French get into spirit of Chinese New Year

PARIS — After a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people across France gathered again in recent days to celebrate Chinese New Year. The traditional festival is now widely considered one of the highlights of the country's wintertime festivities.

In the French capital's Chinatown (13th arrondissement), the district's municipality, in coordination with local associations and businesses, has organized a series of celebrations that last from Jan 16 through Sunday.

The events include exhibitions of hanfu, the traditional Chinese dress, and of Chinese paintings, workshops for adults and children, Chinese music concerts, shows with Franco-Chinese comedians, gourmet delights and karaoke shows.

The traditional Chinese New Year parade had attracted more than 200,000 people in 2020 since its debut in the 1980s. This year, the mayor of the 13th arrondissement, Jerome Coumet, and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo were present for the parade.

For Coumet, Chinese New Year is a "highly anticipated" moment. It has become "a significant event for the residents of the 13th arrondissement and of all Paris to experience the meeting of cultures".

Similar celebrations were held in the French capital's other Chinese residential areas, such as Belleville in the 20th arrondissement and a smaller one in the third arrondissement.

Asian businesses are no longer the only ones celebrating this holiday. For several years now, the district of Faubourg Saint-Honore (eighth arrondissement) has decorated the streets with red lanterns for its own Spring Festival parade and has hosted lion and dragon dances.

On Jan 21, when the Chinese New Year festivities began, the ever-increasing number of Chinese restaurants across the French capital offered traditional dishes for good luck and best wishes in the coming year.

On the first day of the Year of the Rabbit, a parade was held on the Square de la Republique, where red and golden colors brought warmth in the Parisian winter.

For Anicet, who studied Chinese for several years at the Confucius Institute at Paris Diderot University, the activities were definitely not to be missed. He was delighted with this year's rich cultural offer. "I will go to as many events as I can, just to discover."

Alice and Marcel are a Franco-Chinese couple. Alice moved to France from Guangzhou, Guangdong province, 30 years ago, when she was in her 20s, and she introduced her husband to Chinese culture. Marcel, the most Sinophile member of the family, likes to play mahjong and decorates their apartment with Chinese objects. In preparation for Spring Festival, the couple usually go to some Chinese stores in Paris to shop for dumplings, sweet ginger, tangyuan (a Chinese dessert) and Chinese New Year's lights.

Philippe and his wife donned the traditional clothing hanfu for an evening event organized on Jan 16 by the Association Boyan, which focuses on the study of traditional Chinese culture, at the town hall of the 13th arrondissement. They discovered Chinese culture 20 years ago through their passion for tea. The husband regularly practices tai chi and qigong, a practice that improves one's mental and physical health, which help him overcome stress.

Philippe prepared dumplings, shrimp soup and stir-fried vegetables for the Chinese New Year dinner. He also hosted tea-tasting sessions in Paris on Jan 21 and 28, and will host another one on Sunday in Lille, northern France.

Nadine, an 83-year-old retiree living in the suburbs of Paris, has never been to China. For her, "it is one more party" in the year, but it is also an opportunity to taste "dishes that we are not used to eating".

With the resumption of international travel to and from China, more French people hope to visit China, and Chinese tourists in increasing numbers are planning to travel to France for their holidays.

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