The Seventh Chinese Art Festival opened yesterday in Hangzhou.
Visitors and residents alike will witness about 100 traditional operas, musicals, dramas and song and dance performances during the 17-day festival in Zhejiang Province.
Hangzhou is an apt host as the city it known as "heaven on earth" due to its beautiful scenery.
Theaters in Hangzhou have been preparing for the art festival with advanced stage equipment that can imitate water landscapes from southern China and other visual effects.
Traditional operas will hit both professional and amateur stages to create a feast for opera aficionados.
For 53-year-old retiree Yu Zhuya, her favorite theater is Huanglongdong Park, where she could spend 10 yuan (US$1.20) and enjoy Shaoxing Opera, a favorite of many locals, on the banks of the scenic West Lake.
Set up in 1988, the Shaoxing Opera troupe at Huanglongdong Park is among the first batch of non-governmental troupes in Zhejiang and more than 30 artists perform each day for both tourists and locals.
"There are over one thousand folk opera troupes like this in Zhejiang province and they usually perform in the countryside for rural residents with relatively low incomes," said Meng Kejuan, deputy director of Huanglongdong Shaoxing Opera Troupe.
Other opera buffs will perform at West Lake. Though dressed in modern clothes, they sing old songs, walk and pose elegantly and reveal romances or political dramas from ancient times.
For young people who prefer modern stories, the festival's committee has also prepared Hollywood blockbusters.  "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" made its national premier at Hangzhou's film festival, which started yesterday and is part of the art festival. The film festival includes 15 current features from both home and abroad.
Meanwhile, ancient paintings and traditional Chinese calligraphy exhibitions will also take place at local museums, including feudal artworks made in the past ten centuries.
These activities add diversity to the festival and will help attract more citizens, according to the committee.
The first Chinese Art Festival was held in Beijing in 1987. It is held in a new location every three years.