Confucius Institutes Celebrate Chinese New Year

Judges reviewing the works

Recently, the Confucius Institute at Ulster University of the UK held a poster design contest centering on the Year of the Dog 2018 to celebrate Chinese New Year. Over 4,500 primary and secondary school students of more than 160 local schools registered for the contest, with 4,865 works from 8 Confucius Classrooms operated by the Confucius Institute at Ulster University being submitted. Among all works, some showed the characteristics of Chinese culture while others showed the integration of Chinese and UK cultures.

A group of students displaying their work--“福” (the Chinese character for blessing)

A few days ago, the Confucius Classroom at Xingmin School Phitsanulok held a series of activities under the theme “Dab Hands of Chinese Culture Week” to celebrate the New Year. Consisting of two parts, this event attracted over 300 active participants. In the part themed “Blessings for the Spring Festival”, students in grade one and grade two pieced together Chinese characters “春”(spring) and “福”(blessing) with colored papers.

Making Chinese dumplings together

The other day, the Confucius Institute at the University of Düsseldorf in Germany held a term-end get-together and a New Year celebration for teachers and students. This event aimed at giving the teachers and students a chance to experience Chinese dietary culture and showcasing traditional Chinese activities for celebrating the New Year. All people were divided into four groups, each with at least one Chinese teacher teaching others to make Chinese dumplings.

(Story by the Confucius Institute Headquarters (Hanban), People’s Daily Overseas Edition, Page 9, January 5th, 2018)