The Spring Festival, the Chinese Lunar New Year which falls on January 23rd, will be celebrated in more than 80 countries this year. China's Ministry of Culture says it will arrange some 300 cultural activities around the world, with the assistance of relevant governments.
Through a package of celebrative cultural exchange activities blandly titled Happy New Year, the ministry expects to spread China's traditional cultural values far and wide.
Hou Xianghua of the Ministry of Culture said the success in the previous two years' "Happy New Year" events abroad enabled many international friends to share in Chinese celebrations and gain awareness about China's culture and charm.
China's local authorities are taking advantage of Spring Festival celebrations overseas to promote their own specialties. Fan Yu, from the Chengdu municipal government in southwest China's Sichuan province, takes charge of organizing performance in Australia and New Zealand. A lot of work has gone into preparing the street parade in Sydney for January 29.
"One section of the parade is an eye catcher, a decorated flower float that highlights giant pandas since Chengdu is the natural habitat for the animal. Another section consists of people who dress in panda costumes to show the lovely behavior of giant pandas. Costumes from different Chinese ethnic minorities, such as Tibetan, Qiang and Yi ethnic groups will also be on display in the parade."
