OTTAWA: Dancing with hula hoops shaped like silver snakes, hula hoop world record holder Jin Linlin dazzled Ottawanians with her incredible performance here on Wednesday.

Jin is part of Carnival China Style, a 65-member all-star troupe that is on a 20-day North American tour to celebrate the New Year and promote cultural exchanges between China and the United States and Canada.

Ottawa was the troupe’s second stop in Canada after the Chinese artists thrilled 2,600 people at Roy Thompson Hall in downtown Toronto on Sunday.

The troupe specializes in ancient Chinese musical instruments, singing styles, forms of dance and costumes from many Chinese minorities and historical periods. Some of the musical instruments date back to the time of Confucius.

The performers are representatives of a variety of Chinese ethnic arts from Han, Uygur, Mongolia, Tibetan, Miao, Yi and other regions, according to head of the troupe Chen Mai, who is also minister of the Cultural Department at the All China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese.

"The program not only entertains Chinese people living in North America, it also helps non-Chinese people understand Chinese culture," Chen told Xinhua.

The tour was part of a series of cultural exchanges between China and Canada to mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties this year, he said.

Officials from the Chinese embassy at Ottawa spoke highly of the recent trip by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to China, saying it helped improve business, cultural and political links between the two countries.

They said they expected more frequent exchanges by artists and musicians through the year, given Canada will host the Winter Olympics in February and China the World Expo from May.

Canadian government member of parliament Pierre Polievre said the government had begun a process to accelerate the recognition of foreign credentials in Canada.