BEIJING, March 1 (Xinhua) -- President Hu Jintao and other top Chinese leaders joined an evening party Sunday with representatives of intellectuals in Beijing to celebrate the annual Lantern Festival.

Hu and eight other members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, including top legislator Wu Bangguo and Premier Wen Jiabao, attended the event featuring song-and-dance shows and rice dumplings, a traditional food for the festival.

General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Hu Jintao (C) talks with delegates from the intelligentsia during a get-together marking the traditional Lantern Festival at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 28, 2010. The CPC Central Committee hosted a get-together here on Sunday to mark the Lantern Festival