By Yuan Xiaojie and Huang Tianling

On 3rd August, the first Oh! Castle Festival in Topu opened. 6 international famous troupes from countries including Germany, Spain and Russia, and 7 domestic traditional intangible cultural heritage national troupes will bring more than 30 high-quality plays and 123 wonderful performances to the audience.

The art festival is the first international friendly resident art festival with ‘puppet’ element in China. It lasts for 9 days. The content of the program includes four major panels which are drama performance, art exchange, exhibition collection and local integration. Among them, there are drama work performances from puppet troupes and puppet show protection and heritage centers from places all over the state, and more than 10 troupes including Nikolai Zykov Theatre from Russia, Matapeste from France and Armenian Art Troupe.

The international art festival will also collaborate with the TOPU International Animation Week, exhibiting excellent prize-winning animation works; cooperate with Shenzhen Illustration Association to launch a special exhibition featuring hand-drawn theatrical space; and carry out art exchanges in aspects including Children's Aesthetics together with Asian Alliance of Festivals and Theatres for Young Audiences, to carry out activities such as resident incubation program and drama studies in Topu.