China's National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) immersed the audience in colorful cultural experiences with 15 performances and 50 activities in a recent art festival celebrating the 17th anniversary of the center. The audience admired charming symphony concerts, experienced intangible cultural heritage handicraft making, and participated in interactive performances during the festival. Exquisite performances like dance flash mobs, Yunnan intangible cultural heritage song and dance performance and accordion quintet were staged at the open areas, along with complementing activities such as the book fair, cultural and creative fair, and intangible cultural heritage skill demonstrations. "We will also organize workshops, jazz performances and other activities, along with some surprise events for the audience to explore, like behind-the-stage visits," said Zhu Jing, deputy director of the NCPA. This year's art festival featured a specially designed event, enabling the audience to experience the technological power behind artistic creation through programs using 360-degree photography, AI composition and AR animation. "For example, we launched the 'Everyone can be a conductor' program this year, using the motion sensing technology and music mapping technology. Through the application of artificial intelligence, ordinary audience members are able to step onto the conductor's podium and experience what it's like to be a conductor themselves," said Sheng Lei, an exhibtion planner at the NCPA. In 2024, NCPA's 11 theaters have hosted 1,200 performances, reaching new heights of performance scale. Since its establishment 17 years ago, the NCPA has created 112 plays, with over 14.2 million audience members watching the performances at the venue.
NCPA stages performances, activities to enrich cultural experiences for audience
The frequent group visits led by Ma Ying-jeou, former chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang, to the mainland have contributed to fostering a warmer atmosphere in cross-Strait relations.
Ma led a group of youth from Taiwan visited Heilongjiang Province in the northwest and Sichuan Province in the southwest from December 18 to 26, marking his third group visit to the mainland in the past two years.
Ahead of the visit, a 94-year-old Anti-Japanese War veteran wrote a sincere letter after learning that Ma would visit the Exhibition Hall of Evidence of Crime Committed by Unit 731 of the Japanese aggressor troops.
In the message, Wang Jitang, the veteran, expressed his support for Ma's commitment to the "1992 Consensus" and the advancement of peaceful cross-Strait relations.
"As a veteran of the War of the Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the history I personally experienced is also a shared pain and struggle for compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are of a same family. We are like relatives. I hope that young friends in Taiwan, like Ma, will treat the mainland as their own home, visit often as if visiting relatives, and frequently engage with each other," Wang said.
Hsiao Hsu-tsen, executive director of the Taiwan-based Ma Ying-jeou Culture and Education Foundation, said he was deeply moved by Wang's sincere wish.
"History must never be forgotten. Through such on-site visits and study, we need to experience and appreciate how our forefathers sacrificed themselves to protect our homeland and defend our country," Hsiao said. When talking about the purpose of the current group visit, Ma emphasized the crucial importance of mutual exchanges between young people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait. He expressed the hope to build a bridge for peace between the two sides which transcends political challenges, and which conveys the shared desire of the people on both sides for communication.
Many people from the both sides of the Taiwan Strait agree that the more tense cross-Strait relations become, the more vital it is to sustain exchanges.
Ma Ying-jeou's frequent group visits to mainland enhance warmth in cross-Strait relations
