China News Service, Beijing, February 11th: Understand Chinese culture while embracing the Spring Festival
——Exclusive interview with Australian sinologist Mark Lin
China News Service reporter Han Chang
If you want to ask a foreigner who is familiar with Chinese culture which festival has left a strong memory for them, the Spring Festival will definitely be the best answer. On the occasion of the Year of the Dragon in 2024, China News Service's "East-West Question" conducted an exclusive interview with Colin Mackerras, a famous Australian sinologist. The 85-year-old man, who has had an indissoluble bond with China for 60 years, talked about his Spring Festival memories and how he understood the connotation of Chinese culture and the long-lasting charm of Chinese civilization in the process of embracing the Chinese Spring Festival.
Spring Festival reflects the diversity of Chinese culture
In a span of sixty years, Marklin, who has traveled to China more than 80 times, commented that the Spring Festival is “the most grand day in the hearts of the Chinese people.” The most important traditional festival. And in China and many other places, the Spring Festival is much more important than the Gregorian New Year," he emphasized.
On February 3, 2024, a group of children performed a dragon dance at the Spring Festival Flower Market in Chinatown, San Francisco, USA. Photo by Liu Guanguan
Speaking of the uniqueness of the Spring Festival, Marklin pointed out that this festival is a platform for family and friends to reunite, eat and drink together. People cherish and appreciate each other's company and achievements, celebrate the arrival of the Lunar New Year together, and have good hopes for the future. "For the Chinese, this is an opportunity to celebrate festivals, improve the world and resolve various problems and conflicts."
Marklin, who has devoted himself to the study of China's ethnic minorities for many years, said that among China's 55 ethnic minorities, most also celebrate the Lunar New Year or are affected by this festival. The customs of Chinese ethnic minorities celebrating the Spring Festival are diverse, each with its own unique ethnic style. "This simultaneously proves the influence of Spring Festival culture and the diversity of Chinese culture, both of which are great assets to China and the Chinese nation."
On January 20, 2023, a Miao girl climbed up to hang a lantern, and the ancient city of Fenghuang in Hunan was decorated with lanterns and colorful New Year decorations. Photo by Yang Huafeng
Dragon dance, lion dance and mahjong playing in Australia are full of "New Year flavor"
As Chinese people move overseas, the Spring Festival, which entrusts the emotional belonging and identity code of Chinese people around the world, has also come to all parts of the world. Asian countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines celebrate Chinese New Year. At the same time, countries and regions where overseas Chinese have settled and important Chinese communities, such as Australia, the United States, Peru, etc., will also celebrate the Spring Festival.
On the evening of February 4, 2024, the 2024 Australian Year of the Dragon Spring Festival Gala was held in Sydney. Local actors performed the opera dance "A Touch of Heavenly Fragrance". Photo by Gu Shihong
Marklin shared his Spring Festival memories with reporters. "I have also experienced the Spring Festival in Australia." Like in China, the Spring Festival in Australia is full of "New Year flavor". Dinners and some celebrations are a must. Many gatherings will be held during the Spring Festival in the Chinese community, inviting local people (including Marklin) to welcome the arrival of the Chinese New Year. People also go to Chinatown to participate in the lively Spring Festival activities and watch dragon and lion dances. In Australia, people who get together during the Spring Festival also play mahjong.
Marklin revealed his family’s New Year’s plans this year. "My son-in-law is a Singaporean. Several of my grandchildren and granddaughters will go to Singapore in February to celebrate the Spring Festival with their local families. They are all looking forward to this trip to visit relatives and hope to spend a good time during the Spring Festival."
On December 22, 2023, the 78th United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution to designate the Spring Festival (Lunar New Year) as a United Nations holiday. Marklin believes that this shows that China is not only growing in political and economic influence, but also extraordinary in culture, and its importance and recognition in the world are growing day by day. "In my opinion, it is extremely important for this great culture to be universally recognized, because we still live in an era when the West, especially the United States, thinks that it is 'outstanding' and dominates world culture," he said.
On February 6, 2024, United Nations Secretary-General Guterres delivered a New Year's speech via video, extending blessings and greetings to the Chinese people and the Chinese people around the world for the Year of the Dragon in the Lunar Calendar. Photo by Wang Fan
The expression of "dragon" in the West tends to be friendly
With the arrival of the Spring Festival in 2024, the Year of the Dragon cycle of the Chinese lunar calendar begins. The unique image and spiritual symbol of the Chinese dragon is rooted in the hearts of every Chinese and is also the spiritual link that maintains overseas Chinese around the world. As a Western sinologist, Marklin compared the differences in cognitive understanding of the dragon as a cultural symbol between the East and the West. He believes that the images of dragons in China and the Western world are completely different. In China and many other places deeply influenced by Chinese culture, the dragon is a powerful and auspicious animal that symbolizes benevolence and strength. This is in sharp contrast to the Western dragon. In many countries and regions in the Western world, dragons are synonymous with cruelty and evil. For example, in England, the task of St. George, the "Guardian" of England, is to slay the dragon. “There could hardly be a starker contrast.”
Marklin said that now, under the influence of Chinese culture, the expression of dragons in the Western world has also evolved in a friendly direction. The dragon is the only one of the twelve Chinese zodiac signs that is divine and mythical. It is the messenger of kindness, friendliness and luck. Therefore, people believe that the Year of the Dragon will also bring good luck, and they plan or expect their children to be born in the Year of the Dragon.
On February 4, 2024, a New Year dragon dance event was held on the Champs Elysées in Paris, France, to welcome the Spring Festival of the Year of the Dragon and send New Year blessings to the local people. Photo by Li Yang
"2024 is the Year of the Dragon. I predict that this year will be better than before for China and the world. We see that the world today is facing many contradictions and conflicts, including wars. In addition to arms dealers, they have no influence on anyone. It benefits no one. I hope and look forward to China’s spirit of optimism and confidence remaining strong in the Year of the Dragon, and being helpful around the world under the important concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind,” he said.
Finally, Marklin commissioned reporters to wish all readers through China News Service "good health, successful careers, abundant financial resources, and happy families" in the Year of the Dragon in 2024. (over)
Interviewee profile:
Colin Mackerras is a famous sinologist, honorary professor at Griffith University in Australia, and academician of the Australian Commonwealth Academy of Humanities. He won the Chinese Government Friendship Award in 2014. Research directions mainly include Chinese ethnic minorities, Chinese opera, Chinese history, China-Australia relations, and China’s Western image. His representative works include "I See China - China's Image in the West since 1949", "The Image of China in the West", "Modern Chinese Drama: From 1840 to Today", etc.