Chinanews.com, Beijing, February 5th: Why is a "rabbit" so popular all over the world?
Chinese culture is so full of wonderful charm!
Author Liu Yue
Looking around the world, this Spring Festival of the Year of the Rabbit can be said to have a lot of facets: from the soft and cute "Auspicious Rabbit" that is popular all over the world during the Spring Festival, to the New Year blessings sent by the heads of state of many countries; The popular fashion of "foreigners" celebrating the Spring Festival... In 2023, the excitement and flavor of the Chinese Spring Festival will refresh the whole world.
In a nutshell—at home and abroad, in the Chinese New Year, "Rabbit NO.1"!
——The face value "rabbit" comes out
From rabbit to "rabbit" is popular all over the world
2023 Happy Chinese New Year "Auspicious Rabbit" emoticon package image
Long ears, short tail, two blinking eyes, a red dress with gold trim, and everyone praises her cuteness.
This handsome, soft and cute rabbit has a lot to offer.
It is the "Auspicious Rabbit" specially launched by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism for the 2023 Happy Spring Festival.
"Auspicious Rabbit" was designed by the Central Academy of Fine Arts, with a lucky bag as the basic image, which has both cultural elements and practicality - not only the restored dolls are eye-catching, but also the derivative emoji packs with funny expressions are also vivid. was retweeted nearly 100,000 times.
2023 Happy Chinese New Year "Auspicious Rabbit" emoticon package image
During the Spring Festival, this rabbit traveled across the ocean and gained a strong sense of presence around the world: it appeared in Moscow, bringing holiday blessings to Russian friends; it landed in Stockholm, showing the cultures of China and Sweden The tacit understanding of mutual learning and mutual appreciation; it appeared at the Chinese Cultural Center in Berlin to enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the Chinese and German people; it came to Tokyo to participate in the Ueno Panda Spring Festival Festival with Japanese friends together with the national treasure giant panda.
On January 17, a tram with the theme of the Spring Festival of the Year of the Rabbit drove past the National Museum of Modern Art in Rome, Italy.
On the same day, the Spring Festival-themed tram for the Year of the Rabbit debuted in Rome, the capital of Italy, to celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year.
Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jin Ma Mengni
In addition to the image of "Auspicious Rabbit", as a symbol of Chinese zodiac culture, "Rabbit" naturally and subtly shortens the distance between countries during the Chinese New Year that is going through: the Year of the Rabbit led by "Auspicious Rabbit" The themed tram runs through the streets and alleys of Rome; the ice sculpture white rabbit shines on the Jungfrau ridge in Switzerland; China, Hungary, Fiji and other countries jointly issued stamps for the year of the rabbit...
The 2023 Saudi "Happy Chinese New Year" was launched on January 14 at the "Riyadh Season" large-scale theme park in Saudi Arabia. The large screen at the entrance of the park displayed a "Happy Chinese New Year" theme poster.
"Auspicious Yingtu" records, "The red rabbit is auspicious, and the white rabbit is auspicious."
The cultural connotation and implication contained in the Chinese Spring Festival for thousands of years will be entrusted to this little rabbit in 2023, bringing spring, vitality and good wishes to people all over the world.
——Da Zhanhong "Rabbit"
Overseas "Spring Festival fever" is gradually heating up
The "auspicious rabbit" and even the zodiac rabbit and rabbit elements are popular, which reflects the gradual warming of the "Spring Festival fever" overseas, and politicians from many countries also issued New Year greetings during the Chinese New Year.
2023 Happy Chinese New Year "Auspicious Rabbit" emoticon package image
On January 18, United Nations Secretary-General Guterres delivered a Chinese New Year speech for the Lunar New Year of the Rabbit through a video; Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau published a New Year greeting video to the Chinese in English, French, Mandarin and Cantonese; Thai Prime Minister Prayut even Dressed in Tang costumes, holding a happy Spring Festival "auspicious rabbit" in his hand, he extended New Year greetings to the people of the two countries in Chinese.
On the evening of January 26, U.S. President Biden and his wife held a Chinese New Year reception at the White House and posted a message on social media to congratulate, "This is a time to share food, celebration, renewal and reflection. From the Biden family to yours Family, we wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year."
Biden and his wife celebrated the Chinese New Year at the White House.
video screenshot
The Chinese New Year has gradually become an important international festival.
From the famous Lunar New Year parade in San Francisco to the Spring Festival celebration in Trafalgar Square in London, England; The Ligue 1 "China Day" celebrates the Spring Festival... The Spring Festival is coming out of Chinatown and becoming a festival shared by the world and enjoyed by people all over the world.
On January 26 local time, the NBA Brooklyn Nets held a game to celebrate the Chinese New Year of the Rabbit at the Barclays Center, their home court in Brooklyn, New York.
The picture shows Chinese Consul General in New York Huang Ping exchanging New Year gifts with Nets CEO Sam Zussman after delivering a congratulatory speech before the game.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Liao Pan
It is worth noting that Chinese Spring Festival folk activities have entered nearly 200 countries and regions around the world, and even the quite authentic Chinese Spring Festival folk custom of "going to temple fairs" is becoming more and more popular.
The theme of the Spring Festival Temple Fair in Montreal, Canada is "Revitalizing Chinatown to Welcome the Year of the Rabbit". The performances such as waist drums, singing and dancing won a lot of applause. At the Spring Festival Temple Fair in Bangkok, Thailand, red lanterns were hung high, and Thai people and tourists from all over the world dressed in various Tang costumes enthusiastically participated in it The "Happy Chinese New Year Rabbit Hunting Hall" event was unveiled at the Chinese New Year Garden Temple Fair in Namur, Belgium. A series of interactive experience activities such as zodiac-themed interactive photos and zodiac culture popularization made the atmosphere full of the New Year.
Chinese cultural and art groups performed waist drums at the 7th Montreal Happy Chinese New Year Temple Fair.
Photo courtesy of the Organizing Committee of the Montreal Happy Chinese New Year Temple Fair
Zhang Yiwu, professor of the Chinese Department of Peking University and director of the Cultural Resources Research Center, analyzed in an interview with a reporter from Chinanews.com that the Spring Festival culture has become part of the multiculturalism of overseas countries. "There are about 60 million Chinese immigrants in the world, and there are Chinese in many countries. The community has great influence, so many politicians will send congratulations. People commemorate the Spring Festival culture as a very important part of the richness of global cultural diversity."
——Talking about the extraordinaryness of "rabbit"
Combining Chinese and Western styles to celebrate the New Year, "mix-and-match models" emerge in endlessly
2023 Happy Chinese New Year "Auspicious Rabbit" emoticon package image
One of the enduring charms of traditional festivals that span thousands of years lies in their rich and diverse ways of celebrating.
Also during the Spring Festival, the Baba and Nyonya ethnic group in Malaysia sent king boats and ate "look raw"; the New Year's parade in San Francisco's Chinatown had dragon and lion dances and set off firecrackers; in the Philippine men's professional basketball league, several lions leaped and flew, Cheer and cheer for the participating teams; a Chinese New Year temple fair was held in Nigeria, and a group of African boys danced the long dragon; the Chinese Cultural Center in Berlin, Germany held a "Happy Chinese New Year - Taste Chinese New Year's Eve Dinner" Spring Festival cooking class, taking pictures of cucumbers, saliva chicken, steamed fish and dumplings, etc. The delicacy is full of praise from foreign people...
The picture shows the students toasting to celebrate the Spring Festival.
Photo courtesy of the China Cultural Center in Berlin
In the process of transforming ethnic culture into public culture, it is bound to usher in reconstruction—this is exactly the case with Spring Festival culture.
Throughout the "Global Chinese New Year" of the Spring Festival of the Year of the Rabbit in 2023, the exchanges and mutual learning, integration and innovation between Chinese and Western cultures are eye-catching. vividly.
2023 "Happy Chinese New Year" "Echoes of Tang Poetry: iSING! Suzhou and the Philadelphia Orchestra Chinese New Year Concert" was staged at the Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, New York. The audience enjoyed an audio-visual feast that spanned ancient and modern times and blended Chinese and Western .
Photo by China News Agency reporter Liao Pan
Taking "Echoes of Tang Poetry: iSING! Suzhou and Philadelphia Orchestra Chinese New Year Concert" as an example, the main creative team opened with a "Spring Festival Overture", followed by 15 international young singers from 10 countries including China, the United States, and Italy. In the accompaniment of the symphony, they jointly interpreted classic Tang poems such as "Thoughts in a Quiet Night", "Will Enter the Wine", and "Night Mooring at the Maple Bridge".
The intense and high-spirited symphony complements the subtle and meaningful Tang poetry, using art as a medium to vividly interpret Chinese stories to the world.
Similarly, as the opening performance of this year's "Happy Chinese New Year" event, the "Happy Chinese New Year Harmony and Coexistence" concert is also working hard on the creative transformation and innovative development of Chinese traditional culture.
"Happy Chinese New Year" cultural ambassador and pianist Lang Lang performed "Tai Chi Capriccio", the cross-border cooperation between pipa player Zhao Cong and virtual singer Luo Tianyi, and "Hundred Birds in the Phoenix" that made netizens feel stuck , "Let the World Fill the World with Love" performed in Chinese by the World Youth Choir was presented to audiences around the world in a refreshing form.
The picture shows the "Happy Spring Festival Harmonious Coexistence" concert scene, pipa player Zhao Cong and virtual singer Luo Tianyi "cross-border" cooperation.
In these innovative processes tailored to local conditions, different cultures and civilizations have been deeply integrated and learned from each other, making China's image more plump and the charm of the Chinese New Year more moving.
——The former "rabbit" like brocade
Why does the Chinese New Year make the world "harmonious but different"?
2023 Happy Chinese New Year "Auspicious Rabbit" emoticon package image
Although there are many ways to celebrate, the world all upholds the concept of harmony but diversity for the connotation of the Chinese New Year.
For the Chinese, the Lunar New Year has the implication of "the beginning of a new year, and the renewal of everything", and also entrusts the longing for "reunion and happiness for the whole family".
This implication is also going out of the country, and it is becoming more and more popular——
My younger brother Sam, who lives in Sheffield, UK, is a fan of traditional Chinese culture and is also a Chinese son-in-law.
In 2018, he and his wife celebrated the Spring Festival together for the first time. Fireworks, dumplings and lucky money were interesting surprises for him. "There may be a coin in one of the dumplings. If you find it, you are a lucky person!"
German cooking lovers are making dumplings.
Photo courtesy of the China Cultural Center in Berlin
Since the Spring Festival officially became an official holiday in Canada, making Chinatown a scene of hustle and bustle, now Canada sends Chinese New Year blessings to the Chinese and praises the contributions made by the Chinese community to the country and the world.
Many, many places in the world are changing subtly, just as the Empire State Building in New York, the London Eye in the United Kingdom, the Sydney Opera House in Australia, the Tokyo Tower in Japan and other multinational landmarks will all light up the symbol of festive "China" on New Year's Eve. Red" to congratulate.
It can be seen that the Chinese New Year has brought a new atmosphere of "harmony but difference" to the world.
The Chinese Consulate General in New York and the Empire State Building in New York jointly held a lighting ceremony to celebrate the Chinese New Year of the Rabbit. The Empire State Building was illuminated with "Chinese Red" to celebrate the Chinese New Year for 23 consecutive years.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Liao Pan
"The Spring Festival should be in harmony with the rhythm of nature, implying the rejuvenation of all things. For people around the world, it is a festival worth celebrating and of universal value." Zhang Yiwu believes that the world's common understanding of the "Chinese concept" comes from festivals Its own characteristics benefit from the rise of China. "On the other hand, the wide spread of Chinese culture is of course related to the improvement of our comprehensive national strength, social development, and the expansion of influence. In addition, major international brands are emerging one after another. Products with Chinese celebration elements can also be seen that the Chinese New Year has a great boost to the global consumer market."
In the future, the content and form of overseas Chinese New Year celebrations will continue to be enriched and changed.
More importantly, in this happy and peaceful atmosphere, the Chinese culture of reunion and beauty, as well as the "credible, lovely, and respectable" image of China behind it, will surely be deeply engraved in the hearts of people all over the world.
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