Now in its seventh year, Croisements Festival is an art lover's delight, offering a most tantalizing programme of events

Like the fresh aroma of spring, the Croisements Franco-Chinese cultural festival is returning to China this year with no less than 134 events (everything from dance to theatre, cinema, music, contemporary circus and exhibitions) scheduled across 24 Chinese cities.

All areas of artistic collaboration are represented in a programme that will spotlight co-productions between renowned French artists and undeniably talented Chinese creators.

In 2012, Croisements Festival will offer the Chinese public shows of the highest quality:

- Contemporary circus, a discipline combining traditional circus techniques with innovative artistic approaches, makes its entry into the festival. Morosof Company will present a stunning acrobatics show and 14:20 Company will introduce a form never before seen in China, new magic.

The second baroque music season in China will take place in Beijing, Wuhan and Guangzhou. It will showcase three prestigious French ensembles: Le Poeme harmonique, Jordi Savall and Le Concert spirituel.

- The art of fine dining is covered by Theatre Nono in a Franco-Chinese adaptation of the play Entremets-entremots by Serge Noyelle and Marion Coutris. French and Chinese actors offer an exceptional marriage between high gastronomy and theatre.

- Contemporary dance also forms part of this year's festival. The sparkling show Elektro kif by choreographer Bianca Li is a veritable phenomenon that has shaken modern dance to its core. Meanwhile, in his piece Arres de Jeu, Pierre Rigal has developed his own unique body language universe in which dancer-footballers mime the highlights of the France v West Germany match in Seville in 1982. A show full of humour and perfectly-calibrated choreography. Stand Alone Zone from the Castafiore System Company takes us to a wonderland of the autumn of the year 2813.

True to its founding principles, Croisements Festival is supporting Franco-Chinese artistic co-productions:

- China Central Ballet has invited French choreographer Bertrand d'At for a magical encounter between two cultures brought together by love of classical dance.

- French Theatre Director Yamina Hachemi and Chinese famous director Wang Xiaoying will create this year a Chinese adaptation of The Laughing man, the famous novel written by Victor Hugo, for the National Theatre of China.

- Several Chinese orchestras (Kunming, Xiamen, Wuhan and Hubei) welcome French conductors and soloists.

Croisements Festival is continuing to support big headline events in the Chinese art scene.

- The Ninth panorama of French cinema will be presented in Beijing from 11th to 22th april, Shanghai from 14th to 18th april, Shenzhen, Chengdu (from 16th april) and Shenyang.

- In Beijing, the headline photography event begins in April. This third Caochangdi Photospring Festival will feature some material from the famous Rencontres d'Arles international photography festival.

- The Fete de la musique, this year once again taking place in Chengdu and Shanghai the 23rd and 24th of June, and in Wuhan the 22th and 23rd of June, will present the energetic music of Plasticines, Puss-in-Boots, Simeo and the group Silvousplay.

- Contemporary music will be represented by the bands General Elektriks, Tahiti 80, LSD and Nasser during the 1st May Festivals (Midi Festival and Strawberry Festival in Beijing and Shanghai, Zebra Festival in Chengdu)

- This year will also notably feature the Fifth installment of the theatre meeting. On the bill, 'The Solitude of Cotton Fields', an interpretation of the work by Bernard-Marie Kolt���s directed by Olivier Massis, as well as 'The Libertine' by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt directed by Ysy Chautemps.

Croisements Festival is above all a series of prestige events:

- Pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet will give an exceptional concert in homage to the famous French composer Claude Debussy on the 150th anniversary of his birth.

- Taking centre stage this year, the talented director, photographer and artist Agnes Varda offers an unprecedented retrospective, an exhibition spanning 50 years of work that can be seen over two months in Beijing, Wuhan and Shanghai.

- Many chamber music quartets will perform in the most prestigious halls of China. Among them: Zaide, Stradivaria, Diotima, and Khloros.

Croisements Festival was founded in 2006 thanks to the shared desire of the French and Chinese authorities to maintain the formidable momentum that arose from the Annees Croisees, a series of Franco-Chinese cultural exchanges. The festival proposes quality programming that takes place over a period of more than two months.

Thanks to support from public and private partners (institutions, event venues and companies), French and Chinese artists' engagement and media coverage, the festival was attended by more than 500,000 spectators in 2011.

Croisements Festival timeline

2005 - China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao called for the "Annees Croisees France-China" to be extended towards "a never-ending future". In response, the Embassy of France in China proposed to the Chinese Ministry of Culture that the two countries collaborate on a big annual arts and culture festival.

2006 - The Croisements/Jiaoliu festival is held for the first time, in April. It is a unique and large-scale French cultural event in China. Croisements festival's perennial nature is confirmed in the Franco-Chinese joint declaration signed during the State Visit of the President of the Republic of France to China in October.

2007 - For the first time, Croisements/Jiaoliu puts on 100 events across 14 Chinese cities.

2008 - Croisements is present alongside the National Grand Theatre of China for its opening season. The King of Ys and the Montalvo-Hervieu company's ballet La Bossa Fataka are the season's opening and closing events. Croisements/Jiaoliu is extended to 18 cities.

2009 - Croisements emerges as one of the headline events in China's spring cultural scene.

2010 - Croisements puts on 200 events across 27 Chinese cities and is invited to participate in the Shanghai Expo.

2011 - Croisements, at the nexus of all art forms, brings together more than 1,000 French and Chinese artists and more than 500,000 spectators.

Croisements 2011 in figures

500,000 spectators across 21 cities

200 performances

54 shows and concerts, performed 215 times

1,000 French and Chinese artists involved

An opening gala night in Beijing filmed by Youku and Tencent Entertainment and was broadcasted live on Internet.

Media value estimated at 733 million RMB, that is about 87 million euros.

24 partnerships with the written press (Hotspot, Modern Weekly, Globaltimes, Chinadaily etc), news websites (Youku, Tencent, CRIonline etc), radio stations (AM774, Guangdong Wenti tai etc), a TV channel (CCTV-FR) and an online ticketing agency (piaowutong.com.cn)

17,393 media reports* (862 articles in the written press, 15,000 articles on the Internet, 1,331 TV and radio reports) as well as about 20 media reports in the French press (Le Figaro, France 2, France Inter, France 24 etc)

53,000 visits and 183 000 page views on faguowenhua.com (bilingual French-Chinese portal dedicated to Croisements Festival and French culture) during the festival period

200 cultural partners

28 partner companies

Croisements Festival programme information can be found at www.faguowenhua.com/croisements