The Silk Road Carnival, an important part of the ongoing 10th Silk Road International Arts Festival, concluded on Friday in Xi'an, the provincial capital of Shaanxi in northwest China, and a starting point of the ancient trade route.
The five-day carnival that started on October 21 gathered artists from different countries and offered a visual feast with the charm of art and diverse cultures of the countries along the Silk Road. The performances of traditional dances and modern music, folk music instruments and symphonies highlighted the carnival's closing ceremony on Friday, displaying the diversity and inclusiveness of the Silk Road culture.
"It's an important event, as it promotes artistic and cultural exchanges between different countries," said Valle, a Spanish dancer.
For Zhang Zhaoyu, a Qinqiang Opera performer, the art event also provided opportunities for overseas artists and audience to understand more about the local Chinese opera.
"This is an encounter between Chinese and Western culture. Westerners are passionate and hot on stage, while our Oriental culture is characterized with subdued elegance, like what our Chinese traditional operas display. Our traditional operas demonstrate a kind of Oriental beauty. We just took advantage of such a platform [of the festival] to present the culture of Qinqiang Opera of Shaanxi to Western guests and artists, so that they could see how extensive and profound our Chinese art is," said Zhang.
First held back in 2014, this year's Silk Road International Arts Festival, sponsored by the provincial government of Shaanxi, will run until November 10.
The event has attracted artists from 15 countries and regions, while a total of 63 performances are scheduled alongside a series of activities including multiple shows and exhibitions, according to organizers.
Silk Road Carnival concludes in Xi'an
The Beijing Stock Exchange (BSE) has seen a significant expansion of its investor base, with the total number of qualified investors exceeding 10 million as of Jan 20, indicating the bourse's rising vitality and appeal.
This represents a net increase of almost 2 million accounts on the third-born of China's A-share market compared to the same period last year.
This figure marks the highest number of qualified investors since the establishment of the BSE in 2021, doubling from 4 million at its inception. In just the past five months alone, the number surged from 9 million to more than 10 million.
Experts say that the rapid growth of the investor base is attributed to the robust performance of the bourse's new share market.
Since the beginning of 2026, the frozen funds for new share subscriptions on the BSE has exceeded 1 trillion yuan (about 143.85 billion U.S. dollars), reflecting sustained high investor enthusiasm for entering the market.
"The scale of 10 million investors is a key indicator of the maturity of the Beijing Stock Exchange's market ecosystem. The impressive performance of the new stock market has validated the investment value of BSE-listed companies, attracting incremental capital inflows. And the expansion of market size and growth in investor numbers form a virtuous cycle, providing more sufficient capital support for innovation-oriented small and medium-sized enterprises," said Lu Zhe, chief economist at the Soochow Securities.
The total market capitalization of the BSE has approached to 1 trillion yuan. Data shows that the number of companies listed on the bourse has reached 290, with a total value of 949.571 billion yuan (about 136.59 billion U.S. dollars).
Meanwhile, the BSE has demonstrated strong market resilience, with the Beijing Stock Exchange 50 Index up by around 50 percent cumulatively in 2025. The benchmark index includes 50 stocks considered to be representative of the market, providing a tool to monitor the overall performance of the bourse.
Since the opening of the BSE, over 90 percent of the listed companies have cumulatively distributed 19.86 billion yuan (about 2.86 billion U.S. dollars) in cash dividends, with 16 companies having paid out dividends exceeding their total amount of funds raised through listing.
The 2025 third-quarter report shows that the average revenue of 279 BSE-listed companies stood at 520 million yuan (about 74.8 million U.S. dollars), an increase of 5.99 percent year-on-year. Their average net profit was almost 32.99 million yuan (about 4.74 million U.S. dollars).
Five companies included in the Beijing Stock Exchange 50 Index, as well as eight companies not included, have disclosed their equity distribution plans, with the combined cash distribution amounting to 358 million yuan (about 51.5 million U.S. dollars).
Beijing Stock Exchange sees record number of qualified investors
