Chinese New Year Celebrations at Huili

The Spring Festival has evolved and been passed on through thousands of years, an epitome of Chinese traditional culture. On this festive occasion, Huili School Hangzhou has organised an array of celebrations to express the sincere wishes for the New Year in homage to Chinese traditional culture.

We aspire to create a diverse and comprehensive environment where Huili pupils are inspired to learn through action. The Spring Festival is dynamic. It can be interpreted, touched, tasted and written. It is a lesson about our culture that is both entertaining and educational.

“Setting up a “temple fair”, the Huili campus was immersed in a trend of Chinese features. Folk artists performed dragon and lion dances, diabolo, acrobatics, opera bian lian (face-changing) and waves of applause broke out from the exciting audience. Pupils were amazed at the brilliant and profound folk shows and in awe of the intangible cultural heritage of our motherland.

Pupils had the opportunity to make sugar paintings, cut paper for window decorations, braid bamboo leaves, tie Chinese knots and learn to print with moveable blocks. It was a time for pupils to taste the festival and feel it at their fingertips. The beauty of traditional Chinese folk art can be fully appreciated when we imbue it with aesthetic perception and heartfelt admiration.

Pasting the Fu character on doors is one of the traditions during the Spring Festival. Huili pupils have their unique way of observing this tradition.

Dipping the writing brush in ink, Huili pupils wielded their aesthetic creativity and wrote the character with tiger elements, producing vivid and lively artworks. In preserving the ceremonial rituals of Chinese culture, this activity sparked pupils’ creativity and deepened their love for Chinese culture.

When spring comes, one should cherish it. The Spring Festival is worth appreciating after the celebrations. It is more than a seasonal period but a symbol of homeland, kinship, and cultural roots. We hope our Huili pupils can cultivate their cultural identity while building their global perspectives.

The Chinese New Year, the most important traditional festival in China, is around the corner. The Upper Primary held Spring Festival activities for our pupils to enjoy the beauty and fun of the tradition and further enhance their cultural identity and pride.

The Chinese teachers introduced the eight traditional dim sums in China and shared their origin, characteristics, and methods of the Spring Festival snacks across China.

Pupils were dressed in traditional Chinese clothes on 21 January to celebrate the festival. They made cultural creations, watched a festive film, and shared traditional snacks. Folk artists were at the campus to give cultural performances, including lion dance, diabolo, folk acrobatics, and face changing. While appreciating the performances, pupils also participated in practical activities. They made sugar paintings, cut paper, braided bamboo leaves, made facial paintings, painted palace scenes, printed the God of Wealth, learned movable type printing, and made fan-painting. They even purchased some items.

As President Xi Jinping said in his 2022 New Year Address - we must always remain true to our original aspiration and make vigorous and determined endeavours to accomplish our great mission. Therefore, we hope that through our various Chinese New Year celebrations, Huili pupils will remain true to their original aspirations, develop their appreciation of Chinese culture and deepen their cultural confidence, and become good cultural communicators. At the same time, I wish parents a happy Chinese New Year and all the best.

Alejandro Montoya

Director of Performing Arts

We culminated this semester with our fabulous and superb Chinese New Year Gala 2022.