The National Ballet of China is staging free shows in response to a government call for quality entertainment for people on low incomes and in remote areas.

The troupe wound up Thursday two free performances in Beijing for poorer families and migrant workers who stayed in the city during the Spring Festival holiday and poorer families.

They will be followed by free shows on Feb. 1 in Tianjin and Feb. 2 in Bazhou, Hebei Province, the Ministry of Culture said on its website.

The ministry has mobilized nine major performance troupes to visit 19 provinces and municipalities during the Spring Festival holiday, which started from the Lunar New Year Eve on Jan. 25.

The troupes, which include the National Ballet and China National Symphony Orchestra, will stage 130 performances in ethnic minority regions, border areas and poverty-stricken places, the ministry said.

Feng Ying, a leading ballerina and deputy director of the National Ballet, said both the Ballet and the audience benefited from the drive to popularize ballet among ordinary people.