Chinese New Year Celebrations

Wellington College International Tianjin celebrated their sixth Chinese New Year from 16th to 20th January. The entire College was adorned with a plethora of decorations, peach trees and lucky couplets, as pupils, parents and staff immersed themselves in the tradition of Chinese New Year. The College with the help of the Mandarin department contributed a veritable feast of art, music, and literature, organising several activities, including a pupil-led Project Exhibition, an East Asian Fashion Show which included Spring Festival Performances and the Chinese New Year Charity Market, all reflecting the rich Chinese culture of ‘Nian’. The Master, Mr Higgins, showed his strong support for all the activities, saying, “For the activities we have organized in this Chinese New Year, we are aiming to engage every pupil in the Spring Festival atmosphere through these wonderful, yet varied happenings.” The Head of Mandarin Department, Mrs Zhou Yang said, “We hope everyone can learn more about Chinese culture with this high level of participation and engagement in all kinds of celebratory activities. In addition, the blend of cultural cognition with language learning helps to stimulate students’ creativity and enthusiasm for these kinds of independent activities.” This is the first year the school has organized a Fashion Show and Charity Market as part of the Chinese New Year celebrations, donations from the charity market raised an outstanding 8888RMB for the Tianjin Ruhui Autism Centre, a very lucky number for a very worthy cause indeed. The week ended with a wonderful series of performances, including dancing, a youth choir, the playing of traditional Chinese instruments and even a mini drama, all produced and performed by Junior and Senior School pupils. We would like to wish all our community a very happy Year of the Rooster!