Students dressed in Hanfu, the traditional Chinese attire, celebrated the upcoming Spring Festival with a flashmob show aboard a red double-decker bus in London on Friday.
Students from China and many other countries celebrated the Chinese New Year with music and a fun zodiac-themed quiz during the Hanfu flashmob as the bus toured major landmarks across the UK capital.
Paddington Bear also joined the celebration and brought festive cheer throughout the city.
"It's very significant for me. Of course, (it's) just me in London and my family is in China. I always miss them. This holiday is very meaningful for me," said an overseas Chinese student.
"When I'm in China, people get together and celebrate it. It is a new beginning. It means reunion. So it would be nice when we were getting together," said another overseas Chinese student.
The event featured live music played on the erhu, a traditional Chinese string instrument, along with an interactive zodiac quiz. Even British table tennis star Liam Pitchford got swept up in the festivities.
"Table tennis is a massive sport over in China and they've been the best in table tennis for a long time now. We had a Chinese coach growing up, and he took us over to China a lot when we were young to train. My New Year's message is to enjoy life and try and see the positive in every day," said Pitchford.
For many students, the celebration was about sharing a piece of home despite being thousands of miles away.
"This is the Year of the Horse. Obviously, we're both born in 2002, so this is our year. We have never been wearing these clothes and we never come this close to Chinese culture before in the UK," said an international student.
"I'm really having a good time and I'm very happy. I was so lucky to wear this outfit as well!" said another international student.
The Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival, lands on Feb 17 this year, and is the most important traditional festival for the Chinese and a time for family reunions. This year's Spring Festival holiday runs for nine days from Feb 15.
Students in London celebrate Spring Festival with Hanfu flashmob
China is willing to strengthen exchanges at various levels and enhance mutually beneficial cooperation with Austria, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Friday.
Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks while meeting with Austrian Federal Minister for European and International Affairs Beate Meinl-Reisinger on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
The world is changing rapidly and should be getting better, not worse, said Wang, noting that it is now the time for countries to strengthen solidarity and cooperation, to jointly safeguard the authority of the United Nations, and to practice genuine multilateralism.
Urging all countries to work together to build a community with a shared future for humanity, Wang also voiced China's support for Europe in pursuing a path of strategic autonomy and contributing to building a safer, more harmonious and fairer world. Austria, as a European country with unique advantages, is believed to make new contributions in this regard, he said.
As a responsible major country, China will stay committed to serving as a stabilizing anchor for world peace and a major engine for global development, said Wang.
This year marks the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Austria. Both sides should review historical experiences, uphold the friendly strategic partnership and continuously deepen bilateral relations on the basis of equality and mutual respect, Wang said.
China welcomes Austrian enterprises to seize cooperation opportunities in areas such as the digital economy and future industries and create new highlights in cooperation, and hopes Austria will provide a fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises, Wang added.
China supports strengthened exchanges between cultural institutions and art groups of both countries to better promote mutual understanding, and Austrian citizens are welcome to make good use of the visa-free policy to visit and learn about China, Wang said. For her part, Meinl-Reisinger said that Austria attaches great importance to its relations with China and firmly adheres to the one-China policy and that bilateral cooperation in various fields has yielded positive results based on equality and mutual benefit.
Austria is willing to take the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations as an opportunity to strengthen exchanges at all levels with China, expand economic and trade cooperation, enhance cultural exchanges and elevate the Austria-China friendly strategic partnership to a higher level, she said.
The world today needs more cooperation and peace, not chaos and war, she said, noting that Austria is willing to strengthen communication and coordination with China in multilateral institutions such as the United Nations within the framework of multilateralism.
The two sides also exchanged views on issues of common concern, including the Ukraine crisis.
China willing to strengthen cooperation with Austria: FM
