Artists and performers from several countries dazzled audiences with their energetic on-stage displays as the 10th Silk Road International Arts Festival opened with a colorful carnival on Monday in the historic city of Xi'an in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
As a significant part of the month-long festival, the carnival emphasizes the importance of delivering art to the masses, and featured various activities that gathered 130 artists from Russia, the U.S., the UK, Canada, France, Spain, Serbia and Austria, as well as many local performers from Shaanxi.
The opening ceremony commenced with a stunning court dance and music from China's Tang Dynasty (618-907) period, followed by a range of captivating stage performances from both domestic and international artists, some of which spilled over into getting the audience involved.
"This year I'm here to perform with many instruments. Most of them are traditional instruments, ancient instruments from Serbia, but I'm performing them in a very modern way [while showcasing] the music and culture that is promoted by the Silk Road Festival," said Slobodan Tegula, a Serbian singer.
Local participants were also excited to demonstrate their own cultural charm while gracing the stage alongside fellow performers from around the globe.
"This dance is a grand ceremony from the Tang Dynasty for welcoming guests from afar. As a resident of Shaanxi Province, I'm excited and hopeful for more opportunities to perform alongside them, exchange cultures, and learn from each other to promote our national culture," said He Hui, an actress from the Shaanxi Opera House.
First held back in 2014, this year's Silk Road International Arts Festival, hosted by the provincial government of Shaanxi, will run until November 10.
The event has attracted artists from 15 countries and regions, while a total of 63 performances are scheduled alongside a series of activities including multiple shows and exhibitions, according to organizers.
Int'l performers create carnival atmosphere as Silk Road Arts Festival opens in Xi'an
China will introduce a series of incentive measures to father boost consumption in 2025, according to officials from the Office of the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs.
Next year, efforts will be made to promote steady growth in personal incomes through various measures, including increasing direct fiscal support for end-user consumption and enhancing social security levels.
China will promote employment for key groups; improve the mechanism for regular wage increases for workers and accelerate the establishment of a skill-oriented remuneration system.
Measures will be taken to appropriately increase the basic pensions for retirees, raise the basic pensions for urban and rural residents, enhance fiscal subsidies for urban and rural medical insurance, formulate policies to encourage childbirth, and focus on stabilizing the real estate and stock markets, aiming to boost personal income through multiple channels.
China will continue to optimize policies to promote consumption, improve related systems, and enhance the consumption environment.
Moreover, efforts will be made in adapting to changes in the consumption structure and enhancing the alignment between supply and demand.
Efforts should be accelerated to improve relevant support policies, encourage various business entities to provide diversified services, and focus on meeting residents' consumption needs in areas such as healthcare, elderly care, childcare, and domestic services.
Greater efforts are also needed to cultivate new forms of consumption in culture, tourism, sports, entertainment, and digital sectors.
Measures will be introduced to actively develop more diverse consumption scenarios and promote the growth of "debut economy" such as the launch of new products and new business models, ice and snow economy, and silver economy. New technologies such as virtual reality and artificial intelligence should be fully utilized to continue fostering innovative, cross-disciplinary, and integrated new consumption models.
Investment, as a vital component of domestic demand, still has significant potentials.
In order to improve investment efficiency, efforts should be made in three following aspects.
First, it is important to strengthen goal orientation and grasp the right investment direction.
Investment goals should focus on "bridging gaps and boosting long-term growth." In terms of infrastructure, greater support should be given to the implementation of major national strategies and the building up of security capacity in key areas.
The development of a new real estate development model will be accelerated, and urban renewal initiatives and the renovation of dilapidated housing will be further implemented.
In social welfare, efforts should be stepped up to address gaps in education, healthcare, and elderly care. In manufacturing, increased investment should be made in areas such as technological innovation, industrial upgrading, and green transformation.
Second, it is important to adopt multiple measures to stimulate investment vitality. Strengthening the coordination between the fiscal and finance sectors is crucial, as well as leveraging major projects and government investment to drive growth and implementing a new mechanism for public-private partnerships effectively.
It is necessary to stabilize the policy expectations and development confidence of private enterprises, in order to effectively invigorate private investment. Efforts should also be made to promote institutional opening in key areas, stabilizing and effectively attracting foreign investment.
Third, China will improve the decision-making mechanism and optimize the investment environment. It is important to plan major projects for the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030) at an early date, optimizing the investment approval process, addressing irregularities in investment promotion and correcting improper subsidies to create a fair competitive market environment and prevent distorted allocation of resources and inefficient investments.
Efforts should also be made to reduce various institutional transaction costs, increase financial support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and lower investment and financing costs.
China to further introduce incentive measures to boost consumption
