The 2023 Overseas“Happy Chinese New Year” Online Galais sponsored by People’s Government of Beijing Municipality, City of Helsinki, and embassies of China in Finland, Estonia, Greece, Belgium and Canada. The event is organized by Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism and Culture and Leisure Division of City of Helsinki, and produced and delivered by Beijing Overseas Cultural Exchanges Center, China Cultural Center in Athens, and Cultural Centre Caisa of City of Helsinki.
2023 marks the 17thconsecutive year of Beijing “Happy Chinese New Year”in Finland, the 14thconsecutive year in Estonia, the 7thin Greece and the 3rdin Canada and Belgium. “Happy Chinese New Year” has established itself among theinfluential large-scale celebrationsin the capitals of Finland, Estonia and Greece, and has won great popularity and wide acclaimamong audiences in Belgium and Canada. In these places, it has become a localized signature event driven by market forces.
The 2023 Overseas “Happy Chinese New Year” Online Galawill invite friends from Finland, Estonia, Greece, Belgium and Canada, who are currently living in Beijing,for full participation in the whole process of the event. They will experience Chinese culture, and Beijing’s fashionable lifestyle, as they tour the city to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Fascinating shows such as cultural performances, intangible cultural heritageand folk customs, and tourism promotion will also be live-streamed, asthe international friends “tour Beijing”.
During the Spring Festival of the GuimaoYear of the Rabbit, the online gala will kick off on TV stations, online media and social media in Finland, Estonia, Greece, Belgium and Canada, and will be launched simultaneously on Chinese and foreign platforms such as BRTV and Visit Beijing.
“Touring Beijing” for an immersiveexperience of the Chinese New Year
Revolving around the theme of “Touring Beijing—Most Beijing-style”, the online gala has selected four “most Beijing-style” routes, namely, “The Most Beautiful Central Axis of Beijing”, “The Most Beijing-style Leisure Places”, “The Most Beijing-style Cultural Street” and “The Best Beijing Food”. All these immersive experiences reveal the profoundChinese traditional culture and the fashionable lifestyles of Beijing as an international metropolis.
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“Happy Chinese New Year—China-Hellas Young MusiciansConcert” was held in the Concert Hall of Athens Conservatory of Music on January 14th, with more than 600 audiences present. Fifteen artists from China and Greece performed on the same stage.Aside from classical Western musical instruments such as piano and violin, the concert also featured traditional national musical instruments of the two countries such as guzheng, yangqin, erhu and lyre, as well as many collaborative music pieces. The cooperation with Athens National Orchestra and Athens Conservatory of Music has added artistic appeal to the concert, making it a particularly enjoyable one with splendid performances and warm atmosphere throughout.
In his speech, Chinese ambassador to GreeceXiaoJunzheng commended the event for its effort to promote people-to-people exchanges through music, as it showcases the beauty of harmony between the two ancient civilizations and the achievements of mutual learning between them. He expressed hope for building even more exchange and cooperation platforms, starting with this concert, between music groups and young music lovers of the two countries, so that they may cement friendship, enhance understanding and engage in long-term cooperation. Nikos Athenaios, artistic director of Athens Conservatory of Music, said that the concert showed the unique characteristics of Eastern and Western music cultures, and hoped that China-Hellas Young MusiciansConcert would continue to be held.
Photo exhibition of emerging culture & tourism destinations of Beijing, inbound tourism promotion project and exhibition of Chinese zodiac cultural and creative products also made a tour to Athens and Tallinn, the capitals of Greece and Estonia respectively.
In addition, the event has created more than 1,000 Spring Festival cultural and creative gifts such as hand warmers, mobile phone stands and luggage tags specially for Finland and Greece. The “Beijing New Discovery” brochure, which promotes the emerging culture & tourism destinations of Beijing, will be distributed to local citizens during the offline activities.
