HANOI, May 11 (Xinhua) -- During their performances in the country, the Chinese martial arts experts, especially the Shaolin Kungfu masters, have thrilled and won praises from Vietnamese from all walks of life.
"This is the first time I saw the performance of Chinese artists and I am very impressed, especially by the Shaolin monks," said 25-year-old Vu Thi Tuyet Nhung, an English teacher in a secondary school here.
Nhung said that through the performance, he was able to learn more about the ancient Chinese art of self-defense as well as the richness and diversity of the Chinese culture.
A 33-member martial arts troupe from China's Henan province is performing in various parts of Vietnam from May 8 to 18. This is part of the cultural exchange activities during Vietnam's National Tourism Year, Red River Delta-Haiphong 2013 with the cooperation of China.
Henan's Shaolin Kungfu is widely known throughout the world. The troupe has already performed in 30 countries and territories in the world.
On the troupe's first show in Vietnam on Thursday night, the 500-seat Workers Theatre here was filled to the brim with excited audiences applauding the Chinese performers during the entire show. "All performances were so wonderful. The artists are so young but so talented. I have watched Shaolin Kungfu on television but to watch it performed live is really more exciting," said Nguyen Quang An, 76.
"I and my son love the show so much. We ran to the stage to pose with Shaolin Kungfu monks right after the show as this is a rare opportunity for us to watch their performance here," a 27- year-old mother said.
Kang Jie, vice director of the culture department of Henan province, head of the troupe, told Xinhua that she hopes that the show would win Vietnamese audiences' heart as Vietnamese people prefer Kungfu and acrobatic performance.
"We hope that through this event, the two countries and two peoples will get to know each other's culture better, contributing to the mutual exchange of cultural activities," she said.
Yang Jianchu, counselor at Chinese embassy in Vietnam, said that Vietnamese and Chinese culture are similar, therefore it is quite easy to understand each other. "We should do more to strengthen mutual cultural understanding. Deeper knowledge and understanding could further strengthen the friendship between our two countries," Yang said.
Yang said that Vietnam and China have a long tradition of friendship and with lots of similarity in culture.
"We are pleased with the development of the cultural relations between the two countries in the past few years. In the future, the two sides will continue to further boost cooperation and exchange of cultural delegations as a new agreement on cultural cooperation for 2013-2015 period is expected to be signed by the two sides at the upcoming 6th session of the Vietnam-China steering committee for bilateral cooperation in Beijing from May 10 -12," said Nguyen Van Tinh, director general of the international department under the ministry of culture, sports and tourism of Vietnam.
The Chinese Kungfu masters performed in Hanoi from May 9-10. They will perform in the northern city of Haiphong on May 14 and in the southern city of Ho Chi Minh on May 16