The venue for the 2016 Chinese New Year Celebrations–the University of Rwanda’s College of Education in Kimironko was symbolic: This is where the Confucius Institute, where young Rwandans get instruction in the Chinese language and culture from Chinese instructors is located.

The Chinese New Year, also called the Spring Festival, boasts a history that can be traced back to more than 4,000 years. It is the biggest and most important event for Chinese people–in fact, it has been said that what Christmas is to the Western world, the Spring Festival is to the Chinese.

It is the longest public holiday on the Chinese calendar, a festival that lasts for 15 days from the 1st to 15th day of the first lunar month.

According to Yang Guizhong, a representative of the political department of the Chinese Embassy in Kigali, the celebrations start even earlier in Chinese folklore, from the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month. 

"During the festival, people visit friends and make dumplings and cook all kinds of food. The children especially like this festival very much because they get pocket money given to them by elders,” he explained. 

"After January 1 people begin to visit each other, from relatives to friends and workmates and teachers to express their good wishes for the New Year.”

Chinese culture showcased

To mark this year’s celebrations in Rwanda, the Liaoning Art Troupe from China held the audience spell-bound with performances that ranged from dances, puppet shows, to acrobatics. 

The artists from Liaoning endeavored to present an excellent show marked by passion and spirit.

For this year’s festival, the Liaoning Troupe visited three African countries; Rwanda, Senegal and Benin. 

The live performances are meant to act as an entry point into the culture of the people of China in the host country. As Yang puts it, "to promote the excellent traditional Chinese culture and to strengthen the international cultural exchanges and cooperation.”

Among the variety of performances showcased on the night, by far the most crowd-impressing was Chuan Bang, an acrobatics showpiece by the famed Chinese acrobats Gao Weisong and Zhang Zhe. 

Their object-juggling skills and acrobatic maneuvers earned them wild applause in an audience that had initially taken to enjoying the performances in silence. 

The climax was when the two suited acrobats, standing and facing each other from a distance started to peel of their clothes one by one, tossing whatever had been removed to the other guy, while at the same time catching what had been thrown to them mid air and wearing it. In the end, the two men were wearing each other’s shirts and suits. 

Turning to the crowd, the single most whispered phrase during the acrobatics session was; "These people use magic”.

But those that dare to dig deeper than the surface will of course soon learn that it’s all down to skill and discipline and hard work: It was good that there was a slew of young Rwandan performers who joined their Chinese counterparts on stage for some of the acrobatics skits.

Most of these were drawn from the Chinese-run Confucius Institute, a stone’s throw away from the conference hall where the event was staged. 

Here, young Rwandans are introduced to the basics of Chinese culture, from the language, the philosophy of China, to acrobatics. 

The sight of these young Rwandans performing on the same stage with experienced Chinese acrobats perhaps helped quell the widespread notion that acrobats use supernatural powers –or "magic” as some members of the crowd kept insisting throughout the performance. 

Away from the acrobats, the other crowd favorites were the puppet and dance shows, and talking of dance, it was good to see members of the Rwanda National Ballet strut confidently onto stage for some joint dance performances. 

"This is an important cultural exchange event between China and Rwanda through which we share our happiness for the most important festival for the people of China with our Rwandan friends,” remarked Yang after the event.

"This year 2016 actually marks the 45th anniversary since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the People’s Republic of China and Rwanda. 

We hope that with such events we can get to know more about each other and our rich cultures, that’s why this event was co-hosted by the Ministry of Sports and Culture of Rwanda (MINISPOC) and the Chinese Embassy.

This is actually the third time that the same group is coming to Rwanda, and I think in coming years they will come more times as China and Rwanda get closer and closer in their bilateral cooperation.”

Holiday Origins from Monster Nian

The Chinese New Year celebration originated during the Shang Dynasty (17th - 11th century BC). The festival used to be observed to fight against the monster "Nian” who liked to eat children and livestock. The monster was afraid of red color and loud sound. Therefore, people decorated their houses in red and set off firecrackers to expel it.

Based on Chinese lunar calendar, the New Year has no exact date and it changes each year, but it mostly falls on a day from January 21st to February 20th in Gregorian calendar. The lunar calendar also defines the 12-year repeating cycle of Chinese zodiac, and each year is named after an animal. 

The 2016 New Year was named "The Year of the Monkey”.