Official launch of ‘2013 Happy Chinese New Year’
(Chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2013-02-07
On Jan 31, 2013, the Bureau of External Relations of Ministry of Culture held a news conference to launch ‘2013 Happy Chinese New Year’, an activity which has been conducted for four consecutive years.
This year’s ‘Happy Chinese New Year’ includes 385 different activities and will be covered in 99 countries and 251 cities. Events include a temple fair, plaza parades, theatrical performance, cultural heritage exhibition, folk art show, picture displays, tourism publicity, fashion show, street carnival, fireworks display, interactions via new media, and also face-to-face exchanges between cultural celebrities and local people.
Moreover, the Bureau of External Relations will also hold a Spring Festival themed picture show and an online Chinese culture contest with the Chinese Photographer Society and China Daily. It aims at not only introducing Chinese culture and Chinese values to the world, but also providing a platform for the communication and integration of different ideas and cultures from around the world. The purpose of this activity is to show the world that Spring Festival is a family festival and a world festival.
Three celebrities, Ni Ping, Yang Lan and Lang Lang, will act as this year’s promotion ambassadors. They will participate in activities abroad to promote the spreading of Chinese culture across the globe.
New features of this year’s ‘Happy Chinese New Year’ are as follows:
1. Extended coverage nationally and internationally
‘2013 Happy Chinese New Year’ involves 385 different activities and will be covered in 99 countries and 251 cities from five continents, an unprecedented scale. Organizers will send special teams to countries and regions in America, Canada, Western Europe, and Africa, and alsi to regions in Eastern Europe and Latin America.
As ‘Happy Chinese New Year’ gains increasing attention in both scale and influence, more and more cities, municipalities and provinces have enthusiastically participated in this event. The number of enrolled cities, municipalities and provinces are twenty-nine, which surpasses past events.
2. Diversity of performances
‘2013 Happy Chinese New Year’ boasts a diversity of performance forms. Apart from a temple fair, plaza parades, theatrical performance, cultural heritage exhibition, folk art show, and picture displays, the Ministry of Culture and embassies in foreign countries will also hold events, such as cultural exchanges and Chinese-style fashion shows, and develop various computer or mobile phone applications, which modernize and digitalize communication modes.
3. Clearer brand image
The Ministry of Culture will upgrade the former brand image of ‘Happy Chinese New Year’, launching a systematic, characteristic, and standard visual identification system that will be adopted by all participants. Meanwhile, by using QR 2D codes, applications and other publicity techniques with new media, the Ministry of Culture will elevate the brand image and popularity, conveying to the whole world the concept of ‘Happiness, Harmony, Sharing, Praying, Blessing’, and the predominant theme of “Happy Chinese New Year, Harmonious New World’.
4. Systematic project management
The Ministry of Culture will strengthen the systematic management of projects and increase planning and coordination efforts abroad by undertaking sub-brands, such as ‘Celebrating Spring Festival across the World’ and ‘International Spring Festival’. The Ministry of Culture will also invest great effort to ensure the smooth running of these events so that they can be easily accepted by mainstream societies and foreign citizens.
5. Expand nongovernmental and business channels to stimulate future development
Since 2012, the increasing number of nongovernmental cultural groups and business organizations enthusiastically taking part in ‘Happy Chinese New Year’ has brought in more capital investment. According to incomplete statistics, more than 30 nongovernmental cultural groups will participate in this year’s annual event. Among all foreign projects, 65 of them are operated by business organizations, which shows that the ‘Happy Chinese New Year’ enjoys considerable societal and economical rewards.
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