Luo Linquan, Chinese consul general in San Francisco, introduces the third "Across the Pacific - China Arts Festival" at a press conference on Aug. 25 at the consulate general in San Francisco. （Photo by Yujie Xue)

San Francisco, Aug. 25——The Third Across the Pacific – China Arts Festival is officially set to open in Northern California and Seattle from Sept. 8 to Oct. 23.

The festival, organized by China International Culture Association in partnership with cultural societies in China and the U.S., will bring Chinese performing arts, including dancing, opera, fine art exhibitions and Chinese movies, to U.S. audiences.

“The Third Across the Pacific – China Arts Festival enriches the meaning of ‘China-U.S. Tourism Year,’" said Luo Linquan, Chinese consul general in San Francisco, at a press conference on Aug. 25.

Early on Feb. 29, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a congratulatory message to the designers of the China-US Tourism Year plan that China and the United States are both proud of their splendid cultures and beautiful landscapes, and that people from both countries are keenly interested in learning more about each other and cementing their friendship.

“I hope we’ll take this opportunity to expand personnel exchange, reinforce cultural exchange and foster a more solid social basis for bilateral relations,” the message read.

The festival is one of the outcomes of the seventh China-U.S. High-Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange, which was held in June in Beijing as part of the Ministry of Culture's efforts to promote Chinese art in the U.S.

Last year, the second Across Pacific - China Arts Festival was held from September to October in Northern California to mark the 36th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the U.S. A crosstalk performance, combining the traditional Chinese humor technique with modern memes by young artists, was presented to U.S. audiences along with other performances.

This year, even more cultural organizations will participate, offering a wider variety of performances and exhibitions. The 2016 offerings include Chinese films using AR/VR technologies and a flash mob of models wearing traditional Chinese qipao at the DAVIS International Film Festival. The festival will also host an exhibition of artwork by over 60 famous artists and calligraphers from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

San Francisco International New Concept Film Festival (SFNCFF) will hold its third annual festival in October 2016. Fifty films will be selected from hundreds of submissions from the U.S., U.K., China, Germany, Japan and Brazil in order to present U.S. audiences with high-quality stories.