A competition for budding thespians was unveiled in Yunnan on Sept 20 attracting more than 200 actors from Yunnan Province.

The competition, put on by the Department of Culture of Yunnan Province and the Yunnan Provincial Research Institute for Ethnic Arts, was shown simultaneously in the provincial dance and song theater and two others.

The first performer offered a Dian play rich in both martial art and songs.

The Dian play, local to Yunnan, absorbed Yunnan’s many ethnic features as it was performed in ethnic villages.

The contest has three divisions -- dance, traditional Chinese opera and music. It has further classifications of artistic merit including music, dance, acrobatics and drama.

All performances are scheduled for 7:30 every evening when most people are free. There are seven judge panels, five from other provinces and four from Yunnan. All panel members are either country-level actors or cultural bureau officials. To ensure the fairness of the competition, the judges show the actors’ marks on site. Discipline inspectors from Yunnan’s provincial publicity department are also present to supervise the activity.

The number of awards has been reduced to enhance the achievement of the winners. First prize winners will be drawn from five percent of the total performers and the second and third prize winners from 13 and 18 percent respectively.

Tickets can be booked at www.juooo.com and at the theaters’ gates.

Edited by Peter Nordinger