On July 21, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced the final list of works for the 17th Wenhua Awards and the 17th Wenhua Awards in accordance with the relevant provisions of the "Regulations of the Chinese Culture and Arts Government Awards - Wenhua Awards" and "Judging Methods of the 17th Wenhua Awards". Wenhua Screenwriting Award, Wenhua Directing Award, and Wenhua Performance Award "nominees" list. The dance drama Five Stars Coming Out of the East created by Beijing Performing Arts Group and the drama Night on Fragrant Hill created by Beijing People's Art Theatre were shortlisted for the final evaluation. In addition, Wang Ge, the director of Five Stars Coming Out of the East, was shortlisted as a nominee for the Directing Award. Wang Yinghui, a Beijing-based actor, was shortlisted as a nominee for the Acting Award with the Hebei Bangzi work The Monument to the People's Heroes.

Established in 1991, the Wenhua Award is the highest government award for professional stage arts in China. Initially, it was held once a year, and since 1998, it has been held once every two years. Since 2004, it has been held once every three years. Over the years, the Wenhua Award has adhered to the direction of serving the people and socialism and the policy of "All flowers bloom together, All schools of thoughts contend for attention", the principle of promoting the main theme and advocating diversity, and the principle of orientation, authority and fairness. It plays a very important and positive role in mobilizing the enthusiasm of the majority of literary workers, enhancing the cohesion of art institutions, promoting national artistic creation, and prospering the cause of socialist literature and art.

Five Stars Coming Out of the East is a dance drama based on the Han Dynasty brocade arm guard, a first-class cultural relic. It vividly interprets the theme of people of all ethnic groups "clinging together like pomegranate seeds" to form a community with a shared future for the Chinese nation.

The play Night of Xiangshan is set against the backdrop of the PLA's strong crossing of the Yangtze River and occupation of Nanjing, allowing Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek to engage in a dialogue across time and space. The play presents the theme that the Chinese Communist Party has triumphed and grown because it has always been working for the revival of China and the happiness of its people.

It is understood that the works shortlisted for final evaluation and the works associated with the "nominees" should participate in the live performance of the 13th China Art Festival. Participants who cannot attend are considered to have automatically forfeited their eligibility for the award.

Translator: LIU Yu

Reviewer: WANG Jiahui