Chinese-language students from the Department of Foreign Languages, Chinese Language Teachers and invited guests celebrated today in the University the arrival of New Year 2019 by Oriental Calendar. This holiday is also called Holiday of Spring or the Chinese New Year. 2019, according to the national calendar of the Celestial Empire, begins on February 5 and will last until January 24 of the following year.
The organizers of the event were the senior teacher of the Department of General and German Linguistics at the Faculty of Philology Iryna Iliichuk and Chinese –language teachers – trainees, Sun Heilin and Li Wenjun (People’s Republic of China).
“By conducting such events we try to bring students more information about the traditions and culture of the Celestial. After all, when young people are studying any foreign language, they should also know the traditions and culture of another country. On our holiday, we will combine two cultures – Ukrainian and Chinese,” said the organizer of the holiday Iryna Iliichuk.
The event began with the performance of the famous Ukrainian song “Shchedryk”, which students sang in Chinese. It is worth noting that in the territory of the Celestial Empire people sing no carols.
The pro – rector of the university of scientific and pedagogical work Galyna Mykhailyshyn congratulated the attendees on the holiday, and emphasized that the celebration of the Chinese New Year became a good tradition of the university and is held for the third year in a row. The pro – rector also congratulated everyone on New Year’s Eve and wished success.
During the solemn part, the senior teacher of Chinese language, Iryna Iliichuk told about the traditions of celebration of the Chinese New Year and held a video presentation “Holiday of Spring”. “Chinese New Year or Holiday of Spring is the most important traditional holiday in China. It is also called “Niien”. On the New Year’s eve in each house, the hieroglyph “Fu” is placed on the door, windows and walls, and it contains a lot of meanings: happiness, health, longevity, prosperity and peace. An integral tradition of celebrating the Chinese New Year is the launch of fireworks and ignition of New Year flashlights of different shapes and sizes. Among the mandatory dishes of the festive table – cooked fish and Chinese dumplings “, – said Iryna Iliichuk.
As part of the New Year’s holiday program, poems, poetry, and songs were performed in Chinese by the students. Chinese teachers-trainees, Sun Heilin and Li Wenjun performed their folk dances and demonstrated the play on the traditional Chinese musical instrument, the kholusy. The participants of the event had a great opportunity to take part in master classes of Chinese-made paper cutting, weaving thread and Chinese gymnastics.
At the end of the celebration of the Chinese New Year, students, along with teachers, recorded video greetings for our Chinese partners as well as all the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire with the New Year 2019.
It should be noted that from 2016 the Precarpathian University is a member of the international university community “One Belt – One Way” (“The Great Silk Road”). Also bilateral cooperation is established with the Central Academy of Arts of Beijing (PRC), Tianshun Classical University (PRC), Xi’an Transport University (PRC). With the support of the Confucius Institute of the Kiev National Linguistic University at the Precarpathian University was opened the Center for Chinese Language and Culture this year. Today more than seven dozen students of the Faculty of Foreign Languages study Chinese as a second foreign language.