The annual 23rd Silk Road Grape Festival in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region's Turpan provided tourists and journalists across China with a grand opening ceremony on August 20.

The festival, which will host various activities such as a grape fair, gourmet festival, music and dance live show, and a parade of local people, will run until September 6.

With the aim of promoting its most important agricultural product, this year's grape festival is "going out" of its origin base of Turpan for the first time. Three other cities – Beijing, Shanghai and Changsha, capital of Central China’s Hunan province – will be used for its venues as well.

From Aug 16-17, it was hosted in Changsha; from Aug 23-24, Beijing will be its host city; and from Aug 30-31, it will be Shanghai's turn. People in these cities will get an opportunity to taste more than 20 varieties of grape from Turpan, which is considered to be the largest grape base in China.

The grape festival this year is "walking out" of its cradle for the first time. Previous grape festivals only featured press conferences outside Xinjiang. But this year, entire spectrums of outsiders will be fully exposed to the freshly-imported grapes right from the heart of Turpan, according to the Turpan tourism bureau.

The grape festival is seen as a platform for exchange and communication for friends from all walks of life in China and abroad and it will help expand the presence of Xinjiang and Turpan, said Zhong Shenghao, deputy director of the organizing committee.

This year's event will add more interactive activities for local people to celebrate their ways of life, including a live musical show in the desert, a dance contest and parade, to attract more people to experience the art and culture of Turpan, according to the director of the Turpan Tourism Bureau, Chen Shuguo.

To commemorate the 2,100th anniversary of the forming of the Silk Road, the China National Tourism Administration decided to host a grape festival in Turpan in 1990 after which it became an annual event which not only features the trade of agricultural products, but also tours and culture.(source: china daily)