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Over 40,000 people fought the freezing temperature and gathered at the center of Helsinki, the capital of Finland, to celebrate the Chinese new year on Thursday evening.
According to the Chinese lunar calendar, Friday marks the end of the year of the snake and the beginning of the year of the horse.
The celebrations took off with a traditional Chinese dragon and lion dance parade trough the heart of the city and culminated in the cai qing ceremony, where the lion tries to grab a piece of cabbage and a red envelope hung over a door beam of a chinese restaurant. Should the lion succeed in the task, the restaurant will get plenty of good luck for the upcoming year.
The festivities continued till dusk, exhibiting Chinese culture in numerous activities and performances. The Beijing Sport University had sent a top notch team of kungfu artists to dazzle the audience with their speedy acrobatics. The celebrants could also watch the live broadcast of the annual CCTV new year's gala show held in Beijing and enjoy Chinese street delicacies in a food court.
Helsinki organized the event in collaboration with Beijing, as well as the Chinese embassy in Finland. This year's event was the eighth.
Jussi Pajunen, the mayor of Helsinki, explained that the New Year's celebration has been a success since the beginning, although the weather can pose a risk.
"Finns have been excited to have a new winter time event to celebrate. It's been very good. However, there's always the risk that it gets too cold outside but now it's only minus ten centigrades and everything is running smoothly," he told Xinhua in an interview before stepping upon the stage to address a new year speech to the audience.
A very international crowd had gathered together. A Finnish mother of two brought her children to see the event for the first time. Also in the morning, 1,300 kindergarten kids brought to the site were seemingly jubilant to watch a separate kungfu show.
For Liu Jinxiu, a doctoral student in the university of Helsinki, the Chinese new year was not a new phenomenon but experiencing it in Helsinki turned out to be very different. "Usually I spend it together with my family so a large celebration like this is something very new to me. It makes me proud to see all these people come together to experience Chinese culture," said the girl.
