Source: Overseas Network
Leaving the old and welcoming the new, the footsteps of the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese lunar calendar in 2022 are getting closer and closer.
Hanging lanterns, making dumplings, holding online Spring Festival Gala, sending New Year wishes... Overseas Chinese and overseas Chinese are eager to light up "Chinese red" in a foreign country, taste "Chinese taste", and celebrate the "Chinese New Year" with local friends. A few days ago, in an interview with this reporter, a number of overseas Chinese in different countries shared the strong taste of the New Year that they saw and felt.
Flower lantern spring joint shining exotic streets
Big red lanterns hang high, New Year banners flutter in the wind, and a giant zodiac mascot "Golden Tiger" weighing about 300 kilograms is majestic... Spring Festival is approaching, and Malacca Jonker Street in Malaysia is full of joy. This old street with a history of more than 600 years has ushered in the most lively and prosperous time of the year.
"The Malacca Chinese New Year Carnival at Jonker Street is in its 32nd year. Every year during the Spring Festival, many overseas Chinese and local people in Malaysia come here to experience the traditional Chinese Spring Festival atmosphere. This year, the Jiangsu Overseas Friendship Association also specially sent a batch of exquisite Qinhuai flower lanterns to make the old street more colorful. Malaysia's Malacca state government said Yan Tianlu, special envoy for China affairs.
In London, England, a touch of "Chinese red" also lit up people's expectations for the new year. Huang Ping, secretary general of the London Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, introduced that "Chinatown" has long been illuminated, and the landmark building "London Eye" will also hold a lantern changing ceremony to light up red and gold to welcome the Chinese New Year. "Chinese New Year's Eve evening, the Westminster City Of London also cooperated with the Chamber of Commerce to hold a large-scale night market, lion dance, dragon dance, writing Spring Festival... Everyone rejoiced in the New Year! ”
Affected by the epidemic, many countries and regions cannot hold gathering activities, but this has not weakened the enthusiasm of overseas Chinese and ethnic Chinese to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Recently, in Botswana, in southern Africa, accompanied by a "buzzing" sound, 3 drones hung a pair of big red couplets, and slowly lifted off in the local landmark attractions of the Three Chiefs Square - shanglian "overseas Chinese in Bots to the people of the whole country to pay tribute", xialian "praise the mother of the motherland for the Winter Olympics", and cross-criticize "long live the motherland".
"The epidemic is still spreading, and we hope that in this special way, we can raise the 'Chinese red', face the east, and send love and blessings to the relatives of the motherland." Nan Gengji, president of the Botswana Association for the Promotion of China's Peaceful Reunification, said affectionately.
Spring Festival delicacies are served to the table in other places
Celebrate the Spring Festival and taste the New Year. A sumptuous and delicious Chinese New Year's Eve meal can best soothe the nostalgia on the tip of the tongue of overseas travelers.
"To make Eight Treasure Rice, first put a layer of glutinous rice on the bottom of the plate, put candied fruit, pine nuts, walnuts, bean paste and other accessories in the middle, and then lay a layer of glutinous rice, put it in the pot and steam for 20 minutes..." On the eve of the Spring Festival, a group of "walking Chinese New Year's Eve rice • Norwegian cloud kitchen" video became a "hot model" that Was praised and forwarded by Norwegian overseas Chinese on social platforms. In the video, The Norwegian expatriate Male and several other Chinese chefs, who are over 70 years old, explain in detail and operate demonstrations, teaching how to make Eight Treasure Rice, Grilled Sea Cucumber with Green Onion, Glutinous Rice Vegetarian Roast goose and other Spring Festival specialties from all over China.
"Although we can't return to China for the New Year, as long as we eat the familiar taste of our hometown, we feel that our hearts are not far from our ancestral (home) country and our relatives." Marxism-Leninism has been engaged in the Chinese food industry overseas for decades. He introduced that during the Spring Festival, many Chinese restaurants in Norway launched a Chinese New Year's Eve rice takeaway service, so that overseas Chinese and Ethnic Chinese can eat authentic "Chinese taste" with peace of mind.
In Chicago, the president of the U.S.-China Restaurant Federation, Hu Xiaojun, has been particularly busy lately. Many of the Chinese restaurants he runs have prepared a number of Chinese New Year dishes with beautiful meanings early. "There are rice cakes that represent the rising of the year, family portraits of seafood that symbolize the surplus of the year, and essential dumplings and dumplings."
Hu Xiaojun introduced that during the Spring Festival, the U.S.-China Restaurant Federation will work with local associations in the United States to hold a number of New Year celebrations in Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York and other cities, launch a series of Chinese-style prepared dishes, and invite overseas Chinese and local people to taste the strong New Year flavor from China.
"Wherever you go, Chinese New Year's Eve dumplings and eating Chinese New Year's Eve rice is a tradition that will never change." Li Qingxia, head of the Huaxing Art Troupe in Sao Paulo, Brazil, said with satisfaction that today, the "second generation of Hua", who was born and raised overseas, also loves the "Chinese taste" more and more, and is not unfamiliar with the "Chinese Year" at all.
Peking Opera song and dance "Cloud" was performed
On January 30th, a global Chinese network Spring Festival Gala with the theme of "Huaxing Shines in Celebration of the New Year, Five Continents Meet to Welcome the Winter Olympics" will be launched, and members of the Huaxing Art Troupe from different countries on five continents, including Australia, the United States, Hungary, the Philippines, Nigeria and Brazil, will gather in the "Cloud" to perform songs, dances, Peking Opera and other colorful programs together with the actors of the National Peking Opera House of China to celebrate the Chinese New Year and welcome the Beijing Winter Olympics.
"This year's Spring Festival is especially worth looking forward to. On February 4, the fourth day of the first lunar month, the Beijing Winter Olympic Games will open. This is a grand event that our overseas Chinese and ethnic Chinese and people from all over the world are looking forward to together. This online Spring Festival Gala is not only for overseas Chinese around the world to pay tribute to the New Year, but also to cheer for the Beijing Winter Olympics! "As the initiator of the online Spring Festival Gala, Yu Junwu, head of the Huaxing Art Troupe in Sydney, Australia, introduced that there is another highlight worthy of attention, that is, many local people also participate in the online Spring Festival Gala." For example, a group of African lads performed a dragon dance, especially professional. ”
Li Qingxia also felt that the local people were familiar with and attached importance to the Chinese Spring Festival in Brazil. On February 5, her São Paulo Huaxing Art Troupe will host a Chinese New Year tea party with a Brazilian company. Invited guests will also enjoy Chinese folk dances while tasting the special snacks of China and Pakistan. "This networking event was proposed by Brazilian enterprises on their own initiative, and they also hope to invite overseas Chinese who are proficient in calligraphy to splash ink on the spot, so that more Brazilian business people can understand the profound Chinese culture, and then promote Economic and Trade Exchanges between China and Pakistan." Li Qingxia said.
"Today, the Chinese New Year has gone global and has gradually become an international festival." Huang Ping proudly said that on February 6, the 1.5-hour Spring Festival Gala program carefully produced by the London Chinatown Chamber of Commerce will be broadcast on major television stations in London. "At that time, more people will feel the charm of the Chinese New Year and traditional Chinese culture." (Reporter Yan Yu)
People's Daily Overseas Edition ( 2022-01-29 Edition 05)