Director Meng Jinghui, actress Zhang Ziyi and actor and director Chen Minghao are the artistic directors of the festival.

According to Meng, this year's festival brings a total of 46 artists, including representative figures from the global theater scene, as well as domestic avant-garde masters, dance troupes and emerging artists.

The international masterpieces presented at the festival cover a diverse range of genres, including works by Nobel laureates, new realism in serious theater, avant-garde deconstruction, puppetry and dance, new fantasy and digital art, Meng says.

"The artists, through their diverse cultural expressions and presentations, concentrate on exploring the conflicts and blends of human emotions and thoughts. We invite all audience members to view the fate of humanity and the future of the world with an open heart and broad perspective," Meng says.