Diverse celebrations held worldwide to welcome Chinese New Year

As the Chinese New Year approaches, an array of celebrating events has been held around the world to celebrate the upcoming Year of the Horse, which begins on February 17 this year.

The Chinese Embassy in Colombia hosted a temple fair in the country's capital Bogota ahead of the Chinese New Year. Chinese Ambassador to Colombia Zhu Jingyang attended the event and delivered a speech. The fair drew large crowds, featuring spectacular performances including folk dances.

At a celebrating event in the Spanish capital Madrid last week, Yolanda Diaz Perez, Spain's second vice president and minister of labour and social economy, delivered a speech, saying that Spain and China should jointly commit to promoting mutual respect and exchanges between different civilizations.

The event in Madrid included a reception, a concert, and a show of Chinese cultural innovations. Guests at the event savored distinctive Chinese delicacies while engaging with demonstrations of intangible cultural heritage.

The Shanghai Chinese Orchestra, Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe, and Madrid Philharmonic Orchestra collaborated to present classic repertoire from both nations at the National Music Auditorium of Spain. 　　 In Kenya, the Chinese Embassy hosted an event celebrating the Year of the Horse. More than 400 guests including representatives from Chinese associations and enterprises in Kenya, overseas Chinese, and people from various sectors in the country attended the event.

A Chinese troupe presented a dance show with the theme of silk road at the Kenya National Theater for the local Chinese community.

The launch ceremony for a series of celebrations was also held at the Cultural Section of the Chinese Embassy in the UK.

The event featured demonstrations of intangible cultural heritage, including erhu performances and Sichuan Opera face-changing, as well as a promotional video for the China Media Group's much-anticipated Spring Festival Gala.

Across various locations in London, the series of events will feature diverse activities such as folk culture demonstrations, traditional Spring Festival temple fairs, and cultural performances.

Diverse celebrations held worldwide to welcome Chinese New Year

The first Hualong One nuclear power unit in south China's Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area officially entered commercial operation on Monday.

The newly commissioned Unit 1 of China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) Guangdong Taipingling Nuclear Power Project achieved multiple key technological breakthroughs and completed 26 major design upgrades, according to engineers. It also marked the simultaneous completion and handover of both the physical plant and its integrated digital system.

Unit 1 is expected to generate more than nine billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, which is sufficient to meet the yearly power needs of around one million residents in the Greater Bay Area.

Zhang Guoqiang, head of CGN Huizhou Nuclear Power Project, said the project helps advance the nation's carbon reduction drive.

"The clean energy output is equivalent to reducing carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 8.4 million tons or adding around 20,000 hectares of forest. Currently, Unit 1 has completed all performance tests and a 168-hour full-power continuous operation assessment. All parameters of the unit are normal and stable, and the unit is in good condition," said Zhang.

The Taipingling Nuclear Power Project is planned to build six Hualong One units in three phases. Once fully completed, the project is expected to generate more than 55 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually.

"Hualong One" is China's domestically developed third-generation nuclear reactor. The technology is considered vital in the country's pursuit of improving its energy mix and meeting its dual carbon targets of peaking carbon emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.

First Hualong One nuclear power unit in China's Greater Bay Area starts power generation