On the afternoon of February 15 local time, “Charming Beijing” Photo Exhibition by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development was staged in Helsinki, the capital of Finland. Co-organized by Beijing and Helsinki, the event named “Happy Spring Festival” came around between Feb. 15 and Feb. 21. This year not only marks a zodiac cycle of “Happy Spring Festival” in Helsinki, but also bears witness to the first participation of Beijing tourism with the aim of making Beijing tourism and culture known to more European.
As Finnish Helsinki rang in the lunar new year with bells at 00:00 on February 16 Beijing Time, the streets were brightly-lit by fireworks in celebration of the Spring Festival together with China. In addition, the “Happy Spring Festival - Beijing Week” Temple Fair was also a highlight which drew myriad of local citizens. On site, the Chinese Ambassador to Finland Chen Li and the Mayor of Helsinki Jan Vapaavuori unveiled this event, and relevant officers of City Image and Marketing Division of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development attended it and presided over the “Charming Beijing” Photo Exhibition and other tourism-theme activities on the day.
At the entrance of the most famous shopping mall at Helsinki downtown, the “Charming Beijing” Photo Exhibition was coming up. Starting from February 12 and concluding on February 20, it exhibited scores of exquisite photographs themed on Beijing as both a onetime imperial city and a modern metropolis and offered a close-up glimpse into Beijing’s culture, landscape and charm to Finnish citizens. Steeped in a strong air of oriental culture brought by the photo exhibition, Helsinki grew more beautiful. Take, streets, as an example. Against the backdrop, these streets appeared like an arty palace hall and many passers-by were attracted to stop for viewing in spite of themselves.
To bring better interaction experience to participants, Beijing tourism stand specially set aside an interaction and experience area for traditional Chinese culture. Here, local citizens can write Chinese character “fu (good luck)”, put on Peking opera costumes for photographs, wear VR-glasses to experience Beijing-based temple fair and more. All these activities have been a hit with local citizens who queued up in front of the stand.
In addition, to express thanks to ardent Helsinki citizens, Beijing tourism stand gave out all kinds of exquisite souvenirs like tourism brochures and paper-cut bookmarks.
