Nation sets out to change village landscape

Arts events and festivals aim to spark rural revival

The Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial, the world's largest art festival that spans 200 villages in northwestern Japan's Niigata prefecture, closed at the end of last month, but its influence is still being felt in China.

Fram Kitagawa, the festival's founder, received more than 10 invitations from China recently to give lectures on the festival, which is held every three years and has attracted more than 2.3 million visitors to the remote mountainous area since 2000.