VALLETTA, Jan 29 (Xinhua) -- Celebrations of the Chinese Lunar New Year, or the Spring Festival, were held in Malta's largest shopping mall in Sliema, a commercial centre in eastern Malta on Saturday.

With the lion and dragon dance performance, brought by the Malta School of Wushu-Longgui, kicking off the celebrations, hundreds of local residents and tourists were attracted by the dance performance, the martial arts performance, and experienced activities such as Chinese calligraphy and painting, lantern folding and traditional Chinese medicine services.

The event was co-organized by the China Cultural Centre in Malta and The Point shopping mall, where giant electronic screens in the shopping mall also displayed posters and videos showing the Year of the Rabbit.

The "Chinese Lantern Workshop" set up by the China Cultural Center was crowded with children, who learned to fold exquisite Chinese lanterns and painted rabbits with Chinese brushes. Participants were thrilled to receive rabbit mascots and New Year cards in the lucky draw.

At the booth set up by the Confucius Institute at the University of Malta, Ji Nengwen, the Chinese director of the institute, wrote the Chinese character fu (meaning happiness, blessing, and good fortune) with a brush to convey New Year blessings.