Spring Festival's starring role on the European stage

A boy shows his paper cutting work in Istanbul of Turkey on Feb 13, 2015. "Night of Beijing, Happy Chinese New Year" traditional cultural performance was held by the Chinese Ministry of Culture in Istanbul on Friday. [Photo/Xinhua]

While Chinese are required to return to work on Wednesday after their Spring Festival break, for most the festive mood will extend until after they celebrate the Lantern Festival, which is the first significant fete day after the Spring Festival. This year it falls on March 5.

Checking my schedule, I found that this year's final Spring Festival event in Brussels is the annual Lunar New Year reception organized by Belgian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce on March 4, at which the Chinese Ambassador to Belgium Qu Xing and Didier Reynders, Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium, will speak. The chamber has also, once again, arranged a collective shopping (and bargaining) trip to a shopping center in Belgium.

Of course, this final event has been preceded by rounds of receptions, dinners and performances on different occasions. Normally, the Chinese embassy launches the Spring Festival activities by hosting a grand reception for the Chinese community in Belgium. And shows of Chinese performance arts will follow.

As a Chinese journalist in Brussels, I have attended such festival activities for five consecutive years. What's more, as the Christmas and New Year celebrations normally happen just a few weeks before the Spring Festival, I get to enjoy a double-length festive period.

In Europe, many politicians have chosen to grandly mark China's Spring Festival. French President Francois Hollande even said this is also a festival for French people at an annual reception organized in the Elysee Palace. Hollande is right. Now, there are about 600,000 Chinese-French in France, and many of them have family relationships with French people.

And as Chinese companies make more investments in the countries such as France, the recognition and celebration will be strengthened.