Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Happy New Year. Welcome to attend the “Enjoy Spring Festival” Gala. My remarks will be very short, as I know all of you are eager to watch the performances.

With a history of over 3000 years, Spring Festival is the most important and ceremonious festival for Chinese people, and a time for family reunion and happiness.

Spring Festival is also an important part of Chinese culture. Chinese people have attached many customs to Spring Festival in the past 3000 years.

Before the Spring Festival, every family will paste Spring Festival Couplets and the Character “Fu”, which means “good fortune”, on the door, to pray for auspiciousness in the New Year.

Food prepared for the Spring Festival also has been given special meanings. In the northern part of China, people will eat “jiaozi”, the dumplings, as “jiaozi” in sound means “bidding farewell to the old and ushering in the new”, while people in the south will eat “Nian Gao”, a kind of cake made of rice, as it suggests better fortune for next year.

On the day of Spring Festival, people will wake up early, dress up and extend greetings to the elders and friends. Children will get money wrapped in red paper as New Year gift.

Lion dancing, and burning fireworks are also typical customs on the Spring Festival. Nowadays, due to the safety reason, burning fireworks is allowed only in designated areas in the cities.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

With the opening up of China, Chinese people have brought Spring Festival to many countries of the world. In some countries, Spring Festival has been recognized as a local holiday. Every year, cities like London, New York and Paris will hold grand Spring Festival celebrations, and will attract thousands of non-Chinese to attend.

Spring Festival has become a cultural symbol of China, and a window for people around the world to know more about China and Chinese culture.

The Chinese Embassy, together with the Overseas Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Chinese enterprises in Malawi hold this “Enjoy Spring Festival” Gala. The aim is to celebrate the Spring Festival together with our Malawian brothers and sisters, and let more Malawians understand the culture of China.

Today we will not only have the Chinese Kung fu, Lion Dancing and Chinese folk costume show, but also Malawian cultural troupes to present us traditional Malawian dancing and singing.

I hope that through this kind of cultural exchanges, the mutual understanding and friendship between our two peoples will be further strengthened.

Finally, I wish all of you happiness and good health in the Year of Rabbit. And I also wish you good luck to win a prize in the draw.

Thank you for your attention.

Happy Spring Festival！春节快乐！