Jing'an stages a host of events to cap a busy month

A number of activities were held in the district this month, including a coffee feast, a jazz festival and a theatrical extravaganza.

This year’s Modern Drama Valley featured 23 productions from home and abroad over the course of 18 days.

In addition, around 300 performances were staged on streets, business zones and other public locations, with some of them merging with the coffee and jazz festivals.

The 2023 Shanghai Jing’an World Coffee Culture Festival was held on Anyi Road, a popular pop-up pedestrian-only weekend market.

Blue Bottle, %Arabica, Lavazza, GABEE, MQ Coffee, Black Sheep, DOE Coffee and Seesaw were among the 38 prominent coffee companies that took part in the festival. Starbucks’ first foreign Reserve Roastery on Nanjing Road W. was also hosting a two-week ice coffee festival.

The JZ Spring 2023 included over 100 local and international musicians who performed in theaters and on street corners.

Jazz singer Laura Fygi, acclaimed guitarist Ralph Towner, Grammy-winning artist Richard Bona and jazz guitarist Xiao Jun were among the big names to perform here.

On May 18, the International Museum Day, the Shanghai Natural History Museum hosted the annual “Night at the Museum” event, which included a TED speaker, a guided tour and a science fair.

Jiang Xiaowei

At the Shanghai Mylnikov Art Museum, an exhibition honoring former Soviet artist Andrei Andreevich Mylnikov (1919–2012) as well as the 35-year sistership ties between Shanghai and St Petersburg opened.

Mylnikov had a significant impact on Chinese art education, and his works incorporated traditional Chinese ink painting.

Nearly 100 works by Mylnikov and his students are on display, including those of Xiao Feng, former president of the China Academy of Art, and Quan Shanshi, former vice chairman of the China Oil Painting Society.

It will be on display until June 18.

There were also two important sporting events.

The Shanghai leg of the International Fencing Federation’s Foil Grand Prix was held in the city after a three-year hiatus.

It drew 340 fencers from over 40 countries and regions as it is a qualifying event for the Summer Olympics in Paris in 2024.

Alexander Massialas of the United States won the men’s event, and Anne Sauer of Germany won the women’s event.

Also, around 4,800 runners competed in the 2023 Shanghai Jing’an Queen’s Half Marathon in late April. They took off from Daning Park and proceeded to nearby sites such as IMIX Park mall, Lingshi Road and International Film and Television Park Circum-SHU (Shanghai University).

The event attracted mostly female runners.

Chinese runner Wang Wentian won the half marathon with a time of 1:19:27. Yang Lixue finished second, followed by Tang Xiaofen.