A delegation of 35 folk artists from Ningbo visited Turkey from August 17 to 30th， 2008. Sponsored by the Ministry of Culture， the artists from Ningbo attended an international culture festival held in Izmir， the second largest city of Turkey and an international festival held in Cubuk， a city near Ankara， the capital city of the republic.

The annual art festival in Izmir has been around since 1990 and it is one of the most international festivals in Turkey. Hundreds of artists from 14 countries appeared at the festival in 2008.

It is the first visit that Ningbo artists have ever paid to a foreign country. They staged more than 10 performances during their 15-day visit. The performances included the Cloth-Dragon Dance， the Fishermen’s Percussion and Work songs， and Tea Farmers’ Singing and Dancing.

Only four musicians with the delegation were professionals whereas the other 31 artists were amateurs. The four stunts they performed were folk art classics of Ningbo selected from more than 30 intangible cultural heritages. The 18-meter-long nine-section cloth dragon was staged by middle school students from Fenghua city， Ningbo. The dance is on the first list of national intangible cultural heritages issued in 2006 for its originality and imagination， brilliant choreography and highly coordinated performance.

The Ningbo artists caused the biggest cheers when they paraded in the street at the opening ceremony of the Izmir International Culture Festival. The dragon dancing manipulated by 10 students from Ningbo and a phalanx of 10 Ningbo fishermen beating their traditional drums were the most attractive shows in the parade. The spectators cheered and surged toward the artists and the police had to form a cordon to maintain order. Local media covered the centerpieces of the parade in great detail. Artists from other countries attending the same international art festival remarked enviously that the Ningbo artists outshone them and stole the show. Some of them came to the hotel where the folk artists stayed and wanted to learn the folk arts from Ningbo. The directors of a group of Romanian artists and a group of Cypriote artists presented their own folk arts to Ningbo artists and invited the Ningbo artists to visit their countries.

After the big success at Izmir， the folk artists from Ningbo were warmly welcomed at Cubuk. As it is near the capital city of Turkey， statesmen form the capital and from Ankara Province came to congratulate the folk artists on their success.

The mayor of Cubuk observed that the artists from Ningbo were the most popular visitors in the five-year history of the art festival and that their performances were most thrilling. The Chinese ambassador to Turkey， who is a native from Ningbo， met with the artists from his hometown and praised their arts proudly. The cultural counselor at the Chinese embassy also observed that it was the most welcomed Chinese art delegation within the last five years.

The folk artists from Ningbo regarded their visit as the first cautious step to take their intangible cultural heritage to the world. Their international debut was a sensational success. They are excited about a future when they can stage their shows all over the world， as there are some 500 folk art festivals held around the world every year. □