Wed, February 23, 2011
A week before the Chinese New Year, British Prime Minister David Cameron offered ethnic Chinese around the world his New Year greetings.
"I want to send my best wishes to people in China, the UK and around the world who are celebrating the Chinese New Year. This is not just a time for a great celebration with firecrackers and fireworks, lion dances and great food. It's a time for friends and family, for new beginnings and old wisdom, for hope and optimism. That is especially true this year as we enter the Year of the Rabbit - a year traditionally associated with home, family and peace."
In Bulgaria, a "Chinese Spring Festival" exhibition opened in the capital city of Sofia last Tuesday in the Art gallery of the Bulgarian National Palace of Culture, featuring artifacts and pictures that represented the Kitchen God, kites from Weifang and Spring Festival delicacies.
In the Spanish capital Madrid, a Chinese New Year parade was held for the second year. Many locals came out to watch and even joined the 1,000-meter long parade that started at Sun Gate Square.
In Paris, a colorful parade featuring music and dancing in the 13th arrondissement in the southern part of the city, attracts more than 100,000 people each year.
On Wednesday night, or Lunar New Year's Eve, a special program featuring Chinese folk music was broadcast by the national Radio France.
AFRICA
In Cairo, a cultural temple fair in Al-Azhar Park attracted many local visitors, featuring Chinese Suona horn, a woodwind instrument, and traditional "shadow play," Chinese embroidering and Chinese medicine.
In Kenya, students studying Chinese at the Confucius Institute learned from their Chinese teachers how to make "jiaozi," a traditional Chinese New Year delicacy.
"We are very eager to learn their culture and everything about them, the
history and everything." said Lydiah Kingoti, a student studying Chinese at the Confucius Institute, Nairobi University.
In Benin, a Chinese banquet was held Thursday at the Chinese Cultural Center in Cotonou, bringing together Chinese community in Benin and Benin officials and dignitaries. All the guests were treated to Peking duck, a famous dish in China.
"For the Chinese people, food is a highly valued thing in the life of a human being," said Geng Wenbing, Chinese ambassador to Benin. He wished all those in attendance a prosperous new year.AUSTRALIA
Sydney's streets on Sunday were full of cheering people and Chinese entertainers featuring mad hoppers on sprung stilts, flamboyant dragons and lions dancing, dazzling costumes, hip hop artists and illuminated Chinese zodiac lanterns.
Known as "Twilight Parade," the annual Chinese New Year celebration has reached its 15th year and is the largest of its kind outside Asia. This year it has attracted about 100,000 people, who lined up the streets regardless of the drizzling rain.
More than 250 visiting artists from central China's Hubei province joined the 2,500 local and international performers in the parade, which included a Wudang martial arts troupe displaying the Taoist martial art.
"The city's annual Chinese New Year Twilight Parade has become a major event on Sydney's cultural calendar and is seen by millions of people across Australia and throughout Asia," Sydney Mayor Clover Moore said on the spot.
In the small island nation Fiji, a gala dinner attended by Fijian Prime Minister Commandore Voreqe Bainimarama and Chinese community leaders was held Wednesday to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Hotels and resorts in the country continued to celebrate in their own ways to enable tourists to celebrate the Chinese New Year.
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