February 17, 2016 anyone could feel the Chinese culture and celebrate the start of the New Year again at SUSU. In China it is common to celebrate the arrival of the New Year with the same broad scale as in the whole world but it is celebrated according to the lunar calendar, hence, it is sometimes called the Lunar New Year. For us the New Year is the winter holiday but for the Chinese it is the spring festival which symbolizes the awakening of nature and the beginning of a new life cycle.
Celebration of the Chinese New Year has become a good tradition for foreign students of SUSU. This time the event was prepared and held by Chelyabinsk branch of the Association of Foreign Students together with the Department of International Cooperation of SUSU.
Guests of the festival took part in a master class on making Christmas toys, learned about basic traditions of the celebration from the presentation, and tested their knowledge in the quiz. At the end of the festival guests were able to enjoy the tea ceremony with original Chinese tea and sweets; traditional symbol of the Chinese New Year, tangerines, were also on the table as a symbol of wealth, success, love, happiness, and longevity.
The festival program included performances of Chinese students and creative gifts of students from Kyrgyzstan and Iraq. Pupils of sport school of Wushu ‘Derzhava’ came to congratulate Chinese students and presented demonstration performances of fisticuffs. Students of Regional Studies of the Institute of International Education congratulated foreign students with bright posters with wishes of success in the upcoming year.