A Tour Around Beijing for A Happy Chinese New Year｜2023 Overseas “Happy Chinese New Year” Online Gala Invites International Friends to Come Around

The 2023 Overseas “Happy Chinese New Year” Online Gala is 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 17th consecutive year of Beijing "Happy Chinese New Year" in Finland, the 14th consecutive year in Estonia, the 7th in Greece and the 3rd in Canada and Belgium. "Happy Chinese New Year" has established itself among the influential large-scale celebrations in the capitals of Finland, Estonia and Greece, and has won great popularity and wide acclaim among 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 Gala will 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 heritage and folk customs, and tourism promotion will also be live-streamed, as the international friends "tour Beijing".

During the Spring Festival of the Guimao Year of the Rabbit (around January 22nd, New Year's Day), 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.

Program of “Happy Chinese New Year” Online Gala

Episode 1: The Most Beautiful Central Axis of Beijing—Invited Guest: Annie (Estonia)

Dance "Ink and Calligraphy" (Zeng Ming: China Oriental Performing Arts Group)

Episode 2: The Most Beijing-style Leisure Places—Invited Guest: Theodore (Greece)

Live Band "Light Boat" (The 2econd)

Episode 3: The Most Beijing-style Cultural Street—Invited Guest: Simon (Canada)

Wushu "Chinese Kungfu" (Zhenyu Kung Fu Troupe)

Episode 4: The Best Beijing Food—Invited Guests: Jukka (Finland) and Olivier (Belgium)

Chamber Music "Happy Flowers and the Full Moon" (China National Radio Orchestra)

"Touring Beijing" for an immersive experience 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". Foreign friends from five countries will visit the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Liulichang cultural street, Beijing FUN, Laoshe Teahouse, Guijie Street, 798 Art District among other famous cultural and tourist sites. They will explore the historical and tourist sites along the city's central axis, time-honored brands in the cultural streets, traditional cuisine in the hutongs and internet-famous dishes in the modern commercial blocks. They will also learn about the craftsmanship of intangible cultural heritage artworks such as Huzhou writing brushes, woodblock printing, Lord Rabbit figurines and Beijing Shadow Play, and write Spring couplets, visit stores of Chinese-style cultural and creative products, visit contemporary art blocks. All these immersive experiences reveal the profound Chinese traditional culture and the fashionable lifestyles of Beijing as an international metropolis.

Cultural performances: blending excellent traditional cultureand modernity for high-quality international exchanges

Four premium cultural performances will also be aired live, in a variety of art forms such as music, dance, and martial arts. Hostess of Beijing Radio & Television Station Li Yangwei is invited to chat with the international guests; Zeng Ming, the chief performer of China Oriental Performing Arts Group, will perform the dance "Ink and Calligraphy" to delight audience with the perfect combination of the style and spirit of Chinese calligraphy with the natural and unrestrained movements of modern dance; Zhenyu Kung Fu Troupe will present a vigorous performance of Chinese Kung Fu, a perfect match with the special and magnificent historical buildings at the Shichahai, where their performance is situated; folk music ensemble "Happy Flowers and the Full Moon" brought by China National Radio Orchestra will foster a distinct festive atmosphere for conveying Spring Festival greetings. The young artists from the band The 2econd will perform "Light Boat", whose music arrangement highlights the fashions and charms of original pop music with youthful vitality while incorporating Chinese elements. Keeping the traditions of "Happy Chinese New Year" alive, this year's cultural program will feature even more diverse programs with a greater focus on aesthetic experience. The selected performances focus on presenting both Chinese excellent traditional culture and the contemporary art and spirit of Beijing.

Leave the door open! In 2023, Beijing invites international friends to come around

As a traditional custom during the Chinese New Year, Chinese people like to come around to their friends' places to convey new year greetings. Following this custom, the event invites Chinese and foreign friends to Beijing Overseas Cultural Exchanges Center for a happy gathering. They will visit the exhibition of the Global Zodiac Design Competition, share memories of life in Beijing and the Spring Festival, taste Spring Festival dishes and exchange new year gifts: Estonian guest Annie has prepared greeting cards with Chinese-style seals, Canadian guest Simon has written Spring Couplets, Greek guest Theodore has learned to make Lord Rabbit figurines, while Jukka from Finland and Olivier from Belgium have prepared a special dish called "fish year after year", symbolizing long-lasting prosperity (the Chinese character for "fish" is a homophone for "surplus"). In this happy gathering, friends from different countries will share their best wishes for the new year in Beijing's international "circle of friends". With even more immersive experiences for the audience, and popular video contents, the event this year will tell China’s story from an international perspective, and showcase the charms Beijing as an ancient capital with unique traditions and customs, as well as a culture of innovation, thus giving life to the concept of "joy, harmony, sharing and blessings" of the "Happy Chinese New Year". This "Happy Chinese New Year" Online Gala represents an invitation to friends from around the world to visit Beijing in 2023!

Overseas Chinese New Year parades and onsite celebrations make a comeback with strengthened cultural exchanges for ever closer people-to-people bonds

"Happy Chinese New Year—China-Hellas Young Musicians Concert" 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 Greece Xiao Junzheng 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 Musicians Concert would continue to be held.

In Finland’s capital Helsinki, a Chinese New Year parade will also be organized in the central commercial street on New Year's Eve (January 21, 2023). Composed of local artists, the performing team will present dragon and lion dances and fireworks displays. Various Spring Festival activities will take place in a number of cultural centers, such as ice sculpture exhibition, ink painting experience, paper-folding workshop and film screening. Mikko Puustinen, chairman of Finland-China Society, expressed his expectations and good wishes for this event: "The Year of the Rabbit brings new hope. The Chinese people and the people of the world share the same aspirations. Let’s welcome the new year with optimism and ardent expectations."

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. The "Happy Chinese New Year" events are delivered in an interactive form combining online and offline elements, thanks to the close cooperation between Chinese and foreign sides.

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. By showcasing the unique charms of the Chinese zodiac, and promoting Beijing’s inbound tourism resources, the event hopes to further strengthen people-to-people bonds through cultural exchanges, and enhance the event's visibility.