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Feature: Extravaganza of arts in Edinburgh connects East, West

Xinhua, August 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

Red for the East and blue for the West with blue and red lines of half circles on the 66th Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo highlighted its theme of "East meets West" at the opening performance on Friday night.

"Wonderful" was how Edinburgh Tattoo chief executive and producer Brigadier David Allfrey described the performance of the military band of the People's Liberation Army of China and Baiye Dragon Troupe of Changxing County in China's eastern Zhejiang province.

The theme of "East meets West" aims to provide the opportunity for the military musicians and cultural groups from across the world to share a unique stage, to showcase their differences and their wonderful similarities, according to Allfrey.

Against the backdrop of the historic Edinburgh Castle, over 1,200 performers from Britain, the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland and Germany, as well as China and India among others presented the 9,000-strong audience with a 90-minute performance of combined military spectacle, cultural performance, vibrant music and international color, which won thunder of applause and wows.

As part of the international festivals of the summer season in Edinburgh, the Tattoo joined the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which also opened on Friday, to bring vigor and dynamics to Edinburgh, the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) City of Literature.

At Usher Hall and Festival Square near the west end of Edinburgh late Friday night, the Harmonium Project attracted around 10,000 people with free entrance to serve as the curtain-raiser to the Edinburgh International Festival (EIF).

Spectacular digital animations, which had been developed over the past three months with the help of world-leading researchers at Edinburgh University, was projected on to the facade and roof of the venue for about 35 minutes.

Making their first appearances at the EIF this year are French actress, artist and dancer Juliette Binoche, German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, Chinese concert pianist Lang Lang, Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand and Sparks, and Chinese pianist Wang Yuja, among others.

The performance line up also includes Tao Dance Theater from Beijing, and Dragon created by Scottish touring theater company Vox Motus, the National Theater of Scotland and China's Tianjin People's Arts Theater.

As one of the largest arts festival in the world that takes place every August for three weeks in Scotland's capital city, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe lured thousands of performers to hundreds of stages all over Edinburgh every year to present shows for every taste including theater, comedy, dance, circus, cabaret, children's shows, musicals, opera, music, spoken word, exhibitions and events.

Chinese performers have been participating the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for years to bring Chinese culture to the famous western style festival of arts that dates back to 1947 when the EIF first started. Endi