The Chinese Embassy in Denmark held a gala party at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen on Saturday to celebrate the forthcoming traditional Chinese Spring Festival 2011, the Year of the Rabbit in the Chinese lunar calendar.

Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen sent a message prior to the gala to express his appreciation and support.

"It is a great pleasure for me to extend my warmest greetings to all Chinese in Denmark and in China. I hope that 2011-the year of the Rabbit- will be just as good as fruitful as 2010 for the Sino-Danish relationship. I wish all Chinese in Denmark and China a happy and prosperous year," said the prime minister.

"It has been 10 years since we hold the 1st Chinese New Year Performance in 2002," Xie Hangsheng, China's Ambassador to Denmark, said at the opening. "We are happy to see that the performance has been serving not only as a significant tradition in celebrating the Chinese New Year in Denmark, but also a sparkling brand in promoting cultural exchanges and mutual understanding between our two countries."

Xie reviewed the bilateral relations and cooperation over the past year, and placed great hope on future development.

"Sino-Danish relation and cooperation will progress on a broader platform, largely focusing on environmental technology and Green Growth. I firmly believe that, with out joint efforts, a brighter and fruitful future of our bilateral relations will be realized in the interest of both peoples and both countries," said the ambassador.

Per Stig Moeller, Culture Minister of Denmark, delivered a speech and sent his best wishes for the future of China and the world.

He also affirmed the achievement of cultural exchange between both countries. "By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall. As we wish to create a better world for our descendants, we must unite."

"We each carry a cultural backpack. And with that we should face the world with an open mind, make our separate marks internationally and be inspired by other cultures. This is exactly what now happens between Chinese and Danish culture," said the culture minister.

The gala was opened in the song of "Festival Sinfonia." Artists from "Beauty & Melody" of Sichuan, the pillar of the Spring Festival gala 2011, expressed their festival happiness through music and dances.

Artists played both passionate folk music and elegant concert music with various traditional Chinese musical instruments such as Bamboo Flute, Jinghu, and Pipa. The ensemble bravely changed the playing ways of traditional instruments, absorbing the Chinese classical and folk music elements and presenting a visual and musical feast to the audience.

They exhibited the variety of Chinese music and China's rich and multi-ethnic civilization from the song of "My Sweetheart Is as the Dama Flower" to the Erhu performance of "Czardas," to the quartet of "the Love Song of Kangding City." And the atmosphere was heated up in the last ensemble & dance "Xianzi and Tita."

Some 1,000 overseas Chinese and foreign friends attended the Spring Festival Gala. Among the attendees were diplomatic envoys in Denmark, leaders of local Chinese communities, Chinese students studying in Denmark and Chinese business owners.

(Xinhua News Agency January 31, 2011)