Chinese acrobatics perform at Ayutthaya

AYUTTHAYA, January 22 (TNA) - Chinese dancers, musicians and acrobats will this week conduct a six-day performance in Ayutthaya province, near Bangkok, as part of the Chinese New Year celebrations. Performers from seven Chinese provinces will start their trilling performance Tuesday. They are brought to Thailand by China’s Vice Culture Minister Li Xiaojie who visited Ayutthaya and held talks with the provincial governor Witthaya Piewpong on Sunday on ways what the Chinese government could help to restore temples and archaeological sites in the former Thai capital which were damaged by massive flood late last year. An official letter on China’s plans to assist in restoration works has been sent to the Culture Ministry. Witthaya later told journalists that the visit by Minister Li displayed warm relations between Ayutthaya province and China. He also thanked the Chinese Culture Ministry for dispatching performers to entertain people in his province during the Chinese New Year. Meanwhile, the celebrations in other parts of Thailand are continuing actively. Thais of Chinese origin plus tourists from Malaysia and Singapore with family members visited Chinese temples and went atop Kor Hong Hill in the southern district of Hat Yai in Songkhla province. They also gave offerings and lighted firecrackers to sacred gods atop the hill. This year’s Lunar New Year is considered as Year of the Dragon which is very popular among the Chinese and undoubtedly, all the more than 12,000 hotel rooms in Hat Yai have been fully booked amid the delight of the hoteliers and other concerned tourism industrial operators. Tourism operators expect that more than 200 million baht would change hands in the district, known as shopping paradise among the tourists, during the Chinese New Year. (TNA)