LOS ANGELES, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- A Spring Festival gala was staged in City of Downey in the U.S. state of California on Wednesday night for hundreds of overseas Chinese and Americans to celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year.

Artists from Zhejiang Conservatory of Music performed dances, jazz music as well as traditional Chinese music and Yue opera at Downey Theatre. The "2019 Happy Chinese New Year, Charming China" gala was supported by the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism and organized by the Charming China IPTV, which has been serving the rapidly increasing overseas Chinese audience as a leading Chinese IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) provider.

"The gala contributes to the work of spreading traditional Chinese culture in the United States," said Deputy Chinese Consul General in Los Angeles Zhuang Zhizhe, adding that the event is helpful to promote bilateral friendship and mutual understanding between China and the United States.

Blanca Pacheco, mayor pro tem of Downey, expressed her welcome for the holding of the Chinese New Year celebration in the city in southern California.

"I hope to make this a yearly event," she told audience before the opening of the performance.

There are varied and colorful events in Southern California to celebrate the coming of the Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year, which will fall on Feb. 5 this year.