New Zealand's "Happy Chinese New Year" celebrations launched in South Island

Musicians perform during the Christchurch New Year Concert of 2023 in Christchurch, New Zealand, Jan. 19, 2023. The Christchurch New Year Concert of 2023 held Thursday in Christchurch, the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, opened the prelude to New Zealand's 2023 "Happy Chinese New Year" series of celebrations. (Photo by Walter/Xinhua)

CHRISTCHURCH, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Christchurch New Year Concert of 2023 held Thursday in Christchurch, the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, opened the prelude to New Zealand's 2023 "Happy Chinese New Year" series of celebrations.

The concert was co-hosted by the Chinese Consulate General in Christchurch and the China Cultural Center in Wellington.

Zhai Xingfu, vice consul-general of China in Christchurch, attended the event and delivered a speech, saying that the Chinese Consulate General in 2022 held a series of events to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of China-New Zealand diplomatic relations and the commemoration of Rewi Alley's 125th birthday.

"China and New Zealand have embarked on a new journey for the next 50 years. China and New Zealand are highly complementary in multiple fields, especially in economy and trade. A bright future of further bilateral cooperation is awaiting us," he said.

Zhai said he believed that the Year of the Rabbit will see strong return of Chinese businessmen, students and tourists, and an all-round revival of practical cooperation between China and New Zealand as a whole and with the South Island in particular.

Some well-known New Zealand and Chinese musicians, including Mark Menzies, head of performance at the University of Canterbury, national treasure singer Deborah Wai Kapohe and Erhu musician Jeffrey Zhao, performed repertoires, including "The Great Wall Tune", "Butterfly Love", "Legend", "War Horse Galloping", "Maori Love Song" (Pokarekare Ana), "New Jasmine" and other famous Chinese and New Zealand repertoires. The performance won long applause from the audience.

Guo Zongguang, director of the China Cultural Center in Wellington, told Xinhua that the Chinese New Year Concert highlighted the characteristics of the Chinese traditional culture and the brand of "Happy Spring Festival".

Alice, a citizen of Christchurch, said the performance was very amazing, and reflected New Zealand's cultural diversity and profound friendship between China and New Zealand. "It is an elegant combination between the East culture and the West culture. Christchurch is a very diverse city where many Chinese settle down and become parts of the local community."

According to the organizer, approximately 200 people attended the concert.

During the Spring Festival this year, the China Cultural Center in Wellington will launch a series of online and offline celebrations in New Zealand with the theme of "Happy Chinese New Year", including New Year's concerts, multi-ethnic celebrations for Chinese New Year, Spring Festival online Gala, as well as online exhibitions, Dunhuang music and dance, non-genetic singing and other cloud Spring Festival cultural feasts on social media platforms.