During the Olympic sailing competitions in Qingdao, athletes and tourists from home and abroad will enjoy local cultural activities and feel the ardent Olympic atmosphere.

"The Olympic competitions play an active role in promoting Qingdao's cultural development," Jiang Zhengxuan, director general of Qingdao Municipal Cultural Bureau (QMCB) told China Daily.

Jiang said a range of Olympic-themed artistic works have been produced including symphonies, songs, dances, dramas and movies.

"More than 20,000 Olympic cultural activities have been held in 20 city squares and parks since 2007. Most of the performers in these activities are Qingdao citizens," Jiang said.

"We have more than 200 elderly people who are all good at singing and dancing. We have staged choruses, short plays and instrumental music performances more than 20 times since the beginning of 2008," said Wang Nongcun, leader of Qingdao elderly art group.

Qingdao also places importance on international cultural exchanges.

"Our art groups have given performances in about 18 countries including France, Japan, Russia and the South Korea," Jiang said. "We also invited international counterparts to Qingdao to boost cultural exchanges."

More than 30 Olympic-themed exhibitions have been held in the city including photography, folk arts, calligraphy and painting.

On May 9 to 16, rural folk Yangko dancing troupes gathered in Qingdao to welcome the Olympics.

The city also held a paper-cutting competition that attracted about 500 competitors. A 17-m-long cut by craftsman Wang Yunchang called Qingming Shanghe Tu - or The Scene at the Upper River during the Qingming Festival - was packed away by the Chinese National Art Gallery.

At the 100-day countdown to the opening of Olympics, 63-year-old calligrapher Zhang Ruiqin created a 100-m-long work of calligraphy and donated it to Qingdao Olympic Sailing Committee.

According to the QMCB, a series of activities such as singing and dancing, a singing competition, knowledge quiz on the Olympics and fitness workouts will be held in Huiquan Square in August.

"The performances held during Paralympic sailing competition will hail the hard working spirit of disabled athletes and show the society's care for them," said Jiang.

(China Daily 06/06/2008 page24)