Art festival helping to stimulate a rural economy

Corn Circle at Xucun

Corn cobs through the moongate

Denise with Xucun villagers

The Circle of Corn

Unloading corn cobs

Young people of Xucun

Denise Keele Bedford was in Beijing recently en-route to Australia after participating in a unique art festival. This was in Xucun village in the Taihang Mountains of Shanxi. In beautiful weather Denise not only enjoyed this ancient settlement but also the surrounding spectacular landscape. The village has only about 1000 people and part of the aim of the festival is to stimulate the local economy.

Denise was amazed to find in such a relatively remote and small community that there was 'wi-fi' and so was able to send out daily reports on the festival set in a very beautiful location.

Part of her time was working with children groups - having them participate in the arts project. She took many photos and presently in her studio near Melbourne is editing some of these images into a catalogue on the festival.

People in her homeland are fascinated about her China experiences and why she loves coming back here so often. Her reputation has led to many invitations to attend festivals and artistic events throughout China.