Feature: China Day hits Seoul amid growing China-S. Korea people-to-people exchanges

Traditional Chinese folk arts were performed at the Seoul Plaza on Saturday as part of the third China Day in Seoul activities aimed at deepening South Koreans' understanding of Chinese culture amid increasing people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.

The event saw 12 Chinese and South Korean performing groups staging marvelous folk dances and more than 40 organizations set up booths in the plaza for visitors to practice traditional Chinese calligraphy or learn Beijing Opera mask making, among others.

"The performances are very impressive. I like the event," Choi Hyuk told Xinhua in Chinese.

Choi, who works in the Hana Bank and is studying Chinese calligraphy, said he learned the Chinese language two years ago and a lot of his friends and other South Koreans are learning the language since they are increasingly interested in Chinese culture and are hoping to visit the country.

"It is my first time to watch the dragon dancing and lion dancing. It is really interesting. I hope I could enjoy more shows like this," an 11-year-old South Korean girl, Lee Go-eun, told Xinhua with a thumbs-up.

The China Day event coincided with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's first official visit to the country in his premiership, aiming at forging better bilateral ties, deepening mutual trust and expanding exchanges and creative cooperation.

Bilateral people-to-people exchanges including tourism have witnessed growth momentum in recent years. The latest statistics showed that more than 5 million people from China and South Korea visited each other's countries in the fist half of this year, an increase of 10 percent on year.

Li Yaying, deputy director-general of the Marketing and International Cooperation Department of the China National Tourism Administration, told a press conference here Friday that over 100 flights and 30,000 tourists are traveling between the two countries every day, which greatly enhanced mutual understanding between the two peoples.

She said that tourism cooperation has become a new bright spot of the China-South Korea strategic cooperative partnership and injected impetus to the development of bilateral ties.

The booming trend will continue into next year, the Tourist Year of South Korea in China, Li added.

Mayor of Seoul Park Won-soon said he hopes the colorful China Day activities could help deepen mutual understanding between Seoul citizens and Chinese visitors and the Chinese people who live in Seoul.

Shi Ruilin, culture counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Seoul, told Xinhua that culture exchanges pull Chinese and South Koreans closer together.

"More cultural exchanges will definitely boost comprehensive development of bilateral cooperation," he said. Enditem