Southeast Asia Information Port News (www.dnyxxg.com) – On the evening of February 14th, local time, the Paris Chinese Cultural Center held a Spring Festival-themed open day entitled "Celebrating the Chinese New Year at the Center."
According to reports, the event, planned around the themes of "immersion, ritual, and a sense of fulfillment," made full use of the entire floor space, connecting exhibitions, experiences, interactions, performances, high-tech elements, and food into a "Spring Festival stroll" from day to night. It attracted over 350 French members of the public, center students, and families, including Marie-Pierre Boucher-Hollier, Special Advisor to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, and Josiane Gaude, First Deputy Mayor of the 7th Arrondissement of Paris, to share a lively yet elegant Chinese New Year celebration.
Upon entering the courtyard, the Year of the Horse-themed light installation "Little Scholar Riding a Horse" illuminated the space with New Year's blessings: visitors wrote down their wishes and hung up prayer plaques, capturing the auspicious wishes of "instant success" and "passing the imperial examinations" in photos and laughter. In the lobby of the modern building, traditional imagery and contemporary technology took center stage: the "Cyber Lion Dance," a robotic dog brought by the Guangdong Cultural Tourism Overseas Promotion Center, ignited the atmosphere.
The Paris Chinese Cultural Center collaborated with concurrent exhibitions: the first-floor gallery of the modern building presented the "Happy Chinese New Year" Global Auspicious Zodiac Design Competition (Year of the Horse theme), while the second-floor gallery of the classical building hosted the "Land of Abundance—Sichuan Han Dynasty Portrait Art Exhibition," allowing visitors to experience not only the joy of "strolling through the garden" but also a deeper cultural resonance through the tranquility of "viewing." A video space also opened simultaneously, with a small theater screening films such as *Nezha* and *Kangxi and Louis XIV*, providing families with easy viewing options and a change of pace.
As night fell, the "New Year's Night Tour" commenced in the lobby of the modern building. The center's folk music teachers' orchestra quickly ignited the atmosphere with a warm-up performance. The Paris Chinese Cultural Center brought the core format of its newly created Chinese language exchange night brand activity, "Liao·Liao," to the lobby—transforming a small classroom into a shared language game. Centered around the theme of the Year of the Horse, the center's Chinese language teachers used a relaxed and interactive approach, starting with the horse, to break down the cultural imagery in Year of the Horse proverbs and idioms, as well as the expressions and usages of common Spring Festival greetings, into easy-to-understand, learn, and applicable exercises.
The audience then moved to the courtyard to enjoy the "Light of Yungang Grottoes: Echoes of Paris" light show. Light and shadow unfolded against the night sky, music and visuals intertwined, translating the millennia-old grotto art into a tangible and visible contemporary expression: solemn statues, flowing patterns, and spatial layers reappeared in the projections, as if bringing the echoes of history to contemporary Paris. Thus, the evening's celebration transitioned from lively to breathtaking—the audience achieved a cultural encounter across time and space in the same courtyard, freezing the memory of "Celebrating Chinese New Year in Paris" at the brightest moment of the light and shadow.
As the event drew to a close, a "Taste of China: New Year's Banquet Appreciation" was held simultaneously in the classical building's banquet hall and the modern building's lobby. By staggering entry times and managing passenger flow, the center prioritized seating for families with children, while some viewers could relax and continue their visit in the multi-functional hall—thus, the lively atmosphere didn't feel crowded, and the celebration felt more comfortable. The flavors continued as people shared them, and laughter filled the air: this "Spring Festival journey," which stretched from day to night, finally concluded with a spectacular fireworks display and a sense of family reunion. (End)
