Programs typical of Chinese traditional flavor from both the mainland and Taiwan were featured prominently in Beijing's annual international festival of drama and dance which opened Friday at the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA).

The festival, the 7th of its kind, opened with the opera, "Xi Shi," which rediscovers the legend of the well-known beauty who invented the earliest tap dance in China.

Another program thick with traditional Chinese flavor, "Cursive," was performed by Taiwan Cloud Gate Dance Theater. The work absorbed elements of calligraphy and was staged with slides of gigantic brush characters in the backdrop.

The six-week event will be concluded by "The Jade Hairpin," a new play of Kunqu opera by internationally renowned writer Pai Hsien-yung.

The Chinese works will also be complemented by foreign works as "Don Quixote" by the American Ballet Theater and "Romeo and Juliet" by the British TNT Theater.