Happy Chinese New Year to boost cultural power

Chinese dancers perform during the "Happy Chinese New Year" evening gala to celebrate the Chinese traditional Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival, at Berlin's Red City Hall in Berlin, Germany, on Feb 24, 2015.[Photo/Xinhua]

This year, Chinese New Year swept the world due to the enormous purchasing power and increasing mobility of the Chinese population. Forbes found that "2.8 billion trips will be made during China’s biggest party, compared to 46 million during Thanksgiving",according to Bloomberg, and "the amount Americans spend over the Thanksgiving weekend is the stuff of legend but the Chinese are going to splash out double it – $100 billion."

Also, the Spring Festival has overtaken Thanksgiving with 700 and 800 million viewers watching the Spring Festival Gala, broadcast on CCTV compared with 32 million Americans tuning in for the nation’s biggest football game at Thanksgiving.

The Associated Press pointed out that decades ago, Chinese New Year had almost no influence over countries or regions other than China. With the rising power of the Chinese economy, the Lunar New Year has been highlighted in Chinese-speaking regions due to its great cultural appeal. It is a unique way that China makes an impact on the world.

A commentator from the Los Angeles Times said that "In the future, I expect China will be exporting more culture and reversing the tide we've seen with so much foreign culture, like Christmas, pouring into China."

Previously the preserve of Chinatowns and celebrated only by overseas Chinese, Chinese New Year has now stepped out into the mainstream, with festivities held at Lincoln Center and in the streets of Hollywood, while decorations and messages were sent at NBA games, over the radio and even printed on beverage packages.

Since 2010, Happy Chinese New Year cultural communications and activities have been held in 42 countries under the auspices of China’s Minister of Culture. In 2015, the events were held in over 118 countries and regions, in 320 cities, the largest celebration in terms of scale and number of participants.