A wonderful musical time is around the corner, promised Zhang Heping, director of the Beijing Municipal Culture Bureau, yesterday.

That's because the Chinese capital has for the first time prepared a summer camp called Open the Door to Music for its thousands of students, he said.

Zhang also said the project, the first of its kind in China, will also be introduced to other Chinese regions like Jiangsu Province, because of "a universally surging demand for spiritual culture in the country."

The summer camp is based on the city's six-year trial of a music popularity programme but on a much larger scale.

The aim is to enable ordinary students to attend top-level concerts at Beijing Music Hall and Zhongshan Music Hall at cheaper rates.

The two halls, considered the best music venues in Beijing, will be the camp's major venues.

All tickets cost between 10 yuan (US$1.21) and 60 yuan (US$7.24).

There will also be Chinese music "big shots" like Tang Muhai, Sheng Zhongguo, and Wu Yuxia.

"When we are striving to become ever richer, we want to be culturally matched,"said world-famous Chinese violinist Sheng Zhongguo. "Otherwise, who will come to hear music in the future, and what is the use of our spending a lot of money on building so many grand modern music halls?"

There will be around 100 performances, lectures and interactive activities, the biggest number ever.

And last year's 53 special concerts of this kind reported an average box-office rate of 90 percent.

This means that musicians are obliged to not only carry on the activities to meet students' great demand for musical education and enjoyment, but to make things easier for them by providing more opportunities, said Zhang.

There will be six categories - telling the stories behind music, providing music enlightenment, elaborating on classic music, meeting virtuosos, teaching Chinese literature with music, and reviewing old songs. The camp will last from July 19 to September 2.

(China Daily 07/06/2001)