First National "Chinese Festival Award" settled

International Plum Blossom Festival of Nanjing in the top ten

The prize presentation ceremony of China's first "Chinese Festival Award", also the annual meeting of the Collaboration of Chinese Festival Award in 2008, was held recently in Qingdao. It is said that the ceremony is jointly sponsored by the Association for Promoting Chinese Culture and the Qingdao Municipal Government, aiming at accumulating the experience of celebrating Chinese festivals since the reform and opening up, carrying forward the Chinese nation's advanced cultural tradition, and promoting and enhancing the level of cultural activities celebrating Chinese festivals. As the first nationwide prize presentation ceremony since the foundation of China, there are traditional cultural festivals, ethnic cultural festivals and modern cultural activities celebrating Chinese festivals and many other types of festival activities appraised in the ceremony of "Chinese Festival Award", reflecting the actuality of the development of Chinese festival activities.
 After careful assessment of experts and the extensive participation of people from all walks of  the society, the final 10 Comprehensive Awards were selected——"Chinese Top Ten Festival Award" and 13 individual awards. The festivals that win Top Ten Festival Awards are Beijing International Tourism Culture Festival, Nanning International Folk Song Festival, the Chinese Golden Eagle TV Arts Festival, Nanjing International Plum Blossom Festival, Dalian International Fashion Festival, Hohhot Zhaojun Cultural Festival, Qingdao International Beer Festival, Shanghai International Arts Festival, Lhasa Shoton Festival and Kunming International Cultural Tourism Festival. In addition, the Lantern Hill Festival of Qingdao radish, Shaanxi Huangling Festival for ancestor worship and some other festivals occupies the individual awards.
In order to make the appraisal ceremony fair and impartial, as early as in 2006, experts from the Secretariat of the Collaboration of Chinese Festival Award and the Association for Promoting Chinese Culture and another two departments drafted a "Chinese festival Award" judging system. On the basis of extensive feedback, the eventual trial scheme of the appraisal formed after nearly a year of repeated revisions and study of feasibility. Later the award-winning list was formed in accordance with the scheme and the award-winning festivals on the list were selected from 160 primary festivals.
According to incomplete statistics, until 2004, the number of various types of festival activities held in China's various regions and ethnic groups amounts to 5366.