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Shaoxing in East China's Zhejiang province will hold the Water Town Village Opera Festival to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the publishment of the novel Village Opera by Lu Xun, one of the greatest writers in modern China.

The festival will be staged in Anqiaotou village, Yuecheng district, the hometown of Lu's grandmother, and will integrate traditional and modern cultural elements, said Zhou Lingfei, grandson of Lu and president of the Lu Xun Cultural Foundation in an interview on July 3.

A century ago, Lu created the novel Village Opera, inscribing the special heritage on world cultural history, and making it known to all Chinese. In 2008, Shaoxing Village Opera was listed into the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage items.

According to Zhou, the village opera festival will be held around September 25, the birthday of Lu. The festival will showcase the special characteristics of the water towns in Jiangnan, the regions south of the Yangtze River.

Zhou expressed hope that the festival would play out the strength of culture and empower the development of rural areas in Shaoxing--his hometown.

"Through my efforts, I hope to make the hometown of Lu Xun's grandmother known to a wider group in China and the other parts of the world," said Zhou.

Visitors taking boats float on river to watch village opera in Shaoxing, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/zj.zjol.com.cn]

A village opera is performed at the stage, with many audience members seated to watch the performance. [Photo/zj.zjol.com.cn]