Chinese New Year
The Year of the Wooden Rabbit ends and the Year of the Wooden Dragon begins - grand New Year celebrations are underway in China. This is the most important holiday in the calendar, also called the Spring Festival. On this occasion, teachers and students from China studying at the Silesian University of Technology in cooperation with Yanshan University invited their Polish friends to celebrate together.
The Chinese year is based on the lunar calendar, and, unlike the solar calendar, it does not last 365 or 366 days. The Chinese New Year date is movable, it falls between January 21 and February 20, and is counted from the second new moon after the winter solstice. This year it falls on February 10 - then the Year of the Dragon will begin, which will last until January 28, 2025.
– We're actually celebrating all month long! Today, February 5, is the second day of spring according to the lunar calendar. We celebrate with our friends from Poland and invited guests, and we also want to familiarize them with our culture, said Bingyu Hu, supervisor of students of the European Institute of Yanshan University. – I would like to share our music, present traditional Chinese instruments, and the art of calligraphy and cutting.
Guests from Poland and China met at the Employees' Club of the Silesian University of Technology and went on an intercultural journey together. There were artistic performances, interesting facts about 12 mysterious Chinese zodiac signs and the division of the year into 24 solar dates, as well as reports from employees of the Silesian University of Technology who had the opportunity to visit the Middle Kingdom and conduct classes there. Those interested could try their hand at calligraphy or the pronunciation of Chinese phrases related to the holiday, which was not easy at all, but it relaxed the atmosphere.
– I am glad that Poles are so friendly, which makes me feel like a second home here – said Lan Chun Zhong from the European Institute of Yanshan University. – We encourage everyone to celebrate with us and learn a little more about China. Some points are tangent - New Year is a family holiday, just like Christmas in European countries, we meet at the table, eat Chinese dumplings, spend time with family.
– Our cuisine is very rich, because China is a huge country – added Jinyi Li, a student of the Silesian University of Technology, who talked about Chinese cuisine at the meeting. – In the south, where rice is produced, dishes with rice dominate, while in the north they eat jiaozi dumplings, just like in Poland, but always dry, never with fruit, this is unusual in our country. We miss our tastes a bit, so sometimes we cook together in the dormitory to feel a bit like home, added the student.
About 170 people from China study at the Silesian University of Technology. The meeting participants agreed that such initiatives are needed for the entire academic community. – I am enchanted by what I saw, at times I felt a bit like I was at an art university, not a technical one – this is how dr Eng. Rafał Setlak, vice-dean for education at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Silesian University of Technology described his impressions. – They showed their culture in a very interesting way, for example the way the year is divided into completely different periods than in Western culture, all this integrates us more and more with our students from China.
Chinese New Year is also associated with a specific aesthetic. Red was the dominant colour in the Employees' Club of the Silesian University of Technology, and there was a dress code at the meeting: red clothes or red accessories.
