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Foreigners savor flavors of Spring Festival in China(Xinhua) 09:04, February 01, 2025
BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- "Guonian," which means "crossing the year," is more than just a festival marking the arrival of the new year for the Chinese people.
Though the Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival, is now celebrated in many places worldwide, the true meaning of "Guonian" can only be fully understood by experiencing it in China.
"The celebration is big, stretching for a month with a lot of food, fireworks and cultural events," said Kayleen Fangbi from Belgium. "I love it."
Lanterns and fairy lights adorn every corner, while shops bustle with people laden with large shopping bags, as observed by a Spanish couple traveling in Beijing just days before the Spring Festival, which fell on Jan. 29 this year.
Spotting the snake-themed decorations, they decided to look up the meanings of the Chinese zodiac online and discovered that this year is the Year of the Snake. "One of us is a Horse, and the other is a Sheep," they noted, clearly finding it all quite fascinating.
A drone photo taken on Jan. 22, 2025 shows visitors watching lanterns on the city wall of Xi'an during the 2025 Chang'an Lantern Festival in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. (Xinhua/Zou Jingyi)
Invitations to join in the celebration were shared via the Chinese lifestyle app rednote, with many Chinese netizens offering tips and local authorities promoting festive activities. The surge in activity comes as the app gains many users from the United States and other countries, following the U.S. government's threat to ban TikTok.
With the trending hashtag "Chinese New Year," many foreigners shared about their Spring Festival celebrations virtually from wherever they were, with some expressing the joy of savoring an authentic experience of the holiday in China.
Beyond the traditional fireworks, decorations, dragon dances, and lion dances, Spring Festival celebrations across China feature distinct local traditions, each adding its unique flavor to the holiday. They all share common themes: family reunions and hope for good fortune in the year ahead.
The diverse social practices throughout the Chinese New Year celebrations, recently listed as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO, offer international visitors a rich array of experiences during this period.
In the Chaoshan region of south China's Guangdong Province, the traditional Yingge dance adds a vibrant New Year atmosphere to the celebrations. Videos showcasing the dance have garnered millions of views, drawing many travelers to spend the Spring Festival in the area.
Artists perform the traditional Yingge dance in Chaoyang District of Shantou City, south China's Guangdong Province, Jan. 29, 2025. (Xinhua/Lu Hanxin)
The dancers, dressed in colorful costumes that represent ancient heroes and heroines, hold short wooden sticks and perform rhythmic movements, such as swinging the sticks, striking them together, and stamping their feet.
"I was completely captivated by the strength and precision of their movements, the rhythmic sounds of their stomping and sticks clashing, and their powerful shouts of encouragement," said Thanita Raemee from Thailand, after watching Yingge Dance performances.
It's said that when the lanterns in Yuyuan Garden light up, the Spring Festival begins in Shanghai, one of the top destinations for foreign visitors in China.
Tourists from the Republic of Korea visit the Yuyuan Garden Mall in east China's Shanghai, Dec. 4, 2024. (Photo by Chen Haoming/Xinhua)
After strolling through the winding corridors and pavilions, a German tourist bought numerous Chinese New Year-themed souvenirs in Yuyuan Garden. "I want to bring the festive blessings to my friends back home," she said.
"A major change is that foreign tourists mostly just walked around in the past, but now they bring real spending power," said Hu Junjie, vice president of Shanghai Yuyuan Tourist Mart (Group) Co., Ltd., adding that they are particularly interested in the lantern displays, traditional Chinese makeup and costumes, special cuisine, and cultural products.
Tatiana, 70, a visitor from Russia on a trip to the city of Sanya in the southern island province of Hainan, said that she and her daughter came specifically to experience the Spring Festival.
At a local event, she eagerly took part in interactive activities. "Writing the Chinese character 'Fu (meaning blessing)' with a calligraphy brush was such a unique experience," she said. They also enjoyed watching traditional Chinese cultural performances, including the unique Li and Miao ethnic folk dances of Hainan.
