Editor's note: The Chinese Lunar New Year, or the Spring Festival, is celebrated across the world. It falls on Jan 28 this year. 

Thousands get a taste of Chinese Spring Festival in Washington

WASHINGTON - Thousands of people filled the courtyard of the Smithsonian American Art Museum Saturday for a Chinese Lunar New Year celebration, which featured dragon dances and other traditional Chinese folk artforms.

Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai and Smithsonian Secretary David Skorton kicked off the event with a dragon awakening ceremony, during which they painted color onto a dragon's eyes.

"Xin Nian Kuai Le," Skorton wished the some 7,500 visitors happy new year in the Chinese language to mark the Chinese Lunar New Year of the Rooster.

The event, co-organized by the museum and the Chinese embassy, invited Chinese craftsmen from Beijing to make sure that Washingtonians can experience an authentic Chinese festival.

With musical performances, dances, paper cutting, calligraphy, painting, dough sculpting and bristle dolls, the event presented both traditional and modern traits of the Chinese culture to its visitors.

Five-year-old Julia and her older brother Henry, who was seven, made quite a splash at the bustling figure making corner, where they were taught by a Chinese craftsman how to make a crawling caterpillar with only a straw and a piece of paper.

"This is the second year (that I came)," Julia said, happily recounting that last year she had her face painted into a monkey for the Year of the Monkey. "It is so fun!" she said.

Chinese New Year Parade held in Brussels

BRUSSELS - The second Chinese New Year Parade was held on Saturday afternoon in the Belgian capital of Brussels.

The parade was organized by the Chinese Embassy in Belgium, the municipal government of Brussels and associations of Chinese community in Belgium.

As Manneken Pis put on Tang suit, excited people held national flags of China and Belgium.

Chinese Ambassador to Belgium Qu Xing, Belgian Minister of Budget Sophie Wilmes and Mayor of the City of Brussels Yvan Mayeur attended the opening ceremony of the parade.

Qu said that Chinese New Year activities help people of other countries better understand Chinese culture and the Chinese New Year is playing an ever increasing important role in the world.

Mayeur said he hoped the year of 2017 would be a year of peace and prosperity.

Xiang Shihai, cultural counsellor at the Chinese Embassy in Belgium, said that the parade displayed Chinese culture, such as lion dance, martial arts, traditional Chinese costumes and folk music.

More than 1,300 people, both from China and Belgium, participated in the performance, said he.

The Chinese New Year parade lasted four hours and attracted tens of thousands of people.

The parade will also be held on Sunday in Dinant at the invitation of the city. There will be a reception held by the city to celebrate the Chinese New Year, or the Year of the Rooster.

During the reception, the government of the Walloon Region will present a statue of rooster, which symbolizes the region, to the Chinese side to celebrate the Year of the Rooster.

Celebrations for Year of Rooster bring Italians, Chinese together in Rome

ROME - A cheerful parade through the city center kicked off the celebrations for the Chinese New Year in the Italian capital on Saturday, which has lately become a traditional and long-awaited event here.

Dancers, martial artists and acrobats from China's Henan province performed before a large crowd, which then gathered in Piazza del Popolo in the city's historic heart.

Organized by the Chinese Embassy in Italy with the patronage of the Italian ministry of culture, the feast represented one of the key events marking the beginning of the Year of the Rooster across the country.

"This is the fourth or the fifth time I have come, I am not sure... and it is always great fun," Marinella, a pensioner from Rome, told Xinhua.

This year, she said she wanted to bring her two-year-old nephew Sami as well, to allow him to get a "first touch" of a different culture.

Though looking a little scared by the acrobats performing amazing contortions on the stage, the child visibly enjoyed the music, colorful masks and the presence of so many other children around him.

One of the largest celebrations of the Spring Festival in Europe has been held in Rome in the latest years. The 2017 indeed marked the seventh edition of this festivity in the Italian capital, as Chinese Ambassador to Italy Li Ruiyu recalled in a brief welcome message to the spectators.

"This is a day of joy and happiness also for the city of Rome," Li told the audience."The 2017 is the Year of the Rooster, which, in Chinese traditional culture, symbolizes patience, strength, courage, compassion and reliability," he added.

On her side on the stage, Rome mayor Virginia Raggi also stressed the symbolic and cultural value of the event.

"We know the rooster symbolizes, among other things, industriousness and business attitude," the mayor said.

"These traits are best represented by the Chinese people, and by the Chinese community that is one of the largest and most integrated in our city."

Welcoming the arrival of the 2017 Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival, meant something slightly different, according to the people in the square.

For many children around, it was a way to play together and experience a show unusual for them.

For Ivan Illomei, 38, it was a chance to get in touch again with the Chinese culture, which he appreciated.

"I have worked twice as a communication expert in China -- for some six months and four months, respectively -- and I have learned to love it."

"Today, I wanted to bring also my two daughters to enjoy all of this," Illomei told Xinhua.

Diana and Sofia, his little girls, said they were especially captured by a graceful female dancer performing acrobatics, and by the Kung Fu athletes.

To Mr. Hu and his two sons, on the other hand, the celebrations in Piazza del Popolo were an occasion to rejoin their own roots. The entrepreneur has been living and working in Rome for the last three years.

"This is a good opportunity to reconnect with our own traditions and home culture, and especially for my two children," Hu said.

Events celebrating Chinese New Year held in Poland

WARSAW - A series of events celebrating the Chinese New Year were held on Saturday in many Polish cities including the capital Warsaw and Wroclaw in the southwest of the country.

The SWPS University prepared an appealing New Year's celebrations program on Saturday and Sunday, including a lecture on Chinese New Year pictures by Professor Krzysztof Gawlikowski, a leading expert on China.

The events also included a quiz about Chinese New Year which covered the topics of Chinese customs and traditions, a calligraphy workshop, Chinese board games and a traditional New Year meal with dumplings.

He Juan, head of the education section of the Chinese Embassy in Poland, said that the Chinese-Polish cooperation in the educational field has been constantly growing, and has played an important role in the development of the relations of the two countries.

She expressed hope that the cooperation between the Polish and Chinese students might contribute to better mutual understanding and develop smoothly.

Also on Saturday, Wroclaw National Museum, together with the Confucius Institute at the University of Wroclaw, organized Chinese New Year-themed workshops, displays and shows, bringing Chinese culture closer to Polish citizens.

Visitors were taught how to make Chinese lanterns, paint on fans or became acquainted with the basics of calligraphy art.

Chinese New Year celebrated in Madrid

MADRID - The Chinese community in Madrid and people from around the world celebrated on Saturday the beginning of the Chinese New Year, welcoming the Year of the Rooster with several activities.

The events organized by associations, the Confucius Institute, the Chinese Embassy in Madrid and the city council, took place in Usera, a neighborhood in the south of Madrid where most of the Chinese in the capital live.

This area has around 10,000 Chinese inhabitants, according to sources from Madrid City Council, which emphasized the important participation of the community of this neighborhood in the celebration.

"The process has been very rich, there has been a huge participation of the Chinese community, when only in Usera there are 10,000 Chinese people,"the city councilwoman Rommy Arce said on Friday when presenting the program of activities.

Activities included a parade on Saturday, with more than 800 artists and four dragons, showing cultural diversity of the neighborhood.

Efe, a Spaniard who loves China and Chinese culture, saw last year's parade and decided to come back.

"I think these events should be promoted, more money should be invested, because I think people like it and if you organized more things, more people would come," he told Xinhua.

"These kinds of events bring cultures together and all different people who live in Madrid and it is good for all of us,"he stated.

Apart from the parade, there is an exhibition about "The Legend of Nian", a fair with workshops, food and craftwork and a gastronomic and cultural route that has been joined by 18 restaurants.

Music and dancing have also been part of the schedule to welcome the Year of the Rooster. A ceremony with Chinese lanterns will be held on Sunday.

Chinese Year of Rooster kicks off with fanfare in Nigeria

ABUJA - The Chinese community in Nigeria on Saturday held a carnival-like celebration to mark the beginning of Chinese Lunar New Year 2017, Year of the Rooster.

In Abuja, Nigeria's capital, the event, organized by the Chinese Embassy in Nigeria, witnessed a large turnout of Chinese citizens, local Nigerian officials, and students.

It was the first of several events outlined for the celebration of what is also known as the Spring Festival observed by the Chinese people.

The revelers, who gathered at the China Cultural Center tucked in the central business area of Abuja city, were enthralled by an exhibition of the Chinese culture and various Chinese and Nigerian art performances as well as the Chinese traditional lion dance performed by students of the Government Girls Secondary School in the Nigerian town of Dutse.

Zhou Pingjian, Chinese ambassador to Nigeria, told Xinhua the celebration was to mark the beginning of good things to come.

In an earlier message to congratulate China, the Chinese community in Nigeria and the world over on the Chinese lunar new year, Nigerian leader Muhammadu Buhari noted the Spring Festival is the most important traditional festival for the Chinese. The celebration emphasizes the concept of family and the opportunity of reunion -- values shared by both Nigeria and China, Buhari wrote in a statement released by his office last Sunday.

The Spring Festival has gained popularity in most cities in Nigeria due to the sense of anticipation and excitement shared by the Chinese community in the West African country for the festival and the way it is colorfully celebrated every year.

The Chinese new year celebrations are emblematic of the cultural tradition, heritage and aesthetic aspirations of the Chinese nation, abounding in distinctive Chinese symbols of great emotional appeal.

The tradition of such celebrations by Chinese dates back to more than 4,000 years and includes displaying fireworks, Chinese new year couplets, preparing Jiaozi (the Chinese dumplings) and having the family reunion dinner on the new year's eve.

Stunning light show in Liverpool tells stories of Chinatowns

LIVERPOOL - Three days of Chinese New Year celebrations kicked off with a spectacular outdoor projection show Friday in Liverpool, Europe's oldest Chinatown.

Projected images lit up the traditional arch, one of the largest outside of China, with a special show telling the tale of Jingwei, a bird in Chinese mythology.

"The Legend of Jingwei" was based on the story of an emperor's daughter who, after perishing at sea, transformed into a bird and endeavored to fill the ocean with twigs and stones to prevent anyone else from meeting the same fate.

BBC The story has been adapted to showcase how Chinatowns in Liverpool, and around the world, have developed from the seeds sown and the pebbles laid by the earliest Chinese settlers, and how these small "islands" have developed into vibrant and diverse communities seen today.

Digital experts Illuminos are behind the lumiere creations, using special projectors to beam stunning pictures onto the Chinese arch and nearby buildings.

Illuminos artist, Rob Vale, said: "We're thrilled to be providing the video projection element of this year's New Year celebrations.

"The piece we have created is a really exciting mix of elements, playing with aspects of traditional Chinese shadow puppetry, mixed with specially filmed characters from the Chinese community," he said.

The moving images have been blended with music from the famous Liverpool Pagoda Youth Orchestra, with the soundtrack a specially commissioned piece by Jah Wobble with members of the orchestra performing on the track.

Also taking part in the soundtrack is Miami-born rapper MC Jin, recognized as the first Asian-American rapper to be signed by a major record label, becoming an icon to Chinese youngsters across the world.

One of the members of the Pagoda orchestra, Chi Chi who is 18, composed the track for MC Jin to perform.

Fijian PM celebrates Lunar New Year with Chinese community

SUVA - Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama celebrated Lunar New Year with the Chinese community here on Saturday, commending their contributions to Fiji and hailing bilateral ties.

According to the Chinese lunar calendar, Jan. 28 marks the first day of the Year of the Rooster.

Various celebrations, including a lion dance, singing and dancing, were staged at the city center of Suva on Saturday, during which the Fiji-China Friendship Pavilion was unveiled jointly by Fijian Prime Minister Bainimarama, Chinese Ambassador to Fiji Zhang Ping, and Jenny Seeto, president of the Chinese Association in Fiji.

Bainimarama acknowledged the local Chinese community's contributions to Fiji and hailed the friendly relations between Fiji and China.

"This beautiful new space - open to all - stands as a monument to the enormous contribution our Chinese community has made to our development as a nation, and as the name suggests, to the strong bonds of friendship that Fiji and China have always shared," Bainimarama said before unveiling the pavilion.

"I'm delighted to be here today among so many leaders in our Chinese Fijian community to join in your celebration of the Chinese New Year... I can say confidently that since their arrival, our Chinese Fijian community has been an integral part of that rich cultural diversity that has made us the dynamic island nation we are today," said the Fijian prime minister.

In 2015, China decided to donate the Fiji-China Friendship Pavilion, joining the Pacific island country in celebrating the 160th anniversary of the arrival of Chinese Fijians.

"The pavilion itself is constructed in the traditional Chinese style that can be found in temples, parks and gardens throughout China today. This piece was actually constructed in China before being assembled here at Terry Walk," Bainimarama told the audience while delivering his keynote speech as the chief guest.

"We are pleased to have such an authentic representation of Chinese history to add to the beauty of our capital city," he said.

Bainimarama also sent his New Year greetings through Xinhua to all the Chinese throughout the world.

"On the first day of the Year of the Rooster, we wish you all Happy New Year," Bainimarama said.