As part of the Chinese Spring Festival 2021, an event held in China and Chinese communities around the world, the Confucius Institute of Universidad de La Frontera is celebrating the ‘Chinese Cultural Week’ with a series of interesting activities to disseminate the Chinese culture in the La Araucanía Region and Chile.

This week, the Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO) is celebrating the ‘Chinese Cultural Week: Spring Festival 2021’, an initiative of the Confucius Institute at the university. The aim of this event is to bring this festival, which is very important in the Chinese culture, and its meaning closer to the people in the south of Chile, through a variety of activities that the whole family can enjoy.

According to Dr. Paola Olave Müller, the director of the Confucius Institute at UFRO, “the aim of this cultural week is to show the community in the La Araucanía Region more of the Chinese culture and to invite them to get to know and enjoy this celebration, which is the most important one in the Chinese calendar, and which we will celebrate with a series of very interesting cultural activities”.

The festival started with an inauguration ceremony, in which a representative of the embassy of the People's Republic of China in Chile explained the meaning and scope of this celebration, as well as how people in China usually celebrate the Chinese New Year, which is on February 12 this year.

AN INTERESTING PROGRAM FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY

The festival started on Monday and ends this Friday. It’s a whole week of very interesting activities, such as theoretical classes with Nicolas Escaffi, an outstanding doctor of the Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, who will not only make an introduction to traditional Chinese medicine, but also share his knowledge about names and associated proverbs, and give health tips, for example for your spine, with different exercises that will keep you healthy throughout life. The whole community can participate in these activities with a short previous registration, which is free for everyone, who is interested.

Other activities of the program are different talks; the photo exhibition ‘The Forbidden City’ by the famous Chinese photographer and artist Li Shaobai; a paper-cutting workshop held by the outstanding teacher Jiaming Bai, who, via Zoom, will also explain the meanings and/or details to be considered in each piece; different Chinese movies, which will be broadcasted on the YouTube Channel of the Confucius Institute at UFRO (https://cutt.ly/Wjk5VZI); and many more.

CONTEST TO WELCOME THE CHINESE LUNAR NEW YEAR

In order to actively include the community, the Confucius Institute at Universidad de La Frontera invited everyone interested to participate in a contest, by sending a 20-second audiovisual greeting in Chinese, in order to welcome the Year of the Ox. On Friday 29, the last day of the festival, a compilation of the six best greetings will be streamed on the university’s online platforms and the winners will receive a little price.

It is worth mentioning that the festival will conclude with a recital of two poems of the Chinese poet Shen Haobo, an activity that will include a performance by the outstanding Chilean actor and director Héctor Noguera.

You can find the complete program of the festival here 

Written by: UFRO Communications Office