The first Qingdao Comedy Festival, which lasted ten days, recently had a grand opening in the century-old Liyuan building. With the theme of “Yi Jie Hao Xi” (Good  Play across the Streets), the festival is intended to integrate the history of Qingdao with modern comedy culture to bring cultural experience to citizens and tourists in a novel way.

The Qingdao Comedy Festival consisted of comedy performances in the small theatre in the Liyuan Building, the comedy carnival and the music party. As for the special comedy performances, 40 Chinese comedy performance troupes including Deyunshe (Deyun Crosstalk Association) put on a total of 64 performances in 33 plays. The comedy carnival was held in Qingdao’s featured courtyards and blocks to get close to the masses, covering a complete range of comedy forms at home and abroad including Chinese tradition, intangible cultural heritage, western dramas, and modern and popular styles. The perfect integration of time-honored Liyuan buildings and modern comedy art is employed to present the unique charm of Qingdao as a culturally and historically famous city and will become an important part of cultural tourism in Qingdao.  (Mi Jingyu)

The carnival in the Qingdao Comedy Festival.