Activities held overseas to celebrate upcoming Spring Festival

A variety of activities were held across the world recently to welcome the upcoming Spring Festival, or the Chinese New Year, which falls on Jan 29 this year, bringing together guests from different sectors to appreciate the charm of traditional Chinese culture.

A concert featuring Chinese music together with a reception was held at the Chinese Embassy in Latvia, attracting nearly 800 people, including representatives from the Latvian Parliament and government, and people from all walks of life.

"I would like to congratulate all Chinese people with the Spring Festival, with the Chinese New Year, with the Year of the Snake. And I hope that the relationship between our nations will be very good and very positive for the future," said Ainars Slesers, head of the Latvian parliament's committee for promoting cooperation with China.

At the Municipal Theater of Piraeus in Greece, Chinese and Greek artists performed the famous Chinese folk song "Jasmine Flower", and the Greek folk song "The Children of Piraeus".

"I really really like the whole concert, when both Greek and Chinese musicians combined their masterpieces together, really really beautiful. I wish you all a happy New Year of the Snake," said a local audience member.

At an amusement park in Athens, a series of traditional Chinese performances, including dragon dance, lion dance, folk music and Kunqu Opera, were presented to feast local audience.

In addition, local people were also given a chance to appreciate some Chinese folk handicraft, such as Beijing embroidery, and make traditional Chinese pastries at the scene.

At the Lincoln Center in New York City, about 400 students from the Beijing Jinfan Youth Art Troupe and the United Nations International School Band joined hands to deliver a spectacular performance to mark the Spring Festival, attracting an audience of over 2,500, including local residents and members of the Chinese-American community.

The event was a perfect fusion of tradition and modernity, East and West, featuring a wide range of artistic forms including traditional Chinese music, symphonic orchestra, wind instruments, choral singing, dance, Peking opera, and martial arts.

Activities held overseas to celebrate upcoming Spring Festival

The 32nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting concluded in east China's Suzhou on Saturday, yielding fruitful results and laying significant groundwork for the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in November.

The trade ministers' meeting focused on "building an open and predictable regional and multilateral economic and trade order" and "fostering new engines of innovative and dynamic trade and investment cooperation."

Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao briefed the media on the meeting's outcomes at a press conference.

Wang said the meeting issued a joint statement titled the Suzhou Statement, and approved the latest edition of the APEC Roadmap for Innovative, Competitive and Resilient Services.

All parties agreed to advance policy innovation and reform in services trade, build an open and predictable investment environment, improve regional trade facilitation and supply chain resilience, strengthen standards coordination, and enhance intellectual property protection, Wang told the media.

He also said that substantial progress was made on a framework document for regional digital trade cooperation and the ministers emphasized promoting inclusive AI development, strengthening AI-related trade, and bridging the digital divide to ensure shared benefits from digital transformation.

The minister noted that the outcomes of the meeting demonstrated strong cooperation willingness, highlighted an innovation-oriented approach, and reflected inclusiveness and shared benefits. "The fact that Asia-Pacific economies can come together, uphold the original aspiration of promoting trade and investment liberalization and facilitation while supporting economic growth and prosperity, and engage in in-depth discussions on the important issue of 'where multilateral and regional economic and trade cooperation is headed,' fully demonstrates that open regionalism and true multilateralism enjoy broad support, and that mutual success and shared development serve the fundamental interests of all economies," Wang said.

2026 APEC trade ministers' meeting concludes with fruitful results