Welcome to Today's Focus.

China's size, geography and history can explain the huge diversity of regional cultures, the particulars of which are often unknown outside of the region itself. The 2010 World Expo in Shanghai has chosen to focus on these cultures, and last week the spotlight was on South China and what is known as Lingnan culture, which can be translated as southern culture. In this week's Today's Focus we shall be travelling to the World Expo to visit the Guangdong Pavilion and experience the activities and events put on for this "Guangdong Week."

Playing to an audience of over a thousand people, a group of women are playing a famous piece of Lingnan music entitled Colorful Clouds Chasing the Moon. Mr. Li from Beijing was thrilled by the performance,
"Record" Guangdong music is really cheerful and will make you feel happy and relaxed.


For "Guangdong Week," held from July 28th to August 1st, over 80 performances were put on stage. Visitors to the expo could experience different folk arts from across Guangdong province, such as lion dancing from the city of Foshan, wood craving from Chaozhou, the crane dance famous in Zhuhai and the beautiful Hakka folk songs. Guangdong, and China in general, is good at presenting quality ethnic performances, but some were also surprised to find artists choosing to interpret some of the traditional forms in a very modern way. The acrobatics performance is enriched with dance, gymnastics and drama. Mr. Ma from Shanghai was amazed by the performance:
"Record]" To us, Guangdong always leads the trend.
Another person us:
"Record" The shows are pretty good, and I keep videotaping them. They are a perfect example of Lingnan quality.


All day long, various Lingnan performances were staged, but there was also an exhibition of traditional handicrafts and a parade to promote the Guangzhou 2010 Asian Games. The five-day event proved to be a success by attracting about 450,000 visitors.


Ms. Wu Weiqing is from the Yao ethnic minority and heads the drum dance troupe. She is very proud to be in Shanghai to represent Lingnan culture:
"Record"  We will never again get such a chance to promote our Yao ethnic culture, which attracts a huge amount of domestic visitors and some people from overseas.


According to Mr. Fang Jianhong, the Director General of the Guangdong Culture Department, the quality and diversity of Guangdong's traditional art scene is a result of the province's efforts to promote its culture to the nation:
"Record"  Over 1,200 performers from 21 prefecture-level cities across Guangdong are engaged in the Guangdong Week festivities. They were chosen from numerous active troupes across the province and we believe they will stun the audience and offer a unique view onto Guangdong's diverse cultural scene.


But although Guangdong's performances were lauded by the audience, a modern cultural scene cannot only focus on traditional art forms. Innovation, especially the integration of modern elements into the traditional form seems to work quite well in Guangdong music and acrobatics. For other forms, it's difficult to see how they can evolve. Take local-dialect opera, such as Cantonese opera; it's hard for Chinese audiences to follow let alone global audiences. There's a language barrier of course, but the stories are also far from people's everyday concerns.
"Record]" The performances should be more creation-driven.
Mr. Fang Zhanrong, a renowned artist in Chaozhou-dialect opera, agreed with what he said,
"Record" Opera can not catch up with the pace of the era.


Guangdong hopes to take the lead in the development of culture but can it succeed by only playing the traditional "arts and crafts" card? Today's shows are professional and well crafted to entertain the audiences, but they lack the edge necessary when going from popular culture to quality art. To see this change, we should turn our heads away from official government financed troupes and shows and cultural departments, and take a glimpse at the small companies, the independent artists, and the entire underground scene, people creating in Guangdong, for Guangdong audiences and with their mind set on the future.