PHNOM PENH, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- A 32-member Beautiful Tianjin Art Troupe of China performed traditional Chinese dances, music, martial arts and acrobatics at the Diamond Island Theatre here on Thursday night ahead of the Spring Festival, which falls on Feb. 8.

     The show, presided over by Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Cabinet Minister Sok An, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, and Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Bu Jianguo, attracted approximately 3,000 spectators.

     Speaking to the audience, Sok An said the performance would contribute further to enhancing long-lasting traditional relations and cooperation between the two countries.

     "The performance is a good opportunity for all of us to better understand about culture, value of arts, and people of the two countries -- Cambodia and China," he said.

     He stressed that Chinese New Year is considered as the one of the most important days for the Chinese people and it influences some countries in Asia.

     Tan Qingsheng, political councilor of the Chinese Embassy to Cambodia, said since 2010, the Chinese Ministry of Culture has organized arts performances in friendly countries around the world to celebrate the Spring Festival.

     "The purpose of the performances is to exchange culture between China and other countries and to deepen people-to-people relations, " he said.

     At the show, Cambodian artists from the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the National Television of Cambodia also entertained the audience through performing traditional dances and music.

     The three-hour show presented diverse artistic forms and each of the performances had drawn hearty rounds of applause from the audience.

     "It was an amazing show, all performers -- both Cambodian and Chinese ones -- are very talented," a 31-year-old spectator Prak Sina told Xinhua. "I long to see more of such performances."

     Chem Monykakada, a student at the Royal University of Law and Economics, said it was the first time she watched Chinese arts performance and it was really marvelous.

     "It was the best-ever performance that I had seen," she said. "Such performance gave an opportunity to Cambodian people to explore the richness of Chinese culture."