China International Folk Art Festival

　　China International Folk Art Festival（CIFAF）, sponsored by China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (CFLAC), is the only large-scale international folk art festival in China. Held once every three years, the festival is very popular among people from all walks of life.

　　China International Folk Art Festival has its own clear purpose, theme and feature:

　　Purpose:
　　　-- to develop and exchange folk art of various countries;
　　　-- to enliven and enrich the cultural life of the masses;
　　　-- to show the image of the reform and opening-up in our country;
　　　-- to promote the friendship and peace among the countries in the world.

　　Theme:
　　　-- to develop folk art and to promote the friendship and peace.

　　Feature:
　　　-- international, national, folk and mass characters.

　　Started from 1990, CIFAF has been held for six times so far. Sponsored by CFLAC and co-hosted by nearly 30 cities in China, 83 folk song and dance troupes from 45 counties with more than 2,100 artists have been invited to participate in the festival. The performances were showed in gymnasiums, theatres, public squares and parks, as well as the factories, mines, schools, rural areas, etc.

　　There are two types of performances, elite professional performances and amateur non-professional performances, which both demonstrate the art of folk songs and dances with diversified features from different countries. All performances were lively telecasted by China Central TV as well as some local TV stations to 1.3 billion Chinese people throughout the country.

　　Those artists of great achievements in the field of folk art are awarded with the Art Achievement Gold Cup of CIFAF. There are also the Art Friendship Gold Cup, the Art Friendship Silver Cup and the Art Friendship Bronze Cup to be awarded to those art troupes upon their excellent performances at the festival.

　　Due to the support of the Chinese government and the society as well as the active participation of the artists and art organizations from all over the world, CIFAF has been held successfully and perfectly for six times, assisting the non-profit principle all the time. All income of the performance during a festival goes to the festival itself.

　　The 7th China International Folk Art Festival was held from September 25 to October 6, 2007 in Suzhou and Beijing.