Chinese New Year celebrated in Islamabad

Pakistani and Chinese officials have held a joint Chinese New Year celebration in Islamabad, featuring song and dance from both countries.

Sino-Pak relations are both well known and well established. So a celebration for both Chinese New Year and neighbourly friendship was a welcome - but not entirely unexpected event.

Dr. Zhang Daojin from Confucius Institute, said, "We welcome Ambassador of China and Pakistani Minister of Defence to celebrate the new year."

The programme was a mix of dance and performance drawing on the rich cultural expressions of both nations. A keynote speech by Chinese Ambassador Liu Jian expressed his delight at the efforts made by Pakistan to strengthen relations.

Key performers included children from the Pakistani Roots School system who learn the Chinese language as part of their curriculum.

Alishba Zia, Pakistani student performer, said, "Learning Chinese is difficult but we worked very hard and our performance was successful."

With China's leadership recently changing hands and Pakistan's likely to do the same very soon, this New Years Celebration was a reminder of the ongoing relationship.