MOCACHE, Ecuador, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- A day before the Chinese Lunar New Year's Eve, a school in Ecuador held its first offline Chinese Spring Festival celebrations in three years, integrating both Chinese and Ecuadorian cultures.

A symbol of prosperity, fortune and good luck for Chinese, the red color predominated, with red Chinese lanterns hung, red Spring Festival couplets put up on both sides of classroom doors and red paper cuttings pasted on windows on Friday at the Si Miao Wei Hua International School in the Mocache canton, in Ecuador's coastal Los Rios province.

Dressed in Chinese-style uniforms with red tops and black bottoms, local students performed traditional Ecuadorian songs and dances, and Chinese art such as the lion and dragon dance and a music choir for their parents and other guests from near and far.

The attendees also toured a Chinese cultural fair featuring traditional paintings, paper cuttings, tea art, clay sculptures and dried Chinese medicinal plants.

"Today is a very special day because we have jointly celebrated the arrival of the most important festival for all the Chinese people. We have experienced a moment of cooperation and of closeness between the two countries," said Chinese Ambassador to Ecuador Chen Guoyou.

The celebrations represent a benchmark for educational cooperation and cultural exchanges between China and Ecuador, Chen said, anticipating closer cultural ties in the new year.

Ecuadoran Education Minister Maria Brown Perez said that the event symbolizes the friendship between the two countries.

The performances by the students showed that local young people are eager to "learn a language from a country that is far from ours, but that closeness is felt here," she said.

"A happy new Year of the Rabbit! It is also a reason for us to wish you health, prosperity and longevity. May the family be united and we continue working hand in hand for the common good and for peace," said the minister. Enditem

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