Lunar New Year Celebration & Lantern Festival 2024

New Year calligraphy and drawing display by participants

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Lunar New Year Celebration

On February 7, members of the UTM community had the opportunity to celebrate the Lunar New Year in a variety of activities common in Chinese culture.

These included practising Chinese paper-cutting, drawing, and calligraphy. Below you can find the Chinese characters for double happiness (囍) and luck (福).

New Year calligraphy and drawing display by participants

 

Student showcases his calligraphy work

 

Paper cutting group showing work
Susan holds up red paper-cutting design

Participants also enjoyed snacks, sang, played mahjong, and competed in a Lunar New Year quiz competition:

New Year celebration snacks
Student teaching Chinese New Year song 'Gongxi'
Faculty and students play mahjong
Students sit at table in room decorated with red lanterns, red dragons, and streamers

Pictured below are the winners of the New Year's raffle:

New Year lucky draw winners

 

Students showcased their works in calligraphy and the art technique of rubbing (Tà yìn), alongside our Chinese Language & Culture instructors:

New Year celebration group picture
New Year celebration group photo

Lantern Festival Celebration

On February 28, the UTM community participated in a celebration of the Chinese Lantern Festival, which marks the end of Lunar New Year celebrations in Chinese custom.

Presentation slide showing "Happy Lantern Festival"

 

A presentation was provided to introduce this festival:

Lantern festival presentation in room
Lantern festival presentation on the screen

Participants created auspicious dragons:

Auspicious dragon art exhibition by staff and students
Student with paper dragon
Paper dragon
Auspicious dragon creation group showing work

Participants also had the chance to practice their calligraphy, guess riddles, play mahjong, and enjoy snacks:

Calligraphy art exhibition by students
Student wrote 'Fa' fortune character
Participants focused on calligraphy work
Calligraphy work display

 

Students stand in front of table filled with riddles written on slips of coloured paper
Student working on calligraphy
Student creating calligraphy on red paper
Mahjong playing team
Snacks and gifts

Another activity was creating lanterns:

Participants creating lanterns from paper
Lantern making materials

Thank you to everyone who participated in these celebrations, from attendees, student volunteers, instructors, and everyone else! A special thank-you to Dr. Xinliang Jiang for organizing these events!