By Tao Jun, Bui Long

HANOI, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of Vietnamese people, including officials, scholars, lecturers and students, were enthralled by Chinese performers, particularly dancers clad in colorful costumes of ethnic minority groups.

The Vietnamese audience on Wednesday enjoyed an audio and visual feast held at Hanoi University of Culture as part of a cultural exchange program supported by the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam, and conducted by the China Culture Center in Hanoi and the Vietnam-China Cultural Exchange Club.

The performance, prepared by both Chinese and Vietnamese singers, instrumentalists and dancers, utterly captivated the audience. Those watching frequently applauded, nodded their heads, and moved their feet in time with the rhythms of big drums or stone or bamboo musical instruments.

"For many Vietnamese people, perhaps this is the first time they have seen Chinese artists performing in Vietnam. Their performances were very exciting," Tran Nhat Hoang, vice director of the International Cooperation Department under the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, told Xinhua after the show.

According to Hoang, the show is a typical form of people-to-people exchange which plays an important role in reinforcing and bolstering the traditional friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and China.

"In addition to political, economic and social development, we attach importance to fostering culture, sports and tourism, three areas in which we enthusiastically cooperate with China," the Vietnamese official stated.

"People-to-people exchanges enhance mutual understanding and that is an important foundation of Vietnam-China relations," Hoang said.

"If we understand each other better, we will work with each other better," he added.

The leader of the Hanoi-based Vietnam-China Cultural Exchange Club echoed Hoang's statement.

"I think that cultural exchanges and people-to-people exchanges between Vietnam and China are of importance," the club's chairman Nguyen Van Tinh told Xinhua after the show.

The chairman expressed his hope that the two governments will create more favorable conditions for the two countries, especially border provinces, to conduct their exchanges and deepen relations.

"The art program today was very wonderful. All Vietnamese and Chinese performances were breathtaking, especially the songs and dances of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region," said the chairman.

Not only Tinh, Hoang and many other Vietnamese in the audience highlighted the importance of people-to-people exchanges, partly through Chinese spectacular dances and sweet songs, but also local performers at the show spoke highly of the cultural exchanges between the two countries.

"This show is very meaningful to the Vietnam-China friendship. It is very special. I'm happy to perform here along with Chinese artists. I'm most impressed by their dances," Thu Huong, a young member of the Vietnamese orchestra "Suc Song Moi" (New Vitality), the only local orchestra to have all musical instruments made from bamboo like the flute, T'rung xylophone and Vietnamese plucked zither (similar to Chinese guzheng), told Xinhua.

Thu Huong, a musician when it comes to traditional bamboo instruments, proposed Vietnamese and Chinese organizations and individuals organize more exchange programs based on music and other forms of art in Vietnam and China because it is a good way to strengthen the friendship between the two countries.

"I have already visited China and want to visit again. Being artists, we'd like to perform at festivals and exchange programs. It is truly wonderful," the young performer, wearing a blue ao dai (Vietnamese traditional long dress) said, blossoming into a charming smile.

Other Vietnamese people also expressed their desire to visit and study in China, and their hope that Vietnam and China will step up people-to-people exchanges.

"We should promote studying abroad. I hope that more overseas study companies will be established to send more Vietnamese students to China to widen their visions," Hoang Ha, a first-year student at Hanoi University of Culture, told Xinhua.

Another student, Pham Thi Huong, at the Vietnam University of Traditional Medicine, told Xinhua that besides cultural exchanges and cooperation between Vietnam and China, the two countries should beef up exchanges and cooperation in other fields, including medicine.

"My university and Tianjin Medical University in China cooperate in training. We should strengthen medical exchanges because China has the world's leading medicine," would-be-doctor Huong proposed, smiling warmly.