Argentina, Hungary join celebrations

BUENOS AIRES — The Argentine capital is preparing to celebrate the Chinese New Year from this weekend with cultural, culinary and artistic events, organizers said on Monday.

“Our goal is to recreate the same festive atmosphere as in China during the Spring Festival or, as it’s known here, the Chinese New Year,” Ana Chen, president of Phoenix Dorada, a private-sector sponsor and organizer, said at a news conference.

Yang Chuanying, the cultural counselor at China’s embassy in Argentina, also attended the news conference.

The celebration will provide a stage for traditional music and dance performances by a 30-member troupe from Hangzhou, the city in east China that hosted the G20 Summit in 2016.

This is the fifth year that Argentina’s capital will celebrate the holiday with the Chinese community.

The festival aims to promote cultural exchanges between the two nations so that “our compatriots can enjoy this special celebration alongside the Argentine people”, Chen said.

Hungary was just one of the nations to join in with the celebrations, with a performance in capital Budapest by The China National Traditional Orchestra, under renowned Chinese conductor Liu Sha.

The orchestra, which merges Western sounds with contemporary Chinese elements, is currently on a European tour covering Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Hungary in celebration of the Spring Festival.