Come to China to experience the Spring Festival！

Come to China to experience the Spring Festival！

With the continuous optimization of regional visa-free and transit visa-free policies, this first Spring Festival after successful UNESCO listings is attracting many international visitors. As one of the top destinations for inbound tourism, Guangdong has launched over a thousand festive activities during the holiday, like “Intangible Cultural Heritage Celebrates the New Year” and “Watching Traditional Opera for the New Year,” all full of Lingnan charm, warmly inviting guests from around the world. Inbound travel is heating up.

After a week in China, what impressed two Brazilian girls the most were the joyful cultural events. “Here we watched lion dances and Yingge dance performances, here we visited flower markets and enjoyed Cantonese opera, and here we explored folk culture villages…” Luísa excitedly shared the photos in her album, showcasing her travel highlights. “This trip to China has been absolutely incredible!”

Splendid China Folk Culture Village in Shenzhen, Guangdong, was ablaze with lanterns and buzzing with excitement. Wandering through lantern fairs, watching traditional opera, learning paper-cutting, practicing calligraphy… Two Brazilian university students, Luísa and Cíntia, were thoroughly enjoying their first-ever “Chinese New Year” experience.

“The sparks from molten iron flying through the air are absolutely dazzling!” Luísa exclaimed repeatedly while watching intangible cultural heritage performances like “Datiehua” (iron striking to create fiery sparks) and “fire pots flying over water” at the evening’s “Intangible Heritage & Cantonese Delight Lantern Festival” New Year event.

At the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou, 6-year-old American boy Justin was completely captivated by a culturally rich New Year’s Eve dinner activity. Under the guidance of Zhou Chengjie, a Guangdong arts master and municipal inheritor of the “Guangcai Porcelain Firing Technique,” Justin colored his own “Canton Tower” design on a Guangcai plate.

At the Longjing Ancestral Temple in Chaoyang District, Shantou, Mary, a tourist from Turkmenistan, learned the Yingge dance from Chen Zhenjian, captain of the Zhongjing Yingge Team. “Dancing it is incredibly uplifting!” Mary said as she practiced.

In the international community of Pingshan Street, Pingshan District, Shenzhen, visitors from Italy, the US, Japan, and other countries joined residents in wielding brushes to paint “Year of the Snake” Chinese paintings. Nash from Pakistan showed off his artwork of a snake (the zodiac animal) and wintersweet, saying in newly learned Chinese, “Zhù dàjiā xīnnián kuàilè!” (Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!).

At the Futian Port in Shenzhen, British traveler Leona said, “I’ve eaten spring rolls and shrimp dumplings in the UK, but this time I want authentic Cantonese dim sum.” She explained that she had done her travel research before coming to China, with helpful Chinese netizens recommending many “must-eat” restaurants and “must-do” activities. “Eat crispy roast goose, white-cut chicken, stroll along Beijing Road Pedestrian Street, watch a lion dance performance…” Leona’s phone calendar was packed with a dense list of plans.Forget what you know about festivals. Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) is a FULL-SENSORY cultural explosion!