体坛英语新闻：Chinese juniors perform traditional dance at U.S. basketball court

HOUSTON, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- Forty-eight students from Gansu Province of China performed a traditional dance "Mulan" Monday night at an NBA court in San Antonio, Texas, the United States.

The dance was performed at the basketball court of San Antonio Spurs in the halftime break at NBA New Year's game that Spurs won over Boston Celtics.

Wearing traditional Chinese costume in red and gold, Chinese students performed the dance, sending New Year wishes to overseas Chinese as well as American people. Applauded by local basketball lovers, this was the first time that a traditional Chinese dance was shown by Chinese students at professional NBA court.

The Chinese students came from the destitute areas of Gansu Province and were selected from nearly 10,000 students from various schools in Gansu. They are fond of basketball and have always dreamed of coming to NBA to watch world's top basketball teams.

They arrive in Houston, the fourth largest city in the United States on Dec. 27, 2018 to start an 11-day basketball tour in the United States. During the tour, they watched NBA games and received professional basketball training from the Spurs.

In addition to basketball training, students also visited NASA Johnson Space Center and Houston Museum of Natural Science and will watch ice hockey competitions.

Themed "I have a date with the Spurs," the event was co-sponsored by Gansu Aesthetic Education Promotion Association, San Antonio Spurs and Future Sifang Group, a Chinese auction company.