Theater festival draws global artists, art lovers to east China's water town

The 12th Wuzhen Theater Festival are attracting global artists and art lovers to the picturesque water town of Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province of east China.

Running from Oct 16 to 26, the festival features 25 plays from 10 countries and regions, 18 plays competing in the emerging theater artists' competition segment, as well as dialogues, theater workshops, reading sessions, and outdoor carnivals.

"This is the time of the year we look forward to the most as it brings us most happiness and joy. The theater festival is like a dreamland for us," said a visitor from Hangzhou City, the provincial capital.

Among the highlights is Anthropolis–Marathon, a production by Germany's Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg that interlaces five Greek myths. The play has sparked wide interest, deepening cultural dialogue between Eastern and Western theater traditions.

"Some fellow organizers of other art and theater festivals felt surprised to hear that Anthropolis-Marathon has come to Wuzhen, because this play has never been showed outside Germany or even outside Hamburg. We had sent two young theater directors to Germany to prepare for the show together with the German artists. So you see there are some Chinese artists performing in this show. It's actually an international collaboration, a meaningful epic production of German and Chinese artists," said Huang Lei, producing director of Wuzhen Theater Festival.

Since its debut in 2013, the Wuzhen Theater Festival has grown into a dynamic platform for young international theater practitioners to showcase their creativity and exchange ideas – turning the ancient town into a stage where the world's stories converge.

The theater festival has also made the water town a hot tourism destination for theater lovers, with accommodation and meals generating considerable revenues.

"We've sold about 26,000 tickets during the festival. The plays are remarkably driving the demands for food and accommodation. All of the over 4,000 guest rooms are booked out during weekends. About 80 to 90 percent of them are booked during weekdays," said Yang Duanchen, operation manager of Culture Wuzhen Co., Ltd.

Theater festival draws global artists, art lovers to east China's water town

The 32nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting concluded in east China's Suzhou on Saturday, yielding fruitful results and laying significant groundwork for the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in November.

The trade ministers' meeting focused on "building an open and predictable regional and multilateral economic and trade order" and "fostering new engines of innovative and dynamic trade and investment cooperation."

Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao briefed the media on the meeting's outcomes at a press conference.

Wang said the meeting issued a joint statement titled the Suzhou Statement, and approved the latest edition of the APEC Roadmap for Innovative, Competitive and Resilient Services.

All parties agreed to advance policy innovation and reform in services trade, build an open and predictable investment environment, improve regional trade facilitation and supply chain resilience, strengthen standards coordination, and enhance intellectual property protection, Wang told the media.

He also said that substantial progress was made on a framework document for regional digital trade cooperation and the ministers emphasized promoting inclusive AI development, strengthening AI-related trade, and bridging the digital divide to ensure shared benefits from digital transformation.

The minister noted that the outcomes of the meeting demonstrated strong cooperation willingness, highlighted an innovation-oriented approach, and reflected inclusiveness and shared benefits. "The fact that Asia-Pacific economies can come together, uphold the original aspiration of promoting trade and investment liberalization and facilitation while supporting economic growth and prosperity, and engage in in-depth discussions on the important issue of 'where multilateral and regional economic and trade cooperation is headed,' fully demonstrates that open regionalism and true multilateralism enjoy broad support, and that mutual success and shared development serve the fundamental interests of all economies," Wang said.

2026 APEC trade ministers' meeting concludes with fruitful results