On October 10, the 12th Asia Arts Festival (AAF) and the 3rd China Chongqing Culture and Arts Festival was opened in Chongqing Municipality. Under the theme of “communication, blending, sharing, harmony”, this festival endeavored to showcase Asian expressions, Chinese style and Chongqing attraction. 30 national and international organizations, over 400 special guests both at home and abroad, and more than 3000 professional artists from 100 Chinese and foreign art troupes gathered in this AAF. They brought the world to the appreciation of charm of Asian arts, promoted cultural exchange and cooperation between Asian countries and regions and realized the common prosperity of Asian cultures. 

Besides over 100 occasions of Asian cultural and art performances, this AAF also sponsored the 1st Asian Culture Forum on Development and the 1st Asian Drama People Alliance Meeting, where representatives of art research institutes and well-known cultural experts from ASEAN, Japan, Korea and China were invited to summarize the recent development and analyzed the future tendency of Asian culture. The Asian Drama People Alliance meeting opened a new page for Asian theatre cooperation, where drama masters from 18 countries signed the Chongqing Declaration in order to promote Asian theatre cooperation. 

Since its establishment in 1998, AAF has been staged on 11 occasions, in which nearly 200 art troupes from 25 Asian countries as well as tens of millions of audiences have taken part. AAF has become an important platform to showcase the excellent art works of Asian countries.