At the closing ceremony for the 8th China Arts Festival, Vice Minister of Culture of the PRC Chen Xiaoguang handed over the flag of the arts festival to Mayor Zhang Guangning who officially announced that Guangzhou would host the 9th China Arts Festival in 2010.

The China Arts Festival is the most famous festival of its kind in China. Since 1987, eight sessions have been held in Beijing, Yunnan, Gansu, Sichuan, Jiangsu and Hubei respectively.

The Guangzhou municipal government and Guangzhou party committee have attached great importance to the hosting application for the festival since 2005. As a result of their joint efforts, Guangzhou has defeated its components like Beijing and Shanghai to became the first provincial city to host the festival in the name of the city instead of the province.

At the closing ceremony on November 20th, the Guangzhou Acrobatic Troupe acrobats performed Journey to the West and the musical, Star, was performed by Guangzhou Song and Dance Ensemble who won the highest prize – the Wenhua Award. It is the first time for Guangzhou to win the award and it was also the first time for any city to win two such prizes at one session.