Birmingham, Glasgow, London and Manchester are to host free events celebrating the lives of the British Chinese in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics.

Silk Screens is a series of simultaneous outdoor film screenings and live events running between noon and 6pm, on Saturday 19 July. Made with the support of BBC Video Nation, more than 50 new films focus on the lives of the British Chinese.

Silk Screens is part of China Now, the largest-ever UK festival of Chinese culture.

The afternoon outdoor spectacles are designed by leading street arts company Emergency Exit Arts, in collaboration with independent producers Tish Francis, Hi Ching, River Cultures and filmmaker Peng Wenlan.

They involve professional and community performers, including dancers, singers, martial artists and Chinese crafts.

Supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, the events reveal the diversity, lives and times of established and new Chinese groups.

Notes to Editors

For further information on China Now, visit: wwwchinanow.org.uk/.

Locations of the events on Saturday 19 July:

• Big screen, Leicester Square, London
• Big screen, Glasgow River Festival
• Big screen, Exchange Square, Manchester
• Big screen, Victoria Square, Birmingham

Silk Screens is a partnership between the BBC, the British Chinese, municipal authorities and artists, community participants and independent producers, which are working together for the first time for this project.

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