Shanghai tourism festival kicks off with grand parades, performances

Nearly 200 themed tours, activities, and products will be introduced during the tourism festival, which will last until Oct 6. The closing ceremony will be held at the Shanghai Haichang Ocean Park in Lin-gang Special Area.

A series of key events are scheduled throughout this year's festival, such as the Great Art of Dunhuang exhibition will take place at the China Art Museum from Sept 20 to Dec 20, and sports tournament such as the Motocross World Championship, the Tour of Shanghai from Sept 20 to 22, and the Head of Shanghai River Regatta from Sept 28 to 20.

Throughout the festival, many tourist attractions in the eight branch venues, including Dunhuang in Gansu province, Shigatse in Xizang autonomous region, Kashgar in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Huangshan in Anhui province, Jiaxing in Zhejiang province, Yancheng, Nantong, and Jingjiang in Jiangsu province, will be open to Shanghai residents for free to celebrate the festival together.