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Serbia's marking of the Chinese New Year becoming a tradition

Aljoša Milenković in Belgrade

02:23

This January, the Chinese New Year was also marked in Serbia. In the past few years, the Chinese New Year celebrations have become a tradition there. The main event was, as usual, held in the capital, Belgrade, with a massive firework display.  But ahead of that, many other festivities were arranged around the country.

Everything started with an announcement about the plans for this year's celebrations, at a press conference in China's Cultural Centre in Belgrade. At that event, the official mascot for the Year of the Snake was presented.

One of the Serbian organisers of this year's celebrations is Slobodan Trkulja, a renowned artist who frequently performs in China.

"In Serbia, we have been celebrating Chinese New Year already for seven years, with the Chinese lantern festival, and since this year with a Silk Road Festival. I would like to congratulate all of you at the Spring Festival on such a grand occasion and wish you all the best in the New Year," Trkulja told us.

The cute snake symbol for this year's New Year festivities was unveiled at a press conference in Belgrade. /CGTN
The cute snake symbol for this year's New Year festivities was unveiled at a press conference in Belgrade. /CGTN

The cute snake symbol for this year's New Year festivities was unveiled at a press conference in Belgrade. /CGTN

Some 200 km southeast from Belgrade, in the town of Bor, Chinese Zijin Mining Group has operated for several years. Over time, the Chinese developed a bond with the locals that evolved even to joint preparations of Chinese New Year celebrations. While together they prepared colorful decorations for the Spring festival, back in the kitchen, a cook was preparing famous Chinese dumplings for the festivities.

"Dumplings come in various shapes," Wen Xiaoqing told us. "You can see, this is a willow leaf-shaped dumpling, this is crescent-shaped, and this is Chinese ancient ingot-shaped. You can choose whatever you want."

Back in Belgrade in the country's famous Kolarac concert hall, we met a Chinese troupe that had arrived from Jilin province. Their director Sha Bin, from Jilin Province International Cultural Exchange Center, had high hopes ahead of the show in Belgrade in front of a mixed Serbian and Chinese audience.

"I am particularly honored to bring an art troupe to Serbia to perform during the Year of the Snake Spring Festival. I have some expectations for myself, which are to bring more excellent programs to Serbia in the future, allowing Serbian audiences to better understand our China and our traditional culture," Sha said.

Her expectations were fulfilled to the maximum, as several times during the show, the audience gave cheering ovations to the performers. From singing Serbia's most cherished song, 'Far Away There', to amazing local dances and songs from Jilin province, the performers gave their best. 

According to the Julian calendar, which most around the world follow, they celebrate the New Year on January 1. But some places, like Russia and Serbia, get to celebrate two other new years in January: the Orthodox New Year on January 13 and the Chinese New Year, which was this year on January 28.

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