Worldwide Celebrations

A lion dance is performed at Staples Center in Los Angeles, the United States, on January 31. During the break of an NBA game between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Portland Trail Blazers, the audience enjoyed Chinese-style performances in celebration of the Spring Festival (XINHUA)
A performance of Wuju opera popular in east China’s Zhejiang Province is staged at a reception for the Spring Festival in the Chinese Embassy in Switzerland in Bern on February 5 (XINHUA)
Consumers shop for Spring Festival decorations in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on January 28 (XINHUA)
Foreign visitors and local villagers participate in a tug-of-war as part of Spring Festival celebrations in Mingyan Village in Ningbo, east China's Zhejiang Province, on February 4 (XINHUA)
A child in Hengshui, north China's Hebei Province, shows off her dog-shaped papercut on February 4 in anticipation of the Chinese Lunar Year of the Dog (XINHUA)
Villagers make lanterns for the Spring Festival in Wenxian County, central China’s Henan Province, on February 7 (XINHUA)

As people across China started to celebrate the Spring Festival, which fell on February 16 this year and marked the start of the Year of the Dog in the Chinese lunar calendar, they were not only happy to return to their families, but also were buoyed by the knowledge that Chinese culture and traditions have brought joy to so many worldwide.

Grand celebrations have taken place all over the world during the festival, with the continuation of traditions that have been passed down across centuries: from family reunions and temple fairs to feasts of dumplings and other local delicacies.

A series of cultural shows initiated by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council (OCAOSC) were staged in 16 countries this year. Six Chinese art troupes would travel to 29 cities worldwide with 33 performances in a monthly tour ending on March 8, said Tan Tianxing, Vice Minister of the OCAOSC, on February 6.

The Chinese community in Wellington, New Zealand, held a gala replete with performances for local people in January, as did the German town of Hanau where 600 people celebrated the traditional Chinese festival on February 4.

Lanterns were raised along the streets of Myanmar’s largest city Yangon in early February, while people in Bangladesh solve riddles, a Chinese tradition during the Spring Festival among lanterns of their own.

In Amman, the capital city of Jordan, folk music, traditional dance, acrobatics, puppet shows and the mysterious ”face-changing” Sichuan opera were all performed in a show held jointly by the Chinese Embassy in Jordan, the Jordanian Ministry of Culture and the Greater Amman Municipality at the Royal Cultural Center.

Copyedited by Laurence Coulton

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