On the evening of 27 September, the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park, San Diego, was fully occupied by the audience. A performance by the art ensemble of Xiamen University was going on there. The performance was a part of the 2015 tour to celebrate the Confucius Institute Day and the 2566^th anniversary of Confucius as well as the 100^th anniversary of the opening of the Panama Canal.

    Representatives of Mr. Scott Peters, the congressman, Mr. Ron Roberts, the sheriff of San Diego County, Mr. Kevin Faulconer, the mayor of San Diego attended the performance and presented a letter of appreciation to Xiamen University. 

    Lin Dongwei, the vice Party Secretary of Xiamen University, Dr. Chukuka S. Enwemeka, vice president of University of San Diego, and more than 3000 people, including students and parents of University of San Diego-based Confucius Institute, Confucius Classes, overseas Chinese in San Diego, alumni of Xiamen University, media, local people and tourists watched the performance.  

    Besides the actors and actresses of the Art Group, students from Confucius Institute and Confucius Class, as well as the artists of San Diego, also participated in the performance. The programs featured the Chinese traditional culture, including folk dances, folk music, martial art, acrobatics, ancient poem readings and fireworks. The Chinese song “Friend” sung by Piatt Pund,a student of Confucius Class, the reading of an ancient Chinese poem “Shui Diao Ge Tou”(Prelude to Water Melody, a format of ancient Chinese poem) by Leah Markworth,and the song“Edelweiss” by the students of Confucius Class struck a responsive chord in the audience who joined in the chorus.

    At the end of the performance, Mr. Howard, representative of Congressman Scott Perters told the reporter of Xinhua News Agency that Americans put a high value on variety of cultures as well as the friendship. He said that the friendship between American people and Chinese people started 100 years ago and he hoped that the friendship would last forever.

    The performance has drawn the attention of media. http://www.sdchinaren.com, Xinhua News Agency reported the whole event, Fox5 recorded the performance and China Yellow River TV recorded the whole performance.