LOS ANGELES, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- More than 1,000 Chinese and Americans were attracted by a grand Spring Festival gala Sunday night in Los Angeles, the second largest city of the United States, experiencing Chinese culture and tradition in the Chinese Lunar New Year of the Dog.
It was the tenth consecutive year that the "Cultures of China, Festival of Spring" was presented to people in Los Angeles. The artists from China and the United States performed dances, popular songs as well as Kunqu Opera and traditional Chinese music at Luckman Theatre located on the campus of California State University, Los Angeles.
"The performance is amazing and sensational. It caused my homesickness," said Yuan Jing, a Chinese girl who has worked in the United States after graduation from university.
"The Chinese New Year celebration was an extravaganza of music and performance celebrating Chinese life. The performers were young and old, classical opera singers to pop stars to young children," said Diane Jankowski, one of the American audience to the event.
"The emotion in their voices made me understand what they were singing about without knowing one word of Chinese. The beautiful videos of nature scenes and colorful kaleidoscopes of design in the backdrop made it even more lovely to view," she told Xinhua.
The climax of the show was the performance of American operatic tenor Orson Van Gay II from L.A. Opera who sang a famous Chinese song "I Love You, China" in mandarin and won loud applause from audience.
The performance was "particularly exciting and important to me," said the tenor, noting that he sang a Chinese song in mandarin for public the first time.
"For the first time, I was able to understand that we all obviously share the same passion and love. It was really fantastic concept beyond the interpretation," he said.
"Overall, I think music is supposed to transcend all barriers. And for that, that spoken special true to me." he added.
The "Cultures of China, Festival of Spring" global tour was initiated in 2009 by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of China's State Council. It has become an important part of Chinese New Year celebrations for overseas Chinese as well as locals and has reached hundreds of cities around the world.
