Recently, a unique Chinese Spring Festival cultural experience event has been successfully held at Mashrek International School in Jordan. The event was co-hosted by China Cultural Center in Amman and Amman TAG-Confucius Institute, Jordan, with 135 middle school students from Mashrek International School participating. Shi Wei, Cultural Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Jordan and Director of China Cultural Center in Amman, and Yang Songfang, Chinese Director of Amman TAG-Confucius Institute, Jordan, attended the event.

With the approach of the Spring Festival, Mashrek International School has been decorated with lanterns and colored hangings. The teachers and students at the school adorned their classrooms with Spring Festival couplets, diagonal red squares with the Chinese character Fu (meaning “fortune”), red lanterns, and Chinese knots, creating a lively atmosphere for the Spring Festival. Shi Wei introduced that the Spring Festival is the most important traditional festival for the Chinese people, which marks the beginning of the Chinese Lunar New Year. By participating in the Chinese Spring Festival cultural experience activities, the Jordanian students can immerse themselves in the Chinese festival culture, which can further strengthen the traditional friendship between China and Jordan. The guests attending the event, together with the teachers and students of the school, watched China Media Group’s animated promotional video Watch the Spring Festival Gala to Welcome the Year of the Dragon, and the Chinese teachers of Amman TAG-Confucius Institute, Jordan, performed the Yangko dance “Joyfully Celebrating the Spring Festival” and other cultural programs.

Under the guidance of the teachers from the institute, the students from Mashrek International School enthusiastically experienced the Chinese Spring Festival cultural activities, including printing Spring Festival pictures, writing Spring Festival couplets, weaving Chinese knots, learning dragon and lion dances, and making palace lanterns. Many girls learned to write fu on red paper and pasted it on classroom walls, and marveled at the unique artistic charm of Chinese calligraphy. The lively and active boys were eager to experience dragon and lion dances. Knowing that the Year of the Dragon was coming soon, they learned about various customs about it from the teachers at the institute. Many of the students from Mashrek International School said that through the experience event, they have learned how the Chinese people celebrate the Spring Festival as well as its cultural traditions. They hope that they will have the opportunity to take part in more Chinese cultural experience activities in the future. Haneen Elayyan, Director of the Junior Section of Mashrek International School, said that the event has brought the teachers and students a valuable chance to closely experience the Chinese culture, and he is also delighted to welcome the Spring Festival with the Chinese people.

In 2023, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution to officially designate the Spring Festival as a UN floating holiday, stating that it is becoming a global one. More and more cultural experience activities of the Chinese Spring Festival are being held in full swing around the world, and the immersive experience of the Spring Festival is becoming a cultural trend that is sweeping the world.