Photo: Xinhua

The 24th China Shanghai International Arts Festival launched its first-ever Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) Cultural Week during the weekend, with vibrant lion dances and Yingge dance (dance to the hero’s song) performances, marking the opening of a major exhibition tracing a century of Guangdong art.  

Running from Friday to November 27, the month-long festival features over 500 events, including 1,200 performances and exhibitions, drawing world-renowned groups such as the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden and Stuttgart Ballet from Germany alongside Chinese classics like the drama White Deer Plain, according to a press release sent to the Global Times on Sunday.  

A highlight of this year’s edition, a dynamic showcase of intangible cultural heritage at the China Art Museum in Shanghai kicked off the GBA Cultural Week. Visitors could see agile lion dancers leap to rhythmic beats and Yingge dancers perform the bold, martial-arts inspired “Chinese battle dance” outside the museum. 

The ceremony also launched the Reform Mission: Guangdong Art Centennial Exhibition, a sprawling 20,000-square-meter show featuring works by over 350 Lingnan School (a style of painting from the Guangdong or Lingnan region of China) artists from modern to contemporary times.  

Spanning three floors of the museum, the exhibition uses a 33-meter circular multimedia screen to present immersive projections of classic Lingnan artworks and a 300-meter “documentary corridor” tracing a century of artistic evolution. 

A key section highlights the Lingnan Painting School, showcasing works by pioneers Gao Jianfu, Gao Qifeng and Chen Shuren, collectively known as the “Three Masters of the Lingnan School.” Placed alongside records of debates with traditionalist peers, the works embody their philosophy of “blending Chinese and Western, ancient and modern” aesthetics.  

The exhibition starts with Gao Jianfu’s flower-­and-bird and landscape paintings, illustrating how these pioneers initiated the Lingnan School’s early explorations, according to media reports.

A Lingnan intangible cultural heritage zone has been set up so guests can relax with traditional “yum cha,” the Cantonese tradition of breakfast or brunch involving Chinese tea, and explore cultural and creative products from Guangdong. The exhibition is scheduled to run until January 18, 2026, accompanied by 12 high-level lectures and various interactive activities.

The Greater Bay Area Cultural Week is set to feature a total of 14 performances of seven different stage productions across Shanghai venues, encompassing dance, Cantonese opera, modern drama, ballet, and acrobatics, all representing recent original works from the region.

Cantonese opera Double Embroidery Fate, which premiered in the Shanghai Wanping Theater on Saturday, weaves the legend of Cantonese embroidery founder Lu Meiniang into a narrative that merges two intangible heritage forms. 

The production, performed by the Guangdong Cantonese Theatre, tells the previously untold story of Lu Meiniang, revered as the founding figure of Guangzhou embroidery. A part of Cantonese embroidery, the art form dates back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907).