CHICAGO, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese national flag was raised Thursday at Daley Plaza in downtown Chicago in U.S. state of Illinois to celebrate the 68th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Hundreds of Chinese, Chinese Americans, and Chicagoans with different ethnic backgrounds attended the ceremony, watching Chinese national flag being raised along with the playing of the Chinese national anthem.

Waving mini Chinese and the U.S. flags, the spectators at Daley Plaza also enjoyed traditional Chinese performances, such as waist drum dance, Qipao show and folk dance and music.

Addressing the ceremony, Chinese Consul General in Chicago Hong Lei spoke highly of the contribution the Chinese community in Chicago has made to Sino-U.S. friendship, and expressed the hope of joining hands with them in forge a stronger relationship between the two countries.

"As the largest developing country and the largest developed country in the world, China and the U.S. have increasingly intertwined interests and our common interests far outweigh our differences," Hong said.

Thomas Choi, public engagement office manager of the Office of Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner, said that as Chinese progress and achievement are celebrated, there are many opportunities on the horizon.

"Economic partnership between China and the State of Illinois is an important, strategic, bilateral relationship, as Illinois exports to China reached 5.11 billion U.S. dollars in 2016. In addition, China has 50 companies headquartered in Illinois and 400 Illinois companies have a base in China," Choi said.