Chinese New Year celebrations reflect Sino-UK friendship

The Chinese New Year involves almost a quarter of the world's population in a dramatic tidal wave of travel and homecoming. Also known as Spring Festival, it is a tradition among several countries in Asia and has become a global celebration in recent decades.

Acknowledging the passing of the old and ushering in the new, this festival falls on the first day of the first month of the Chinese calendar and lasts for about two weeks. Redolent with symbolism through food, language, calligraphy, color and focusing on particular days within the period, this festival season is one of family reunion, hope and good wishes for increased prosperity.

Christmas is the main family festival outside of China, especially in the West, rooted in its Christian tradition and the story of the birth of Baby Jesus. Huge emphasis, like with Chinese New Year, is given to food and family reunions. A few Christmas markets pop up in China, but it is the Chinese New Year that is the pivotal, annual coming together. The endless, charming phrases of blessings that are shared with family members on the traditional red couplets found on door frames and with friends through WeChat are as spectacular as the fireworks and include numerous wishes for good health, happiness, prosperity and that you might have life in abundance.

In Worcester, a city close to Birmingham in the West Midlands, the United Kingdom, with a population of 120,000 people, and with historic links to China through its porcelain and tea trade, the Chinese New Year has been celebrated for more than 25 years.

Engage with China, a UK educational charity, has partnered with the Worcestershire Chinese Association in recent years, together with the Museum of Royal Worcester and Royal Porcelain Works, to bring the festival alive for the local community. It marked the Year of the Snake, which started on Jan 29, with a cultural extravaganza on Feb 2.

These well-loved celebrations have become one of the most highly anticipated fixtures of the annual calendar, attracting about 1,600 people of all ages into the heart of Worcester this year. Free family activities, including tea tasting, a traditional Chinese tea ceremony, calligraphy workshops, art and craft activities, musical performances and the traditional lion dance present visitors with an engaging, fun and dramatic opportunity to understand Chinese culture. It also creates an opportunity to break down cultural barriers in the community and to celebrate diversity.

In my experience, the Chinese New Year — both in China and in the UK — involves plenty of food, family time, laughter and festive noise. Being the main annual holiday akin to Christmas, it is a particular honor to share the occasion with Chinese friends in their homes.

I remember cycling through the frozen streets of Beijing in 1991 to celebrate Chinese New Year with a local Chinese family. In a time before general prosperity and when refrigeration was a luxury for only a few households, I distinctly remember being flanked by rows and rows of cabbages lining the streets, as the government utilized the natural frozen outdoor temperatures to keep these vegetables fresh.

I was ushered into the warmth of the family home to join in the fun and to make hundreds of jiaozi, or dumplings, together — a delicate culinary activity at the heart of the Chinese New Year preparations. The shape of the dumplings, similar to the silver ingots used as ancient Chinese currency, symbolizes wealth and prosperity. Dumplings are made by rolling and shaping small pieces of dough around a juicy filling. Other delicious food, including fish, vegetable and meat dishes, all selected for their color, texture, flavor, smell and symbolism, is enough to make your mouth water.

The 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac include the fluffy and cuddly type, like the rabbit, and the powerful and strong, like the tiger. While the snake is feared and considered devious in Western culture, perhaps due to the trickery of the serpent in the famous story about the Garden of Eden in the first book of the Bible, in Chinese culture, the snake is a popular motif in classical literature, art, myth and folklore, and considered to be wise, passionate, vain, and likely to make a lot of money. With wishes for increased prosperity and gifts of money given in the red envelopes, the snake comes into its own in 2025.

Attitudes toward China vary in the West. Reports from various circles, including diplomatic, academic and political ones, suggest that the UK would benefit from building more China-related skills and understanding. Chinese culture is intriguing and colorful and can attract significant interest, particularly around festivals. The high footfall at our annual Chinese New Year celebration in Worcester is evidence of that.

Traditions and activities create a helpful access point to discovering China and its culture. Our mission at Engage with China is to build China literacy and understanding among UK's schoolchildren. Our work centering on curriculum enrichment in schools are not purely about sharing factual knowledge, but rather offering an immersive appreciation of the history, landscapes and social impact of China-UK engagement over the centuries through age-appropriate activities.

Our scholarship program, founded in 2023, currently enables 35 British teenagers to study for two years at international schools in China, providing a unique opportunity for deep, mutual, cultural and language exchanges and appreciation. One of our scholars performed a song in Mandarin and shared some of her profound, personal experiences of China at the Chinese New Year celebrations in Worcester. Such firsthand stories, hands-on activities, the lion dance performances and music all support the scaffolding upon which we can facilitate an introduction and a nonthreatening appreciation of China.

When the world seems so unsettled at the beginning of 2025, it is my hope that the Year of the Snake will be one in which many people will adopt the characteristics of this zodiac animal to be passionate and wise about finding common ground, growing cross-cultural understanding and building tolerance.

The author is joint CEO of Chopsticks Club, a professionals' network in the United Kingdom, and co-founder and director of the UK educational charity Engage with China. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.