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English 1000, Chinese 1000

“Arts from Our Land” Competition Finals

2005/02/01

Beijing Television's (BTV's) annual "Arts from Our Land" competition provides an opportunity for expatriates interested in Chinese arts and culture to display their talents before an international audience. Amateur performers from all over the world get to meet others who share their interests and to make new friends as they work together to hone their skills in such Chinese art forms as crosstalk, martial arts, traditional dance and opera.

BTV hosted the first "Songs from Our Land: Foreigners Singing Chinese Songs" competition in 1995. The final round of competition was broadcast during the Spring Festival, and was one of the highest-rated specials that holiday season.

In the years since, the annual competition has grown in scope and scale, and the ratings have continued to climb. A survey of Spring Festival programme popularity conducted in 2001 showed "Songs from Our Land" in third place, following only the CCTV and BTV gala variety specials.

In the 2005 competition, performers compete in three areas: Chinese language ability, skill challenges and art performances. After rounds of elimination games, the finalists will compete in the two semi-finals and final from February 9 to 13, which will be live broadcast on BTV1. In addition to first, second and third place prizes, contestants will also vie for special awards such as Most Popular, Best Performer and Most Photogenic.

Some of the finalists, who will test their knowledge of Chinese culture, will be based in other countries. The 2005 competition has subs in other areas such as North America, Europe and Japan. Winners in these places will also take part in the finals in Beijing. Finalists are required to demonstrate their understanding of Chinese culture in the finals.

The first rounds of the contests will be broadcast before the Spring Festival and the finals will be broadcast in Hong Kong, North America and Europe, as well as throughout China via BTV and CCTV. In addition, since 2005 is the tenth competition, BTV will show reviews of former competitions when the finals are staged.



 
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