WASHINGTON - A major concert will be held next week in Beijing to celebrate US-China educational ties, a senior US diplomat said on Thursday.

Carola McGiffert, Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, told reporters at a briefing in Washington, DC that the concert, which will take place on December 17 at the National Stadium in Beijing, aims to promote cultural and educational exchanges between the US and China.

The charity event, named the Booey Lehoo Concert, was organized by non-profit Americans Promoting Study Abroad, with the support of the US State Department, and its Chinese partners, she said. Proceeds will be used to provide educational exchange opportunities for young people from underrepresented communities in both countries.

The concert will feature will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas, John Legend as well as other American and Chinese artists.

The event will be the latest effort to advance the Obama administration's "100,000 Strong Initiative" -- an effort to dramatically increase the number of US students studying in China.

Launched in 2009, the initiative aims to prepare the next generation of American experts on China who will be "charged with managing the growing political, economic and cultural ties between the United States and China," according to the State Department website.

Important progress has been made so far, with approximately 11 million dollars in financial support having been pledged by a number of big companies including Caterpillar, Citigroup, Coca Cola, among others, McGiffert said.

In the last academic year, the number of Chinese students studying in the US grew by 23 percent to nearly 158,000, according to the annual Open Doors Report. American enrollments in China grew as well, but far more modestly at just 2 percent, with the population of Americans studying in China totaling just under 14,000.