Some of the people hundreds of children were showing gratitude to this week work at China's Ministry of Culture. The Ministry had its closing ceremony for Children's Music Drama Week last Saturday.

Some 600 children and musical teachers from 15 different provinces participated in the activity, and you can tell from their happy faces that they gained a great deal from the experience.

The Children's Music Show began from August 22nd and ended on 28th. During the one week time, there were 20 children's music shows presented to audiences around Beijing.

Last Saturday, "Songs to Grow Up With" told the audience a great story about a musical teacher who volunteers to work in a remote village. There she tries her best to find singing in the village.

During the one week time, there were 20 children's music shows presented to audiences

around Beijing.

The songs presented in this drama include "Little Shell Trumpet","Little Girl Picking Mushrooms" and "Two Tigers", bringing many adults in the audience back to their own childhood.

A little actress said, "I like musical drama and do plan to work at it in the future."

Those little actors and actresses have come from primary schools for children of workers from other provinces. They sometimes played the accompaniment for the musical drama. Though this was the first time for most of them to participate in a musical, they were very excited about it and loved doing it.

Zhang Didi, artistic director of Musicalchina.com, said, "Musical drama needs a base. This base has to be built up by people who love it. The most important is to promote children to learn, it will be significant for the development of music drama."

Over recent years, a lot of foreign musicals have been introduced to the Chinese audience. But as a producer of musicals, China is only in the beginning phase of development.

The Ministry of Culture hopes this activity can help build a foundation and make strides toward a music filled future.