Chinese New Year celebrated in Chisinau

The Chinese people will bid farewell to the year 2012 on February 10. The Chinese New Year, also called Spring Festival, was marked in Chisinau in the evening of February 7. The program of the event included the traditional dance of the dragon, martial arts shows and traditional Chinese songs, Info-Prim Neo reports. The customs and traditions related to this holiday are diverse. The people buy presents, decorations, textiles, clothes and shoes. There is a custom that every family should do the cleaning in the house so as to remove any bad luck in the hope of a better year. The dinner served in the family on New Year’s Eve includes pork, duck or chicken and desert. The evening ends with fireworks. In Chisinau, the holiday was organized by students of Confucius Institute for the fourth year in a row. The event gathered persons fond of the Chinese language and culture and officials, including the Ambassador of China to Moldova. Tong Mingtao told the press that the bilateral relations will continue to develop. “I would like the two countries to establish nice relations so that Moldova makes progress,” said the diplomat. Confucius Institute director Yang Tongjun said he wants this year to bring prosperity and professional success and voiced hope that the Moldovans will want to learn the Chinese language. As many as 200 students study Chinese at the Confucius Institute.