The Third International Photography Symposium and the 2019 Lishui Photography Festival opened in Lishui, Zhejiang province on Nov 8, and will last until Nov 12.

The biennial festival attracted 5,021 photographers from 108 countries and regions — professionals and amateurs alike — to sign up for exhibitions, the highest degree of international participation and the largest number of entries in its history.

The year 2019 marks the 180th anniversary of the invention of photography, the 20th anniversary of Lishui being named as "the home of Chinese photography" by the China Photographers Association and the 15th anniversary of the great success of the first Lishui Photography Festival.

Themed on "New Start from Lishui", the festival mirrored the rapid development of photography and expressed the hope that photography, with its history of 180 years, will begin its journey again from Lishui.

Citizens get involved in the exhibitions in the Art Museum of Lishui, on Nov 10, 2019. [Photo by Xiao Da/chinadaily.com.cn]

A total of 837 exhibitions with 16,855 works distributed in 11 exhibition areas (including two branches in Longquan and Songyang county), 31 academic exchange activities, international seminars, artist-in-residence programs, photography product expositions and cultural tourism product fairs were included in the five-day event. In addition, supporting funds for creative works were set up to motivate photographers to keep seeking and exploring, and striving to scale new heights in their art.

Li Qianguang, vice-chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Arts Circles, Xie Yuan, vice-president of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, Zhu Guoxian, publicity chief of Zhejiang province, Hu Haifeng, Party secretary of Lishui, and Wu Xiaodong, mayor of Lishui, attended the opening ceremony of the event on Nov 8.

Taking up the opportunities brought by the event, Lishui will continue to enhance international exchanges and cooperation with the world. It strives to promote the integration of arts and tourism and to combine revolutionary history and ecological beauty by developing the photographic culture industry, said Wu Xiaodong at the opening ceremony.