ADDIS ABABA, June 23 (Xinhua) -- The Addis Ababa Confucius Institute (AACI) on Saturday colorfully celebrated the Chinese traditional Dragon Boat Festival on the institute's premises in Ethiopia's capital.

The celebration has attracted Ethiopian government officials, Chinese diplomats in Ethiopia as well as instructors and students of the Ethio-China Polytechnic College among others.

Demonstration of Chinese traditional tea making, Chinese and Ethiopian cultural performances by the Chinese and Ethiopians as well as award giving to outstanding Ethiopian performers of "Singing Chinese Songs" competitions and certificate issuing to excellent Chinese volunteer instructors of AACI were among the major activities featured during the celebration.

In his opening remark, Wondwossen Kiflu, Ethiopian State Minister of Education, said that in addition to the various training programs to Ethiopians in the last two years, the AACI has organized a series of Chinese culture activities that strengthen ties and friendship between Ethiopia and China.

He also noted that with the joint effort by the Ministries of Education of China and Ethiopia, the Chinese Embassy in Ethiopia, Confucius Institute headquarters and Tianjin University of Technology and Education, the AACI has been running well since establishment here in Ethiopia. The minister has expressed hope that the AACI would make more contributions to the educational and cultural exchanges between Ethiopia and China.

Presenting awards to outstanding performers of Chinese culture and excellent Chinese volunteers, Xie Xiaoyan, Chinese Ambassador to Ethiopia, said that such cultural activities would further enhance the ties and friendship between the two countries and help better understanding among their peoples.

The ambassador also encouraged such interaction and activities to be continued in the future.

Speaking on behalf of the Chinese volunteers in Ethiopia, Du Baodong, stated that the volunteers have experienced the wonderfulness of working as volunteers in Ethiopia.

Du also thanked the AACI and all other parties for creating the fora to meet Ethiopians and to learn each other, share experiences and strengthen brotherhood and sisterhood between the Chinese and Ethiopians.

"We also want to thank our Ethiopian students and colleagues who helped us a lot and taught us a lot. From you, we understood how friendly Ethiopian people are. All in all, to all of us, the past year is the year we will never forget," he said.

Kassahun Sime is a Construction Technology student at the Ethio- China Polytechnic College/Federal Technical and Vocational Training Institute.

He was awarded for being one of the outstanding performers of ' Singing Chinese Songs' and for his fast learning of basic Chinese language.

Kssahun told Xinhua that he has found that the Chinese language and culture is very interesting and with the help of the Chinese instructors that he and his friends have been able to reach the level they are now with the language.

"I will stay for about three years here in the college and hopefully we will have more chances to attend Chinese language classes and taking this opportunity I want to further develop the language and become good singer of Chinese songs," he said.