Ambassador Peng Keyu of the Chinese Consulate-general in New York, Tom Gallo of the U.S. State Department Office of Foreign Missions, and President of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations Steve Orlins were among nearly 100 guests to the ceremony.
Media and business big-names such as Thomson Reuters, NBC News Channel, Coca-Cola, Boeing and Nikon all sent in senior representatives to extend best wishes for Xinhua's future.
Earlier in the day, Zhou and the Xinhua delegation, joined by Ambassador Peng and Orlins, rang the NASDAQ Stock Market's opening bell to celebrate the new office launch.
Located on the 44th floor at 1540 Broadway, the new office of Xinhua North America is at the heart of Times Square, which is also home to media heavyweights like Thomson Reuters and The New York Times.
Xinhua, which will celebrate its 80th birthday later this year, first sent its reporters to New York for regular news coverage in 1971. The old office was located in Woodside, New York.
Currently, Xinhua employs some 16,000 people, with more than 30 domestic bureaus and over 140 overseas. It has seven bureaus in the United States and three in Canada.