People living in Britain will know Chinese culture better as the country gets ready to play host to the largest ever Chinese cultural festival in 2008, local media reported Tuesday.

Dubbed as "China Now", the festival will begin on Feb. 7, and last until August, providing the British audiences with some 800 exhibitions and performances, said The Independent.

Works of China's new and established artists will be displayed across the country during the period, and dances with a strong Chinese flavor will also be seen in many British theaters, the report said.

"China Art Now", as part of the festival, is expected to feature a huge brontosaurus installation by Xu Zhen, known as the maverick of the Chinese art world. And He An, a young artist who explores the contemporary environment of China, is creating four neon signs, which will be displayed on iconic buildings around Britain.

The sound artists Zhong Minjie, Yan Jun and Wang Changcun are creating installations at the Southbank Center ballroom, bringing sounds from the streets, shops, bars and workplaces of modern China to London.

Sadler's Wells will put on a season of Chinese dance in May and June. The dancer and choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui has teamed up with the artist Antony Gormley to create a piece inspired by the martial arts of the Buddhist monks from the Shaolin Temple.

China has a very strong classical dance tradition and the impresario Victor Hochhauser is bringing the National Ballet of China to Covent Garden for a week of performances including a new production of Swan Lake by Natalia Makarova and Raise The Red Lantern, based on the controversial 1991 film of the same name.

Hochhauser's China Season will also feature Acrobatic Swan Lake, a radical makeover of the ballet by the Guandong Acrobatic Company, which combines classical ballet with pole balancing, rope walking, and jumping through fire hoops.

The Liverpool Biennial is working with the artist Ai Weiwei, who designed the Beijing Olympic stadium, on a proposal for an ambitious installation, which would consist of a giant spider's web, made of illuminated crystalline strands stretching across the city's Albert Dock.

There will also be a design spectacular, China Design Now, at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Despite China's economic importance, its contemporary culture remains remote in the West. Bringing it to Britain will present the world with "a more balanced and layered picture of contemporary China", the report said, quoting one of the organizers. 

(Xinhua News Agency January 2, 2008)