourism and Delicacy Festival, the Nanning Happy Parade, and the Nanning Investment and Trade Fair.

The Tourism and Delicacy Festival, opening a few day's earlier on October 17 and ending on October 25, will feature a world wine exhibition and an appraisal event of Nanning's eating and drinking establishments.

The first Nanning Happy Parade will be just like a foreign carnival parade，with 20 floats and more than 30 teams and thousands of actors performing. And the Nanning Investment and Trade Fair will focus on Nanning's investment climate, projects and latest policies, as well as the city's competitive products and many enterprises.