Confucius Institute welcomes Spring Festival in style

Kenyans and members of the Chinese community in Kenya celebrated the upcoming Chinese New Year at the Confucius Institute at University of Nairobi on Friday immersing them in the rich Chinese culture.

At the event themed, "The golden snake is dancing. Good luck is coming," guests were treated to fascinating performances by students from the Confucius Institute. The performances featured the dragon and lion dances, Chinese and Burundi drumming, traditional Chinese musical performance and calligraphy, and Chinese opera among others.

The attendees also participated in Chinese cultural activities such as crafting snake figurines using ultra-light clay, making snake paper figurines, using paper colored pens to bring traditional Chinese New Year custom illustrations to life, and writing greeting cards.

This is in addition to participating in Chinese traditional painting, making lanterns, participating in rolling games and ring tossing, to celebrate the Year of the Snake.

Allan Gateru, a student from Alliance Boys High School, in Nairobi, said the performances especially the lion dance and drumming were enthralling, adding that the Chinese food displayed was lip-smacking.

"It was so interesting to participate in some of the activities like Chinese painting, Chinese paper cutting and ring tossing. It's encouraging that Chinese have retained their traditional culture," he said.

Gateru expressed interest to pursue Chinese language in future and hopes that he gets an opportunity to travel to China and witness the real Chinese traditional culture.

James Mahia, a student at the Confucius Institute at the University of Nairobi, appreciated the opportunity to participate in kung fu and dragon dance noting that it has helped him to grow physically and mentally.

"There are artistic representations associated with the festival that highlight cultural expressions through drawing and other forms of art," he said.

He said there are many aspects of Spring Festival that could be incorporated into African culture including authentic traditional foods, which are diverse and rich in flavor.

"I love the Chinese culture because in our Christmas festivities, we mostly focus on food alone. However, for Chinese, they emphasize on their cultural practices," Felix Otieno, a second-year student at the University of Nairobi, said.

Otieno said learning Chinese language is paying off even as he continues with his education noting that he has been securing part-time jobs such as Chinese-English translations.