by Xinhua writer Chen Wenxian

JERUSALEM, March 1 (Xinhua) -- A Spring Festival gala for Chinese and Israeli youths was held Friday at Kalay High School in central Israeli city of Givatayim. Chinese and Israeli young students jointly performed Chinese traditional arts.

The Chinese traditional song "Jasmine" performed by a band of Kalay High School kicked off the festival event. A girl sang the well-known song in Chinese and the performance was greeted with enthusiastic applause.

The gala event was held in the school's gym, which was decorated with red Chinese knots, lanterns, folding fans and colorful balloons.

Students from Kalay High School also staged a dance performance with the background song of "Little Apple," which was popular and cheerful.

Chinese students presented some Chinese traditional music. Pan Jiayu from Tel Aviv University performed "Fern-leaf Hedge Bamboo under the Moonlight" with Chinese traditional instrument of cucurbit flute.

Guzheng performance of "Snow Mountain in Spring" by Chen Siyan from Tel Avi University and Guqin performance of "Drunk Fisherman Sings the Night" by Yuan Shiran from Israel Institute of Technology (Technion) attracted audience.

Tai Chi performance by Maciek from Confucius Institute of Tel Aviv University, Tai Chi single broadsword by Li Linfeng from Bar-Ilan University, and Kungfu performance by the national team of martial arts of Israel, also got a resounding round of applause.

"This is the first time for our school to hold such a kind of event and it is marvellous. This is a good opportunity for our students to learn Chinese traditional culture," said Avi Benbenishty, principle of Kalay High School, in an interview with Xinhua.

"Our students are always curious about Chinese culture and they feel very excited to attend the event. We will try our best to create more opportunities for students to learn more about China," added Benbenishty.

After the performances, interesting activities were also held in the school, including Chinese calligraphy, Chinese papercuts, Chinese painting and tea arts.

"It is very interesting," said Shani Handelsman, a grade-9 student of the school. The young girl told Xinhua that she learned a lot about Chinese traditional culture from the event and greatly enjoyed it, while she was drawing rivers and trees in Chinese brush.

"Chinese traditional culture is different from Israeli culture. I want to learn more about it. China sounds wonderful and I hope to be there," said Handelsman.

"Our students could be more familiar with the Chinese culture from such event," said Izhar Oplatka, city councillor responsible for the education system in Givatayim.

Oplatka added in recent years more and more programs have been carried out to expose students to the Chinese culture, which is "meaningful and colourful."