March 20, 1998

Chapter I General Rules

Article 1 Wenhua Prize is the highest prize of professional arts established by the Ministry of Culture.

Article 2 Stick to the direction of serving the people and socialism development; persist in the policies of letting a hundred of flowers bloom and a hundred of schools of thought contend, bringing forth the new by weeding through the old, and making the past serve the present and foreign things serve China; stick to representing the main theme of socialism times, calling for diversification of subjects, forms, styles and schools; and stick to the principle of guidance, authority and fair. By means of granting prizes, prompt the arts and performance groups to bring forth good performance and excellent talents, and enhance the prosperity and development of arts.

Article 3 The prize is granted once a year.

Chapter II Prizes Setting

Article 4 Wenhua Prize consists of comprehensive prizes and individual prizes. Comprehensive Prizes consist of Grand Wenhua Prize, Wenhua New Play Prize, Wenhua New Program Prize, Wenhua New Play Special Prize. Individual prizes consist of Wenhua Play Prize, Wenhua Lyrics Prize, Wenhua Director Prize, Wenhua Choreographer Prize, Wenhua Music Prize, Wenhua Stage Arts Prize and Wenhua Performance Prize.

Article 5 Wenhua New Play Prize is granting to a whole large play or program, including new play, adapted play, transplanted play, drama, opera, pantomime, children play and large dance and singing with complete conception.

Wenhua New Program Prize is granted to small-sized programs, including two different types, the first is opera and folk arts, including opera, drama and skits, one-actor drama,Quyi, puppet and shadow play etc.; the second is music, dance and acrobatics, including singing, dance, music, minitype opera, minitype pantomime and acrobatics, etc.

Wenhua New Play Special Prize is granted to the new play that has achieved outstanding achievement in a certain field.

Grand Wenhua Prize is granted to the most excellent play or program among the awarded plays (programs).

Article 6 Grand Wenhua Prize is granted once every three years. Grand Wenhua Prize could be vacant, and adjustment could be made among various art prizes, but the total number of prizes shall not exceed 18.

Article 7 Each time, the number of Wenhua New Play Prize shall not exceed 25, Wenhuan New Program Prize shall not exceed 15, and Wenhua New Play Special Prize shall not exceed 5.

Article 8 The total number of Wenhua individual prizes shall not exceed 60, in which Wenhua New Program Prize shall not exceed 10. Wenhua New Play Special Prize has no individual award.

Article 9 When the conditions become mature, literature and fine arts prizes shall be added.

Chapter III Conditions of Participation

Article 10 The participants of Wenhua Prize shall have the following qualification

1. New plays (programs) produced by professional arts and performance group (including folk professional troupes and professional troupes managed by the community).

2. The premiere date of the new play shall be within 5 years, and that of the new program shall be within 3 years.

3. The candidates shall have attended professional performance held by the Ministry of Culture, or played in Beijing in the valid evaluation period, or recommended by local culture department or related authorities if not played in Beijing.

4. The number of showings of the performance shall be more than 30 (large opera shall be more than 15 showings).

5. Plays (Programs) officially declared by provincial Department of Culture or related authorities.

6. Those plays (programs) participated in evaluation but failed can still apply for the next within expiry date.

7. Those plays that have been granted Wenhua New Play Special Prize can apply for Wenhua New Play Prize with modification and improvement. Those plays that have been granted Wenhua New Play Prize or New Program Prize can participated in the evaluation of Grand Wenhua Prize after modification and further improvement.

Chapter IV Evaluation Institutions

Article 11 Wenhua Prize has set up Evaluation and Awarding Committee. The Committee carries out evaluation activities under the direction of the Ministry of Culture. It consists of leaders from Ministry of Culture, Arts Bureau and personnel from related departments and well-known experts from art fields. Members of the Committee are appointed by the Ministry of Culture. Each session has a certain number of members changed. The member of Committee shall shy away if his/her direct relatives have works attending the evaluation.

Article 12 The Evaluation and Awarding Committee has posts of director, vice director, secretary-general, deputy secretary general, counselors and commissioners. The Committee has various awarding groups including opera group, drama group, singing and dancing group, children play group, and minitype program group. Under authorization of the Committee, each group carries out Evaluation and Awarding activities according to specified prize quantity.

Article 13 Public promulgation system has been put into practice for awarding opinions and comments for the awarded plays and programs, and the opinions and comments shall be publicized onArt Communicationfor monitoring of awarding works.

Article 14 Evaluation and Awarding Committee has offices. The tasks of the offices shall be assumed by Culture Bureau, which is responsible for the organization and daily management of awardin.

Article 15 The jury and staff shall comply with the awarding regulations and related regulations, to prevent inequitable competition, unhealthy practice and corruption. To those who violate related regulations and are involved in fraudulent practices for personal gain shall be disposed seriously. Any individual or unit that participates in the evaluation shall not resort to bribery, if any, the qualification of awarding shall be cancelled.

V Evaluation Procedure

Article 16 Local plays (programs) that participate in the evaluation shall be recommended by Culture Bureau of the province, autonomous region and municipality; plays (programs) from military system shall be recommended by General Political Culture Department; plays (programs) from affiliated institutions directly under the central government, related ministries and commissions, shall be submitted by the performance units and apply for awarding upon agreement of upper-level authorities. Forms shall be filled and information provided for the recommended plays (programs) in line with the requirement of the awarding office.

Article 17 Detailed procedure of evaluation:

1. Evaluation Office makes preliminary election first according to the evaluation conditions and put forward preliminary list. The number of plays or programs on preliminary list shall be 30% more than the stipulated prize quantity.

2. The jury shalll carefully watch the videos of the plays or programs on the preliminary list in groups, write down opinions with reference to normal stage performance conditions and on the basis of extensive discussion, then put up candidates.

3. On the basis of nomination, select Wenhua New Play Prize, New Program Prize and New Play Special Prize with signed ballots, and write down comments.

4. From those plays or programs that have been awarded Wenhua New Play Prize or New Program Prize, various individual prizes are selected.

5. Those plays or programs that have been awarded Wenhua New Play Prize or New Program Prize have the qualifications to participate in China Art Festival and the evaluation of Grand Wenhua Prize carried out on the festival.

Article 18 When voting, the present member of committee shall not be less than 3/4 of the due number. When calculating the ballots, only those with ballots of more than half the actual present number are valid, and voting on behalf of others is invalid. The consultants do not vote. If the last name quota has two or more plays (programs) have the same number of ballots competing, it shall be voted again; if they get the same number of ballots again, then none of them shall be recognized.

Article 19 The order of positions of the winning plays and programs shall be based on the number of respective ballots.

Article 20 If dispute arises in the process of election, it is up to the director and deputy director of the Evaluation Committee after negotiation of the members of the committee.

Article 21 The result of evaluation will come into effect upon examination and approval of the Ministry of Culture. 

VI Praise and Encouragement

Article 22 Certificate, medal and bonus shall be granted to organizations of comprehensive program and artistic workers that have been awarded individual prizes.

VII Supplementary Rules

Article 23 The Ministry of Culture reserves the right of interpretation.

Article 24 These regulations shall come into force as of the date of promulgation. The Regulation on Wenhua Prize of the Ministry of Culture promulgated onMarch 24, 1997shall be abrogated as of the same date.