Spring Festival goes international

Macau

"Us Macau people like festivals and have many of them,"said a Macau resident. When asked about which festival is the most important, the resident replied, "The Spring Festival, of course. We are all Chinese."

It is definitely a good choice to spend the Spring Festival in Macau. "During the Spring Festival, Macau is neither cold nor hot, and it is not noisy. The city has maintained many New Year customs and food traditions.

Tourists can stroll around the city or take buses to places of interest, which is very affordable. They can visit churches, the A-Ma Temple, flower fairs and museums, or eat pork chop buns or hot pot. In summary, you can feel the Chinese atmosphere with international elements".

Statistics showed that Macau, with a population of over 600,000 people, received more than 28 million tourists last year. The Macau Government Tourist Office recently said that it will pay great attention to deepening its tourism market, developing cultural tourism products, and carrying out major festival celebrations, in order to increase the number of tourists.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong has also integrated Chinese and international elements in celebrating the Spring Festival. The Chinese elements can be reflected by worshiping the Kitchen God and ancestors as well as playing cards to stay up late on the eve of the Spring Festival, which remains the most important festival in the region.

Hong Kong has made great efforts to hold a sumptuous "Global Party" to celebrate the Spring Festival and promote it as an international festival. As colored Christmas lights continue to shine, red lanterns and delicate Chinese knots have appeared in every corner of the region. For western tourists, the Spring Festival is more oriental and therefore more appealing.

Hong Kong residents have replaced many traditional Chinese ways of celebrating the Spring Festival with exotic ways that westerners can understand and appreciate.

For example, firecrackers, folk dances, marketplaces, and god worshipping have been replaced by fireworks shows, carnivals, shopping fairs, and wish trees respectively. Foreigners who are familiar with Christmas trees can better appreciate the festival featuring both eastern modesty and western luxury.

Taiwan

Taiwan has long used the Spring Festival to promote Chinese culture and its image. In addition to lantern festivals that foreigners are familiar with, Taiwan has "internationalized" all New Year traditions.

The City God Temple of Jiayi has launched online services such as offering to light on virtual lights and picking fortune-telling sticks with English and Japanese versions for the Spring Festival. It has also assigned staff members to answer foreigners' questions on its official website.

A foreigner once asked the temple about the meaning of the words on a good fortune-telling stick he picked, and a staff member explained to him Chinese terms such as Moon Palace and laurel blossoms. In this process, Chinese culture has gained influence, and the tradition of picking fortune-telling sticks has been introduced to foreign countries.

Among numerous festivals in the world, the Chinese Spring Festival, which marks the end of cold weather, is the warmest as well as most peaceful and joyful festival of all. Chinese people should return home to spend the festival with their families whether they are poor or rich.

Despite all obstacles, Chinese people have passed down the joyousness of the Spring Festival generation after generation. The "Global Party" contains ancient, modern, Chinese, and western elements. Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan have taken the lead in promoting the Spring Festival as an international festival, spreading the peaceful and joyful traditional Chinese culture abroad, and showing modern Chinese people's wisdom and capabilities.