Torontonians fascinated with Chinese culture on New Year fair

With the Chinese New Year just around the corner, hundreds of Torontonians got a dense taste of the New Year festivities at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Canada's largest city on Saturday.

Featuring with the festive lion dance, Chinese orchestra, Tai Chi and many other performances, the culture fair, co-organized by the Chinese Cultural Center of Greater Toronto (CCCGT) and the ROM, offered local citizens and overseas Chinese with a pure feast of traditional Chinese culture.

"For us, the CCCGT, we like to have this opportunity to promote the Chinese culture to other ethnic groups, not just within the Chinese community," CCCGT's chairman Dr. Ming Tat Cheung told Xinhua.

"Toronto is a very international city. We have over 100 different ethnic groups in Toronto ...They also have to absorb cultures from other ethnic groups," said the chairman.

Aside from a series of live performances, museum-goers also got a more in-depth look into the rich history of China with an interactive manner.

In a workshop of the fair, artists like Yadong Liu were busy in making paintings of horses for visitors while introducing to them the traditional Chinese art of woodblock printing.

"I'm here for fun. I tell people how to make it, they're very interested in it," he said.

He drew the attention of Gregory Toth, an exchange student from Hungary.

"I've got to know some of the Chinese signs, because I asked the calligrapher which sign is what, and it was very interesting for me because he showed us the symbols with his own body," said Toth.

For Nora Kovacs, who was also an exchange student from Hungary and studied Chinese for half a year there, the fair was a rare chance to learn more about China.

"It (the fair) is very interactive and you can get to know the culture of China, so I found it very nice," said Kovacs.

Others like Anna Smith and her husband were there to teach their two daughters, adopted from China, a little more about their heritage.

"When we adopted them we made a promise to the people in China that we would teach them about their culture, so we always try and look for ways to incorporate it naturally, so because it's Chinese New Year, we thought this was a natural fit," said Smith.

Another visitor Diane Drake, a retired kindergarten teacher, said she might not be Chinese, but she always celebrates Chinese New Year in her own way.

"It gives us one more reason to celebrate with our family, and a good chance to celebrate the culture of another country," said Drake.