The opening ceremony of the 2021 Lishui Photography Festival was held at the Lishui Grand Theatre in the city – located in East China's Zhejiang province – on the evening of Nov 17.

The Lishui Photography Festival is an international photography festival that is jointly sponsored by the Lishui municipal government and the China Photographers Association. It has been held every two years since 2005 and is the only photography themed activity in China that is officially named a "Photography Festival" and is recognized by the State Council.

This year's festival is said to have attracted photographers from more than 120 countries and regions.

On Nov 5, Lishui launched an online curtain-raiser for the festival, "moving" 887 exhibitions to the internet and attracting 180,000 online visits. Meanwhile, Lishui held three online international conferences and launched more than 10 online communications and interaction activities in the run-up to the festival's launch, attracting over 380 million hits.

An international visual extravaganza comes to Lishui city on Nov 17, with the opening ceremony of the 2021 Lishui Photography Festival. [Photo/Lishui Daily]

To top it off, Lishui has planned a series of on-site activities, such as the Global Environment Protection Photography Contest, which is expected to greatly enrich the content and form of the photography festival.

At the opening ceremony, Li Qianguang, vice president of China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, lauded Lishui's achievements in the cultural sector in recent years, as well as the city's efforts at developing the photography industry.

In addition, Lishui was made the permanent venue of the World Photography Congress by the International Federation of Photographic Art.