The central province of Henan will organize 6,000 movie shows for its people during the traditional Spring Festival, more than 70 percent of which will be played in villages, an official said here Wednesday.

The province aimed to entertain people living in rural areas and show them the development of the film industry, said Guo Junmin, director of the Provincial Department of Culture, at a ceremony marking the start of the "Good Films for Communities" program.

Twenty relatively poor counties in Henan Province received caravans and projection equipment from the Provincial Department of Culture at the ceremony.

Standing in front of two projectors and two caravans, Lu Xianyu, director of the bureau of culture in Biyang county, grinned and said "We plan to give 60 movie shows at 24 townships. It will be easy for us to achieve the goal with this equipment."

Lu said his colleagues had previously driven motor tricycles to play films in rural areas.

A number of films including some on social models will be played, according to Guo.

The province has allocated 2.4 million yuan (300,000 U.S. dollars) to purchase projectors and caravans, which have been sent to the 20 counties including Biyang.

The Spring Festival, or China's Lunar New Year, is a major traditional family reunion festival. The 2006 Spring Festival falls on Jan. 29.

Source: Xinhua