Bay Area overseas Chinese mark 40th anniversary of China-U.S. relations with crossover concert

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Overseas Chinese in the Bay Area held a crossover style concert late Saturday night to mark the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between China and the United States.

Hundreds of overseas Chinese and American guests in North America attended the musical gala -- Frank and Friends Concert -- presented by famous tenor Frank Auyeung in the Bay Area and other overseas Chinese art groups, artists and American singers.

The concert featured a mix of Chinese folk songs, classical movie songs, European opera arias, and selected Broadway music, including Recondita Armonia from the 1900 opera Tosca by Giacomo Puccini, Lo Son L'umile Ancella from Adriana Lecouvreur, a four-act opera written by Italian composer Francesco Cilea, and Song of Pear Flowers adapted from China's Peking Opera.

Chinese Consul General in San Fransisco Wang Donghua said the event is the first concert held this year by the people in the Bay Area to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the China-U.S. relations.

"This is an timely event staged at a time when China-U.S. relationship is experiencing some difficulties," he said, adding that the Chinese-U.S. friendship is a hard-won result that deserves "our efforts to cherish."

"Tonight's concert is a wonderful event that aims to push forward the China-U.S. ties and increase the bonds of friendship between the Chinese and American people," he said.

The concert itself proved that more and more people are willing to see more harmonious bilateral relations, Wang added.

Frank Auyeung, the host singer of the concert, who has been a long-time advocate for promoting China-U.S. relations, said the people in the Bay Area are yearning for a better China-U.S. future when they are disappointed with the disputes between China and the United States.

"We are really upset about the difficult moment in the China-U.S. relations, and we are obliged to do more to tighten the connections between Chinese and American people. That's why the concert was made possible within only one month via the joint efforts of many friends and organizations in the Bay Area," he said.

Allanda Small, an award-winning American lyric soprano from New York who performed two opera selections at the concert, said "it was special do the events and share the joy of singing and the joy of fellowship, which I believe ties us all together."

"An event like this continues to remind us that we have so much in common, and even though there are differences in our culture, there are the commonalities with us as human beings all across the world," she said.

"Coming together through music shows us how we can relate to one another, and the concert is a great example of the many types of such events that we can do to come together," she noted.

The concert was attended by many local government officials and state leaders, including California Assemblyman Kansen Chu, and elected officials from Bay Area cities of Millbrae, Cupertino, Saratoga and Fremont.