TAIPEI, July 29 (Xinhua) -- The Beijing Blue-sky Children's Art Troupe, a renowned all-children group from the mainland, made its debut in Taipei Wednesday evening.

The troupe of 149 children, aged between five and seven, has brought a singing and dance drama named "The Twelve Auspicious Signs". It will also stage the play on Thursday evening.

"The drama is based on the traditional stories of 12 animal signs, which the Chinese are born under, but blended with modern story lines," said Qiu Huolin, the troupe director.

The play is divided into 12 sections, following the traditional order of animal signs but with the one exception of the dragon.

The original order is rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.

"We have put the dragon at the end because it is an animal that comes from the imagination and combines features of different animals. It is the symbol of all Chinese," Qiu said.

The 2,500 seats in Taipei's Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall were all occupied.

Laughter, cheers and applause broke out a number of times during the performance.

"All are very impressive. I like the dragon part and the story of the rat most. The rat story is amusing and the dance of the dragon is splendid," said ten-year-old Taipei boy, Chen Yi-chia, who watched the play with his mother and brother.

Like most of the troupe members, Wang Xinyi has come to Taipei for the first time.

"My dad and mom told me something about Taiwan before I left Beijing. What I like most is that fruits here are very good," said the seven-year-old girl, who played a snake in the drama. "I have tried some. Mango is the best."

At the end of the show, the mainland children sang a song titled "Offspring of the Dragon", along with children from a Taipei nursery.

Peng Yuan-hsin, among the Taipei children in the performance, made her first mainland friends during the rehearsal Wednesday afternoon.

"They speak Chinese in a little different way. They sound interesting," said the six-year-old girl, "Besides this, they look the same."

"Children are the hope of our future. Through our performance, I expect the children from the two sides could be linked and become friends," Qiu said.