On October 27, 2023, the Guilin Festival opened at the Guangxi Provincial Art Gallery. The Guilin Festival aims to reshape Guilin as the “City of Theater,” furthermore seeking to create an internationally renowned urban art festival brand. It adds cultural strength, international elements, and youthful vitality towards the development of a world-class tourist city.

The theme of the Guilin Festival 2023 is “Coexistence.” It is guided by the Publicity Department of the CPC Committee of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the Department of Culture and Tourism of the Autonomous Region, co-hosted by the Guilin Municipal People’s Government and the Central Academy of Drama. The Guilin Festival runs for 10 days and features more than 140 performances of 33 productions from 14 countries and regions. Using “Guilin classics” to narrate “Chinese stories” and “world stories,” the festival aims to showcase stages and venues against mountains, at waters, in caves and on lawns. All stories, plots, and scenes unfold harmoniously amidst the picturesque landscape, presenting a cultural feast of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature for domestic and international tourists and theater enthusiasts. Two commissioned works and four incubated works from the jointly launched “Global Chinese Young Theatre Directors Talent Program” by the Guilin Festival Organizing Committee and the Central Academy of Drama will have their domestic premiere at the festival.

In addition to the opening ceremony, launch day also featured the premiere of the grand play “Luotuo Xiangzi” at the Guilin Grand Theater, the theatrical parade of “Shan Hai Jing” at the Shan Shui Park, and the performance of various plays including “Li Er Planet” at the Yu Mountain Theatre and the opera “Three Mao Qian” at the Xiangshan Water Theatre.