Festival Croisements Welcomes a Porcelain Anniversary in Shanghai

What can best capture a 20-year cultural dialogue between China and France? This year, the answer is porcelain, elegant, enduring and shaped with patience over time.

Over the past two decades, the festival has grown into the largest foreign arts festival in China and one of France's most influential cultural initiatives abroad. In 2026, it returns with over 40 projects and 100 events across the city, bringing together music, visual art, theater, film, literature and immersive experiences in a season of creativity and dialogue.

The choice of porcelain as this year's visual identity feels especially fitting. Beyond its elegance, porcelain carries the symbolism of a 20th anniversary while reflecting the qualities that have shaped the festival itself: craftsmanship, resilience and beauty formed over time. That spirit runs through this year's program, which brings some of France's most celebrated artistic voices to Chinese audiences while opening new space for exchange and collaboration.

Music stands out as one of the festival's key highlights, with internationally acclaimed French orchestras and musicians set to perform in Shanghai. The visual arts program is equally ambitious, featuring major exhibitions by leading architects and contemporary artists, alongside projects that explore ceramics, collecting, and digital creativity. On stage, audiences can expect high-profile theatre and musical productions, while signature programs in film, literature and graphic narrative continue to expand the festival's reach and deepen its cultural presence.

For two decades, Festival Croisements has offered a meeting point for artists, ideas and audiences from France and China. It continues to show that cultural exchange can be delicate and enduring at once, shaped with care, enriched by time, and capable of creating something lasting.