On February 1, 2024, the Chinese Embassy in the United States, in partnership with the local organization “Things to Do DC”, hosted the “Evening at the Chinese Embassy–Year of the Dragon Celebration” cultural event. About 300 guests from local communities were invited to watch festival performances, taste Chinese delicacies, and experience Chinese New Year.

In his opening remarks, Minister Jing Quan warmly welcomed all the guests and conveyed Chinese New Year greetings.

Minister Jing said that one could learn a lot about the Chinese culture through the Spring Festival. In this special festival, we write blessing characters, paste New Year pictures, make paper-cuts and clay figurines. All these are traditional Chinese customs. We reunion with families and friends, sing and dance, and mingle together, showcasing the beauty of harmony in our own way. Not long ago, the Spring Festival was listed as a UN floating holiday, turning the “Chinese New Year” into the “World’s New Year”. Tonight, we have friends from different regions and cultures coming to celebrate the Spring Festival. This once again proves that culture goes beyond national borders, and the world can rejoice at the very same things and at the same time.

Minister Jing encouraged the culture lovers to visit China in the future. Last November, at the meeting in San Francisco between President Xi Jinping and President Biden, the two sides agreed to jointly promote people-to-people exchanges. For some time, the Chinese Embassy has been acting to facilitate travels between the two countries, with walk-in visa application services, the optimized visa policy and simplified application requirements for travelers from the United States. These will make cross-border travels much easier.

The Washington Chinese Traditional Orchestra performed both Chinese and American songs by flute, erhu, dulcimer, guzheng and pipa. The Chinese song Golden Dragon Dance expressed best wishes for the upcoming Year of the Dragon, and the American folk song Take Me Home, Country Roads aroused strong resonance among the guests. Artists from the Hong Dance School presented the classic Peking Opera excerpt Heavenly Maid Scattering Blossoms. Guests not only immersed themselves in the graceful figures and colorful silk dances, but also went onto the stage to try the water sleeves and feel the charm of Peking Opera. The Chinatown lion dancers’ performance went from stage to the audience and interacted closely with the guests.

After the performance, the guests experienced Chinese folk customs and traditional culture at the booths of calligraphy, New Year pictures, paper-cutting, clay figurine and Hanfu. They learned how to write their names and blessing characters in Chinese, created pictures with dragon and door-god patterns, made various Chinese paper-cuts and clay figurines, and tried on different kinds of Hanfu and took photos with the panda mascot. They also tasted special Chinese delicacies such as Peking duck, glutinous rice rolls stuffed with red bean paste and osmanthus glutinous rice balls. The “lucky” guests born in the years of the Dragon walked onto the stage and took a precious group photo.

The event lasted for nearly three hours. The guests said that this event enhanced their understanding of traditional Chinese culture represented by the Spring Festival, and expressed their expectations and blessings for the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year.