Starting January 1, 2025, the "Year In Year Out: Global Zodiac Design Competition (The Year of the Snake)" touring exhibition has made a spectacular debut at the Chanfu Temple in Beihai Park, Beijing. The event showcases 73 exceptional award-winning pieces from the Year of the Snake competition, 23 sets of zodiac-themed art, and 100 snake-themed New Year prints, all celebrating the Chinese New Year through the lens of art.
The exhibition is co-sponsored by the Beijing Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau and the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and organized by the Beijing Overseas Cultural Exchange Center. The 2025 Chinese New Year marks the first since "Spring Festival, the social practices of the Chinese people in celebration of their traditional new year" was inscribed on the UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. As the Spring Festival becomes a global celebration, the essence of Chinese traditional culture—the zodiac culture—will also gain unprecedented global dissemination.
In Chinese cultural tradition, the snake is often regarded as a symbol of wisdom, longevity, and good fortune. However, the snake's significance varies across different cultures worldwide. Communicating the auspicious symbolism of the snake across languages and borders largely depends on visual expression. The exhibition features artworks that employ a range of design techniques—including partial transformation, symbol embedding, geometric abstraction, and dynamic generation—to convey a sense of youthfulness, style, and global appeal. These designs reveal the rich connotations and auspicious meanings of the "snake" in the Chinese cultural context. The design drafts also capture the vibrant energy of the Spring Festival. They are transformed into signs, posters, publication covers, and cultural and creative products, showcasing the seamless fusion of Chinese manufacturing and design, and reflecting the cultural stature of China as a major country in the world.
Concurrently with the exhibition, a series of activities to spread Chinese Spring Festival culture globally are being meticulously planned. The outstanding design works featured in the exhibition will serve as cultural ambassadors, traveling beyond China's borders to reach households in many countries.
The exhibition will run until February 20th, and admission is free for visitors.
Notably, Beihai Park, the venue of this exhibition, is the oldest and most intact imperial garden in the world. During the 2024 Spring Festival, the "Year In Year Out: Global Zodiac Design Competition Invitational Exhibition (The Year of the Dragon)" was also held at Chanfu Temple in the park, attracting 82,000 visitors. For the 2025 Spring Festival, the exhibition will once again invite citizens and tourists to a grand rendezvous with the culture and art of the Year of the Snake.
