HANOI, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- An evening for Chinese traditional art kicked off the celebration of the traditional Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi on Wednesday.

The art evening was attended by representatives from the Vietnamese government and the Vietnam-China Friendship Association, along with teachers and students from local universities and overseas Chinese.

Artists from the Guangxi Theater of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region performed popular Chinese traditional music pieces and excerpts of Chinese traditional opera, which won a warm applause from the audience.

The event impressed Nguyen Thi Hang, a 20-year-old member of the audience. The undergraduate at Hanoi University majored in Chinese said she loved Chinese culture for a long time.

"The art evening was wonderful, especially the Monkey King in the Peking Opera performance. It was very exciting. I look forward to seeing more such art in Vietnam in the future," said the young woman.

Peng Shituan, cultural counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam, said that the Guangxi Theater brought the essence of Chinese traditional art to Vietnam for the evening and created a cultural and artistic feast on the theme of Mid-Autumn Festival by combining various performance art forms including the Peking Opera.

Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as Moon Festival, is celebrated in Vietnam as well, he noted, adding that the art evening displays common cultural values shared by audiences from both countries, helping strengthen the people-to-people bond.

The art evening was hosted by the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam, co-organized by the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and undertaken by the Chinese Culture Center in Hanoi, the department of culture and tourism of Guangxi and the Guangxi Theater.

The art evening event will run until Thursday evening.