Thousands of overseas Chinese held an annual grand ceremony on Sunday to pay tribute to the Yellow Emperor, considered one of the common ancestors for all Chinese.

The Fourth Overseas Worship Ceremony for Yellow Emperor opened at the Civic Center in downtown San Francisco, starting with a thunderous drum performance and lion dances by members of a local lion dance association.

The nine traditional rituals that followed included offering of flower baskets, hand-washing, incense-offering, bowing to the statue of the Yellow Emperor, and reading of memorial orations. Sunday's ceremony underlined the theme of "Same Root, Same Ancestor, Same Origin, Peace, Amity, and Harmony."

Representatives of Californian government officials, the state assembly, mayors and deputy mayors of the state's local governments, leaders of the Chinese American community in San Francisco, various local Chinese cultural organizations and students attended the event, which aims at tightening the cultural link between the United States and China.

The ritual commemorations incorporated the strong Chinese cultural heritage represented by the performance of Chinese Kong Fu (martial arts), Peking Opera, and a chorus by various art groups of the Chinese community in the city.

Lili Zhang, president of the Overseas Chinese Cultural Heritage Foundation, said the grand worship ceremony will help overseas Chinese remember their ancestors and carry forward the Chinese culture in their residing country to coexist peacefully with other American communities from different cultural backgrounds.

John Marchand, mayor of Livermore city in Alameda County, California, said the ceremony brought the Chinese and American people closer together.

"This is an important event ... we can celebrate our cultures, celebrate humanity and the heritage that we bring together," he said.

(Head Image: The portrait of Yellow Emperor. /VCG Photo)