Chinese embassies and a Chinese consulate general have hosted the 2026 Spring Festival receptions this week to welcome the Year of the Horse.
The Spring Festival, or the Chinese New Year, falls on Feb 17 this year.
The reception hosted by the Chinese Embassy in the United States on Feb 10 in Washington presented performances such as lion dance and displayed a promotional video of China Media Group (CMG) 2026 Spring Festival Gala.
Sean Stein, president of the U.S.-China Business Council, said that the spirit of the Year of the Horse represents an auspicious wish that the U.S.-China relations will gallop forward in the new year.
"What I hope it means is that U.S. and China relations will rapidly gallop forward with strength and we will be in a much better place at the end of the Year of the Horse, because the relationship will progress very far than we were at the beginning," said Stein.
On Feb 9, the Chinese Embassy in Italy and the Permanent Mission of China to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture jointly hosted a reception in Rome.
The event featured Chinese intangible cultural heritage, and the attendees had the opportunity to interact with robot dogs.
"China is not only achieving modernization but also leading the future. It keeps making progress in the fields of technology and economy," said former Italian Economy and Finance Minister Giovanni Tria.
The reception hosted by the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines on Feb 10 in the capital Manila gathered both Chinese and Philippine representatives, with the attendees hoping that the bilateral ties will achieve healthy and stable development in the new year.
The Chinese Embassy in Senegal hosted the Spring Festival reception on Feb 9 in Dakar, involving participants in cultural activities and offering them delicious Chinese food and spectacular martial arts performances.
The 2026 Spring Festival reception hosted by the Chinese Consulate General in New York on Feb 10 in New York City presented a concert and showcased Chinese intangible cultural heritage.
Videos promoting the CMG 2026 Spring Festival Gala and film-themed travels to China were also played at the reception, with attendees speaking highly of China's development model.
"Its economic policies are based on the general welfare of the population and the success is the success they are sharing, very importantly, with nations throughout Africa and Latin America," said Richard Black, a researcher at the Schiller Institute.
On the same day, the Chinese Consulate General in New York also held a Spring Festival celebration jointly with the Empire State Building, unveiling the Chinese New Year of Horse-themed window display.
Chinese embassies, consulate general host 2026 Spring Festival receptions
South China's Guangdong Province is accelerating its transformation into an international medical tourism hub, positioning itself as a destination for patients worldwide seeking affordable, high-quality care.
The push follows a joint initiative announced in late March by nine Chinese government departments, including the Ministry of Commerce, aimed at boosting spending by foreign tourists and enhancing exports of tourism services as part of broader efforts to expand the country's service sector.
Every day, some of the most complex surgeries are performed here. Li Zilun, deputy director of the division of vascular surgery at the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat‑sen University, is among the doctors capable of carrying out these intricate procedures.
He recently completed surgery on a patient with an aortic aneurysm, a condition often described as a "time bomb" in the body’s main artery, increasingly common in aging societies around the globe. Li also specializes in highly difficult and pioneering procedures, including repairing leaks caused by failed grafts.
"This was a very challenging case. And then, we implanted the covered stent to eliminate the endoleak. Actually, the outcome was pretty good. The patient will be discharged today," said Li Zilun.
The ability to handle such complex cases -- combining international techniques with domestically produced devices -- is drawing patients from around the world to seek treatment. In addition, high safety standards and low costs are also major draws.
"Our government is encouraging innovation. So, lots of physicians -- including our vascular surgeons -- we are actively involved in the innovation that helps to increase the effectiveness and safety, and also bring down the cost," said Li.
This hospital is one of the first in Guangdong to be designated by the provincial health commission as a pilot site for building an international medical service hub.
The growing number of patients has pushed the hospital to explore new ways to transform every step -- from treatment to payment and everything in between -- into a seamless experience, reducing waiting times and delivering better care for patients.
"I think it's fast. When the patient come here for just about, I think, one week, you can solve the problem," said Xiao Haipeng, president of the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University.
The hospital is also deepening its international cooperation with top-tier medical institutions, including those at Harvard University.
"Not just for China, for the whole globe, we are facing health care challenges -- emerging infectious disease and chronic, lung infectious diseases, and also the aging population, also the shortage of healthcare workforce," said Xiao.
In response to these challenges, China is promoting its own solutions, including aggressive innovation in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven workflows, while stepping up research and development investment and global engagement along the way.
"In recent years, the innovation in Western medicine is dramatically growing. An example of my hospital -- in the past few years, we have 140 innovations and seven of them are international leading innovations," said Xiao.
As global demand for medical tourism grows, China is positioning itself as a new destination. Official data shows that the number of foreign patients in Guangdong increased by 20 percent last year. Among them, the growth in inpatient admissions was even faster, rising by 76 percent.
Guangdong fast-tracks pilot for int'l medical service hub
