The banquet hall of the Great Hall of the People was brimming with melodious music at noon of August 8--a ceremonious welcoming banquet was held there. Throughout the banquet, the PLA Military Band performed graceful and pleasant-to-the-ear music one piece after another, adding a cheerful and harmonious atmosphere to the banquet and conveying friendly affections of the Chinese people.

　　It is the first time for the military band to perform on such a majestic multilateral diplomatic occasion. To live up to the expectations, they changed the menu of the music six times in succession and elaborately selected and prepared more than 30 pieces of Chinese and foreign music with unique national flavors since receiving the mission.

　　When the president of China and other Party and state leaders, together with the VIPs of various countries, stepped into the banquet hall at noon time of August 8, the military band greeted them with a soulful piece of music entitled Touching China to convey the friendly affection of the Chinese people to all the distinguished guests from countries of the five continents. After the hosts and guests taking their seats, the band played the popular music including Shearing and China Welcomes You.

　　From now and then, the performance struck a responsive chord causing many guests nodding their heads contentedly following the beat of the cheerful music. When the banquet came to the end, all the guests thanked the military band with impassioned applause. Yang Jiechi, Chinese foreign minister, came to the band specially and praised its excellent performance and said: "As usual, you did another good job today. Many foreign guests feel joyful to be able to listen to the native music of their own countries. You have done great credit to the Olympic Games."

　　As soon as the performance was wrapped up, the military band hurried to the site of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games and won the people's attentions from all over the world with the same excellent performance. On August 9, they came to the Diaoyutai State Guest House to play for the banquet in honor of the presidents of eight African countries.

　　By Si Wen and Zhao Jun

　　(Aug 20, PLA Daily)                                               Editor: Dong Zhaohui