Over 100 ethnic Chinese, including students, gathered at the Chinese embassy to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Sunday night to watch the live TV coverage of the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

Some went to the embassy two hours before the ceremony started.

When China's national anthem was sounding from the TV during the closing ceremony, audience at the embassy also stood up and sang the anthem in chorus.

Zhen Mizhang, a Chinese living in Pyongyang, said that every day he followed closely every news about the Olympics. He would be overjoyed each time Chinese athletes got gold medals, he added.

"China won a total of 51 gold medals, which proved China's increasing national strength," he said, "As Chinese living in a foreign country, we were very proud of that."

China demonstrated its power to the world by successfully hosting a grand Olympia, Zhen said. "The Olympic dream cherished by the Chinese people over the past century now came true when China won 100 Olympic medals at the Beijing Olympics," he said.

Zhen said that many Chinese living here have discs with recordings of the Games' opening ceremony as live coverage is unavailable on local TV channels. The more they watched, the happier they were. "We were proud of our motherland's strength and wished the country more prosperous," Zhen said.

More than 30 Chinese students are now staying in Pyongyang. They went to the Chinese embassy to watch the live TV coverage of the Games almost every day.

"We were very excited when knowing the Chinese delegation was on the top of the gold medal list," said Chen Hongzhang, a junior student at Kim Il Sung University.

"Although we are living and studying abroad, we cheer for Chinese athletes from our hearts," Chen said.

"The outstanding performance of the Chinese athletes inspired me to study harder to render service to my nation," said Wu Dingming, a student at Kim Hyong Jik Normal University.

(Xinhua News Agency August 25, 2008)